Six Role Plays [antikvár]

Introduction By now, most EFL teachers should be aware of the benefits of using role plays in class. They provide conversation practice, a chance for unforthcoming students to hide behind a role and maybe contribute more than usual, an opportunity to practise vocabulary in context, and free practice of functional language. The role plays in this book move towards some sort of definite conclusion rather than merely the bell signalling the end of the lesson. In other words, as Penny Ur puts it in Discussions that Work (CUP, 1981), the participants will ideally 'talk about X in role-situation Y in order to achieve Z.' This sense of'task' should also influence the introductory exercises before the actual role play, and the follow-up activities after it. The role plays are largely concerned with contemporary social issues. Boreville Language School and Kidnapped are fairly lighthearted. All-out Strike and What's Best for Brumton? deal more seriously with realistic issues involving compromise and putting forward new ideas to settle a problem. The Vandal deals with a serious and almost universal social problem, while Charity or Murder?, the last role play, tackles the controversial subject of euthanasia. The teacher should not attempt this last one with a class that he or she does not know well, as it is such an emotive issue. However, handled tactfully it does not cause problems. A particular feature of these role plays is that the characters interact at a more personal level than is often the case, which encourages the participants to become more fully involved in the activity. As in real life, personal animosity or knowledge of another person's scandalous past can lead to more animated exchanges between characters. Rather than two-dimensional town councillors aijd disinterested chairmen talking into a vacuum, these are roles in which the student is invited (but not compelled) to reveal dark secrets about other characters' pasts, comment on others' secret ambitions, or side unfairly with another character with whom he or she is in love. This requires no particular acting ability, merely a sense of humour and/or a willingness to speak English. To sum up, these role plays provide students with an aim, which gives the activity a direction; they frequently present an unusual slant on a situation in order to stimulate interest; and most roles are provided with some information about other roles in order to promote lively interaction between characters. Organization of the Book Preceding the role plays, there is a list of useful functional language. Different functions occur in different role plays. The list consists of phrases of discussion: agreement and disagreement, opinions, suggestions, excuses, reasons and accusations. These will be referred back to when relevant to particular introductory exercises, depending on the role play situation. Once the class has worked on the register and pronunciation of individual phrases, they can practise them using the situations provided in the introductory exercises for each role play. 5