Job Discussion Forums

[7969]

Anyone got any good role play ideas for beginner/intermediate/students whose level remains unknown because they're too afraid to speak in class classes? i've found plenty online but i'd rather use some that are proven to work in china.

i dont do role plays often but could use some ideas.

7969

[malu]

Haggling over the price of something. Buyer won't pay more than 1000, points out shortcomings of article for sale, seller won't take less than 2000, emphasizes selling points. Sometimes works.

[Lobster]

I've successfully used the role plays "Greengrocer" and "Fast Food Worker" in classes. Needs a fair amount of one-time prep work.

You need:
pictures or models of fruits, vegetables or fast food items (A-grade, B-grade or unaceptable quality) laminate if possible for future use
items to be used as "cash"
price lists (chalk/white boards work even better but increase set-up time)
item wholesale cost list (for shopkeepers)
shopping lists (for customers)
shopping/bargaining phrases lists (for customers)
selling/bargaining phrases lists (for shopkeepers)

Some students (6) act as sellers of produce or fast food workers. The other students are customers. Shoppers must come home with the items on their lists. Often they don't have enough "money" and have to haggle. Others get rotten food and have to fight for refunds. Shopkeepers need to maximize profits based on wholesale/retail price difference. Lots of fun and opens the door to other topics such as diet and nutrition, consumer issues and business. You can have fun extorting rents, selling protection, or suing the shop owners too!

RED

[Wonderful Yunqi!!]

I guess it depends on how old the students are, if they are average or better college freshman, it seems to me that most like to perform.

I recently had several different groups of freshman perform a dialogue between 2 or more people. I didn't care what they talked about, as long as it was in English and everyone spoke. I did ask that everyone use their names in the dialogue so that I could try to remember who they are. I was surprised by a few of the dialogues they created. A few sang as well, including a loner boy.

I did suggest a few ideas, such as basic greetings and ask for help finding your way around campus. Although I'm not an expert in the field, I think it is important to let the students feel relaxed and have fun in class. Especially so when performing a dialogue/role-play in front of an audience. At least at first, after awhile I will move into different everyday situations, such as Bank, Post Office, Restaurant, Grocery Store, Ticket Reservations, Hotel and Airport.

Not that anyone asked, but, I consider these dialogues homework. Assuming the students attend and participate = perform homework, they are guaranteed 30 points out of 100 when I calculate the final grade.

I also ask them to perform a major group project in which I encourage creativity. In the past, I've had students come to class with costumes, background music and other props. This equals 20 points.

The mid-term and final are both worth 25 points. The mid-term may be a pair; the final is just them. Both involve a somewhat serious topic.

I truly do enjoy being back at a university. It's so much easier.

Good Luck!

[mjlpsu]

With my students (22 and older, very mixed levels) I've used some that have worked to some extent.

1. Reserving a hotel room/confirming a reservation. The prep time depends on the levels of students--go over a little vocabulary and things they need when making reservations. I always gave them a sample or two after they had enough time to talk with each other.

2. Business appointments. I used a variation from a worksheet I found online. Give each student a schedule for a week with some things already filled in (should be at least two sets of these). Then they have to try to make appointments with each other to fill in the rest. I think they each had 4 appointments to make. You can also add cancellation and rescheduling to this one.

[roadwalker]

My students have one experience in this life: preparing for entrance exams. Some of my real-life role plays have fizzled, I think in part due to their own limited experience. Buying and selling, working out problems together, corruption, all seem to get good responses.

On the other hand, they seem to enjoy fantasy role plays as movie stars, singers, athletes are also popular, since some people like to go way out of themselves, maybe since it's less personal.

[sui jin]

Something that worked well with my conversation classes was to have the students act out a scene from a film, book or story. They could do this in pairs or small groups, and had to prepare it as homework to present in the following week's class. Obviously there was a range of acting talent, but some of the scenes were very entertaining. One group did the judgment scene from The Merchant of Venice. Others did scenes from TV soap operas.

[patsy]

One time I had them do "commercials", I brought in things like chopsticks, fangbian mian, toothpaste, etc. and had them perform in groups of 2-4. It was probably one of my best classes ever and I was amazed at their creativity. Of course I had a big group of girls who liked to perform.

[johnchina]

I made a set of cards with different pieces of information on them - fictitious name, job (something flashy like fashion model, oil company director - think 'Dallas' rather than 'Neighbours'), age, nationality and two 'objectives' like 'get a date for Friday night' or 'sign a business deal'. Give a card to each student and give them a few minutes to make sure they understand what's on their card. Tell the students to pretend they are at a party. Explain that they should ask simple questions to each other first, then try to achieve their objectives. Then set them loose. I find that they are intimidated at first, so I usually have a card for myself and set the ball rolling. So far, it's worked well with almost every group.

Generally, I find that students do much better when you ask them to be something they aren't (less concerned about losing face?). For example, I've had boys pretending to be girls and vice versa. The best moment had to be when 5-6 boys walked out of the class - they said "We're girls, so we have to go to the toilet together".