ROLE PLAY
There
are several reasons for using role-play in the classroom and some tips for
getting the most out of role-play.
- Introduction
- What is role-play?
- Why use role-play?
- Tips on successful classroom
role-play
- Bibliography
Introduction
Incorporating role-play into the classroom adds variety, a change of pace and opportunities for a lot of language production and also a lot of fun! It can be an integral part of the class and not a 'one-off' event. If the teacher believes that the activity will work and the necessary support is provided, it can be very successful. However, if the teacher isn't convinced about the validity of using role-play the activity "will fall flat on its face just as you expected it to" (Gillian Porter Ladousse 1987). Therefore, if you think positive and have a go, you may be pleasantly surprised!
What
is role-play? Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself
into somebody else's shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself
into an imaginary situation!
Imaginary
situations - Functional language for a multitude of scenarios can be activated
and practised through role-play. 'At the restaurant', 'Checking in at the
airport', 'Looking for lost property' are all possible role-plays.
Why use role-play? It is widely agreed that learning takes place when activities are engaging and memorable. Jeremy Harmer advocates the use of role-play for the following reasons:
Why use role-play? It is widely agreed that learning takes place when activities are engaging and memorable. Jeremy Harmer advocates the use of role-play for the following reasons:
- It's fun and motivating
- Quieter students get the chance to
express themselves in a more forthright way
- The world of the classroom is
broadened to include the outside world - thus offering a much wider range
of language opportunities
In
addition to these reasons, students who will at some point travel to an
English-speaking country are given a chance to rehearse their English in a safe
environment. Real situations can be created and students can benefit from the
practice. Mistakes can be made with no drastic consequences.
Tips on successful classroom role-play
Tips on successful classroom role-play
Prepare
for success Role-play is possible at elementary levels providing the students
have been thoroughly prepared. Try to think through the language the students
will need and make sure this language has been presented. Students may need the
extra support of having the language on the board. I recently did a 'lost
property office' role-play with elementary adults and we spent time beforehand
drilling the structures the students would need to use. When the role-play
began the students felt 'armed' with the appropriate language. At higher levels
the students will not need so much support with the language but they will need
time to 'get into' the role.
The
role of the teacher Some of the possible teacher roles are:
- Facilitator - students may need
new language to be 'fed' in by the teacher. If rehearsal time is
appropriate the feeding in of new language should take place at this
stage.
- Spectator - The teacher watches
the role-play and offers comments and advice at the end.
- Participant - It is sometimes
appropriate to get involved and take part in the role-play yourself.
Bring situations to life Realia and props can really bring a role-play to life. A group of young learners recently played the roles of pizza chef and customer. A simple cone of white card with CHEF written on it took a minute to make and I believe it made the whole process more fun and memorable for the class. As soon as it was placed on their heads they 'became' the pizza chef and acted accordingly.
Rearranging
the furniture can also help. If you are imagining you are at the tourist
information office or at the doctor's surgery try to make it as real as you
can. Students can even leave the room and make an entrance by knocking on the
door.
Error Correction
There
are many ways to correct mistakes when using role-play. It is rarely
appropriate for the teacher to jump in and correct every mistake. This could be
incredibly demotivating! Some students do like to be corrected straight after a
role-play activity, while the language is still fresh in their minds. Sentences
with errors can be written on the board for the group to correct together.
- Self-correction - If you have the
equipment to record the role-plays either on audiocassette or on video,
students can be given the opportunity to listen to the dialogue again and
reflect on the language used. They may find it easy to spot their own
mistakes.
- Peer-correction - Fellow students
may be able to correct some mistakes made by their peers. Students could
be asked to listen out for both great bits of language they'd like to use
themselves, and some mistakes they hear. Be careful to keep
peer-correction a positive and profitable experience for all involved.
- Making a note of common mistakes
yourself and dealing with them in future classes ensures that the students
don't lose motivation by being corrected on the spot or straight after the
role-play. Negotiate with students and ask them how they would like to be
corrected.
Use your imagination and have fun
The
most successful role-play I did last year was with a group of teenagers and was
used as a spring board activity after listening to a song. The song was Avril
Lavigne´s Skater Boy. The class worked in pairs to act out the scene of Skater
Boy finally getting to meet his ex-girlfriend after the concert. The results
were humorous and I was surprised that they all really got into the roles they
played.
Samples
and Models of Role play
Topic:
SHOPPING
Teacher :1. tells Students that they are going shopping
2.
reads the situation : You are a customer in a
cake shop.
3.
Gives a model dialogue between a customer and a
shop-assistant.
B: Can
I help you?
A: Do
you have a birthday cake?
and Can you show me a sample of a birthday
cake?
B:
Yes, one moment, Sir!
Here’s a nice birthday cake.
A: But
this is a cheese cake, my friend likes chocolate ones.
B:
What about a strawberry cake? It’s delicious.
…… etc.
4.
Demonstrate the role cards to Students
5.
Divide the class into pairs, one becomes a
customer and the other becomes a shop assistant.
6.
asks Students to start playing their roles.
7.
Gives the pairs enough time to prepare the
dialogue.
…..
Topic:
In the Restaurant
 |
Teacher :
1. tells Students that they are in the restaurant.
2.
reads the situation : “You are in a
restaurant…………”
3.
gives a model dialogue between a waiter and a
customer.
-Here is the bill, Sir / Mam
-(Looking
for the wallet) I’m so sorry. I have left
my wallet at home.
-etc.
(It
may involve the restaurant manager)
4.
distributes handouts to students.
5.
divides the class into pairs and asks them to
play their roles.
6.
gives the pairs enough time to prepare the
dialogue
7.
has the pairs perform in front of the class..
…..
GAMES
Definitions
of game
According
to Haldfield (1999): “A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element
of fun… Games should be regarded as an integral part of the language syllabus,
not as an amusing activity for Friday afternoon or for the end of the term.” This
definition highly evaluates the importance of games in teaching. It adds to
teachers’ techniques I teaching that games serve not only as an ‘amusing
activity’, but as a technique to carry out tasks to learners amusingly as well.
Haldfield (1999) adds: “Games can be used at all stages of the progression from
controlled to free practice, serving at one end of the range as a memory aid
and repetition drill, at the other as a chance to used the language freely and
as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. They can also serve as a diagnostic
tool for teacher, who can note areas of difficulty and take appropriate
remedial action.” Haldfield further emphasizes the effective use of games.
Students are always lazy to do the tasks.
Lee
(1991: 3) defines: “Games in the stick sense, which have a definite beginning and
end, are governed by rules…” Similarly, Hadfield (1990) defines games as
"an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun."
Games
are not carried in chaos. Games have the rules, and for it is necessary players
to digest these rules before the start so that they can play the games smoothly
without committing them.
According
to Greenall (1990: 6), “The term ‘game’ is used whenever there is an element of
competition between individual students or teams in a language activity.” When
appears ‘an element of competition’, all above rules are most needed. Besides,
games are, in this case, emphasized to encourage students’ solidarity in
teamwork in which they have to try their best to do the tasks or maybe to code
any requirements given in the games for their team spirit.
Therefore,
games comprise many factors such as rules, competition, relaxation, and
learning. The main focus of using game in class is not only to help students to
learn more effectively but also to have fun.
Sample of English Games for
Kids
Move and Find
A student is asked to leave the room
for minute whereas the other students move something in the classroom to
different place/position. Then he/she is asked to comeback into the classroom
and guess what has been moved/put.
An
example:
Jean: Did you put marker on my table?
Ss: No, we didn’t.
Jean: Did you move teacher’s table to the corner
Ss: Yes, we did.
Note: If the student can find the item, he/she
gets the point and then turn to another student.
…..
|
Lion – Tiger – elephant – cheetah –
giraffe
A:
“C3?”
B:
“Yes.”
A:
“What animal?”
B: “Tiger.”
·
The game is continued until one of the two
students discovers the location of each of the five words.
·
The student who can discover the five words
first is the winner.
…..
SONG
Songs
as Practice Material
Song can be used in a lot of various ways (see
3.4.4). All the skills such as listening, reading, writing and speaking can be
practised, the same way as linguistic areas starting with vocabulary,
grammatical structures, and ending with rhythm, stress, fluency and
pronunciation.
The rhythm of the verse helps the learner
to put the stress in the right places, creating a natural flow of language and
building up fluency. At the same time the presence of rhyming words and such
poetic device as alliteration13 and onomatopoeia14 help to focus on certain
sounds, thus giving valuable ear-training and help in pronunciation. In the syntactical
area a song gives us the opportunity to repeat the same structural item many times,
thereby aiding correctness and fluency of expression. (Sheila Aristotelous
Ward, p. 7)
Songs are also “especially good at introducing
vocabulary because they provide a meaningful context for the vocabulary”.
However, it depends on the choice of songs since there are also some songs
without meaningful context. From the grammatical point of view, they “provide a
natural context for the most common structures such as verb tenses and
prepositions” (D. T. Griffee, pp. 5, 6).
The
Help Of Songs When Learning Pronunciation
Songs can be very helpful as far as learning
pronunciation is concerned. They provide the authentic language with all its
„traps“ (such as connected speech, different pronunciation of the same sound,
or difficult pronunciation of some words) laid for learners, who should be
exposed to it as much as possible to strengthen their ability to understand it.
In the following subsections we will concentrate on three areas of difficulties
in pronunciation (sounds, words, connected speech), and on explaining why songs
can be useful when the learners are caught into these “traps of language”.
The
Help of Songs Focused on Words
“Words are combinations of sounds which form
together to give meaning. A word is uttered in syllables, usually one emphasized
syllable (the stress) and the rest weak (unstressed)”. (ibid.).
There are both several difficulties and
several ways songs can support practicing these problems. “Words in songs fit
the music, helping learners associate the number of syllables / stress in these
words, with memorable rhythms. Songs contain endless examples of weak
syllables, helping to convince learners of the way English is pronounced” Songs
help learners practice the described subject matters because they“ provide real
and ‘catchy’ examples of how whole phrases are pronounced often to the extent
that students find it difficult to pick out individual words. The music further
emphasizes the ‘flow’ of the words. Moreover, songs, like other spoken texts,
are full of contractions”
What
Can We Do With A Song In Language Teaching?
Automatic usual and simple answer to this
question could be: “A word-gapfill.” However, the answer is not so single valued.
And hopefully, the following selected list of Tim Murphey (and references to
other sources of activities) will be convincing enough to prove that the answer
can be much longer.
What
can we do with a song in lesson?
1) Listen
2) Sing, whistle, tap, and snap fingers
while we listen
3) Sing without listening to any recording
4) Talk about the music
5) Talk about the lyrics
6) Talk about the singer / group
7) Perform songs
8) Write articles
9) Study grammar
10) Practice selective listening
comprehension
11) Translate songs
12) Write dialogues using the words of a
song
13) Do role-plays (as people in the song)
14) Dictate a song
Samples of English songs for Kids
Hokey Pokey
You put your right leg in. You put your right leg out.
Put your right leg in and you shake it all about.
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.
Put your right leg in and you shake it all about.
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.
You put your left leg in. You put your left leg out.
Put your left leg in and you shake it all about.
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.
Put your left leg in and you shake it all about.
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.
CHORUS:
Ho-key, hokey pokey
Ho-key, hokey pokey
Ho-key, hokey pokey
That's what it's all about!
Ho-key, hokey pokey
Ho-key, hokey pokey
Ho-key, hokey pokey
That's what it's all about!
…..
Rain, Rain Go
Away
* Rain, rain go away
Come again another day
Little children want to play
Rain rain go away
(Repeat once)
It’s raining, it’s pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed and bumped his head
And couldn’t get up in the
morning
(Repeat*
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