Are you looking for ESL role play ideas? Not satisfied with your role plays? The following post might give you some new inspiration.
Is this familiar? You have 20 mins to kill towards the end of a lesson. You tell your students to create a short role play on today’s topic and give them 15 mins to prepare. A few students get to work, however many students get stuck thinking. Even your ‘best students’ aren’t getting anything done, and after 15 minutes they have nothing to show. Why did your good students fail the task? What went wrong? What can we do better?
The above scenario might make more sense if we categorised students broadly into two categories. On the one hand ‘creative’ students would do well with the above task, whereas the more ‘logical’, ‘problem-solving’ type students might struggle. So, is there a way we can we can adapt the task so all students can achieve the desired result?
Adding a Random Element
Firstly, we’re going to add some input so that students have somewhere to start from. To make things more interesting we are going to add some random elements. I’m a big fan of using random elements in the classroom to keep activities interesting (this is a topic for another day). Having some random elements make the task seem like more of a puzzle which will engage the more logical, scientific, and problem-solving students. However, it still retains the appeal for creative students .
I usually do role plays over multiple class sessions to make the most of group interactions, and so the students can work on something more substantial. The preparation and performance covers 3 sessions. In session 1 I’ll do a lead-in, vocabulary review (if necessary) and set-up the activity. Then session 2, the students get writing their scripts, and I’ll help them with the language. And for session 3, the students make their final preparations, practice and give their performance.
I have a variety of role plays that my students really enjoy. For example I have a ‘Murder Mystery’, a ‘Soap Opera’ and an ‘Office Drama’. Both my favorite, and my students’ favorite is the Soap Opera. I’ll use this as my example from now on.
Soap Opera ESL Role Play
Wait a minute, I hear you cry. I teach a lot of male students who aren’t interested in Soap Operas. On the contrary, my male students enjoy this activity just as much as the females, as there is plenty of scope for creative freedom, and soap operas often have plots like kidnapping, murder, and theft, that are often popular movie plots with guys.
Firstly, I lead in by asking about TV viewing habits and finding out what kind of shows students watch. I ask if they know what a Soap Opera is. I try and find out if any of their family members watch soap operas. And what Soap Operas are popular in their country. With higher level classes I ask students to think of some common Soap Opera tropes or plot as a group activity. At this point I might review some useful vocabulary with a matching exercise on a powerpoint slide.
Now, I tell them that they are going to create their own Soap Opera. I point out that Soap Operas often have more than 1 story or plot at the same time, and our Soap Opera will have three plots.
I have three decks of cards which I show the students. On each card is a plot, and they are separated in to 3 decks with a certain theme (relationships, health, money). I print the each set on a different color paper.
I pick up the deck of ‘Relationship’ cards. Fan the deck with the type face-down so students can’t see. Then I allow one student from each group to pick a card. Next, I check each group understands what is written on their card. I repeat this process for the other sets of cards; the themes are ‘Social and Health’ and ‘Finance and Crime’. I then tell the students that they must now create their own Soap Opera with these elements, and that they will need to combine all 3 plots into one story.
At this point the students become totally engaged in the activity, and the classroom is buzzing with excitement. If a group seems to have a plot card they are not keen on, I inform them they may exchange one (and only one) card. Students must return the unwanted card first, before choosing the replacement card. There is no going back – so it is a bit of a gamble.
I then get students to focus on the characters they need for their Soap Opera role play. It is possible for some students to act out more than one part, so the number of characters is not limited by the number of students in the group. I also inform them at this point that there is no narration in soap operas.
Before the end of the class, I get students to tell me the characters and who will play them, and a rough idea of their plot.
During session 2, I get students writing the script of their Soap Opera. I monitor and help them as much as possible with the language, while allowing them creative freedom.
Just before the end of session 2, I tell the students what I’m looking for in their role plays the following lesson: no reading (or using notes as little as possible), and good acting. I also encourage them to bring and use props, use the furniture, or bring background images for the projector.
Then in session 3 students give their performance. I usually give them some time to practice all together. Finally, we all sit back and enjoy the show! I have been doing this activity with different classes for over 6 years, and it is one of my favorite activities. All of my students love it! Some of the role plays are awesome, and some are hilarious. Some role plays touch on social issues that the students are able to express in a non-judgmental environment.
Try It yourself.
I hope this post has given you some ESL role play ideas. You don’t need to do a role play over 3 class sessions like I do, but try adding random elements, giving some thought to pre-prepared cards or something similar. You’ll be surprised by the difference it makes.
If you’d like to try one of my Role Plays, You can find them on my TPT store: The Soap Opera role play works well with all levels of students. The Murder mystery is more suitable for Intermediate level and above, but you could use it at pre-intermediate level with additional support. My newest role play, Office Drama, is suitable for Intermediate or above. The Office Drama would also work well with business English classes. Alternatively, our brand new Secret Agent role play might just be the thing to inspire your students.
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