Role Playing in the ESL Classroom Why and How to Use it in Your Classrooom

Role Play A role play is a learning activity in which students play out roles in a simulated situation that relates to one or more learning objectives.

Benefits  Teaches empathy  Simulates authentic language experience  Provides a memorable learning experience  Adaptable for multiple levels  Increases motivation and self-esteem  Builds confidence

Role Play Advantages #1  Role plays encourage student participation and stimulate thinking.  They motivate students by involving them in a realistic situation.  Role plays help students understand another person’s perspective or situation.

Role Play Advantages #2  Role plays can inform, assess, and improve a variety of students’ skills and attitudes (communication and interpersonal skills needed to interview, counsel, and treat patients)  Role plays give students opportunities to receive feedback on their performance in a safe setting

What is Role Playing Good For?  Communication skills  Fluency  Grammar  Reaching the  Assessment Tool  Cultural factors

How to use it in your classroom:some ideas Listening and Role Play  Use a short listening passage/dialogue  Check for comprehension  Review grammar,language structures, pronunciation  Students practice and personalize dialogue  Perform

Reading and Role Play  Small groups  Each group given a section of the reading  Group discusses main events  Group creates a dialogue to represent events  Performs  Feedback/questions from class

Video and Role play  Watch an authentic clip of a target situation  Discuss as a class  Give students a copy of script  Practice  Personalize  Perform

Long-term project  Groups of 5 to 10  Students write their own script  Edit  Rehearse  Perform for a wider audience

Making Role Playing Successful  Model  Language support  Have realistic goals  Use realistic scenarios  Use realia and visual aids

Create a Role Play #1  Decide what the students should learn (the objective)  Select an appropriate situation  Identify the roles

Create a Role Play #2  Determine if the role play will be: Informal – acting it out with little or preparation time Formal – planned in advance with instructions Clinical demonstration – working with anatomic models and simulated patients

Create a Role Play #3  Determine if the students will report the results of their discussion of the role play in writing or orally to the entire group.  In some cases, the role plays are done only in small groups. Then one or more groups may present theirs to the large group and/or the teacher will facilitate a discussion focusing on the role plays.

Facilitate a Role Play #1  Explain the nature and purpose of the exercise (the objectives).  Define the setting and situation of the role play.  Brief the participants on their roles.

Facilitate a Role Play #2  Explain what the other students should observe and what kind of feedback they should give.  Provide the students with questions or activities that will help them to focus on the main concepts being presented.  Keep the role play brief and to the point.

Facilitate a Role Play #3  Engage students in a followup discussion.  Provide feedback, both positive and suggestions for improvement.  Summarize what happened in the session, what was learned, and how it applies to the skill being learned.

Conclusion  Benefits range from increasing empathy and motivation to providing authentic experiences with the language  Can be used to teach grammar as well as communication skills, fluency and cultural factors  Will provide a memorable learning experience that the students can draw from to help navigate life outside the classroom

Bibliography  Celce-Murcia,M.,& Hilles, S. (1988) Resources in Teaching Grammar. New York:Oxford University Press  Maxwell, C.(1997 October) Role –Play and Language Learning.Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Japan Association of Language Teachers, Hamamatsu, Japan  Parrish, B. Teaching Adults ESL: A Practical Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies