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Date Posted: 09:11:16 08/01/03 Fri
Author: Vanessa Ferreira da Silva
Subject: Task 13

Last semester, some teachers and I developed a project at Cenex about the use of plays on helping students improve second language skills. I used many role-play activities with my intermediate students and there was one that really called my attention since it produced nice results and, above all, students seemed to enjoy it very much. This is a good activity especially for larger groups.

If I am not mistaken, there was a unit in our textbook about impressions. We discussed how people tend to judge each other by appearance, by ideas they get in the first contact. We talked about several things, such as blind dates, and we shared experiences. Then, I asked them about meeting people at parties. Again, they reported their opinion and experience to their classmates. Then, I explained them that they were supposed to “act”. I gave each student a piece of paper with a description of the character they had to perform. I prepared the description myself, using adjectives and structures we has already studied and making it as funny as possible. But they could not show their roles to each other.

The task involves not only language skills, but also play skills. Students should communicate with others in the party using English, trying also to act as they are supposed to. The party starts when the teacher plays the song. Empty glasses are given to students and they have to pretend they are drinking and eating. They talk to each other and the teacher pretends she is a waitress who offers food and drink while observing students. This is a good excuse for the teacher to have contact with student and take part of the activity. Time spent will depend on class size, since each student should talk to more than one classmate.

The teacher interrupts the activity by stopping the music. So, she collects the pieces of paper with the description of the characters asks students to divide themselves in groups of three or four. Each group is supposed to discuss, take notes and them report the behavior of the members of another group. They have to guess the role of their classmates in the play.

Suggestions of characters: a drunk man/woman; a shy person; someone who is depressed and wants to tell others his problems... The teacher should use his/her imagination.

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