How to Use Role-Playing Games to Teach English: Practical Tips

Role play in any classroom brings a range of benefits. It adds variety to a lesson, which can be fun and motivating for students. It broadens the possibilities for language production by taking students beyond their own lives and experiences. Role play can also help with group dynamics; quieter students can take on the role of a much more forthright person and are encouraged to communicate more readily. It can especially be helpful to students who are learning English in an ELL setting. So how can you best use role-playing games when teaching English? Here are some practical tips: Decide What Language Skills you’re Working On Before you start a role play with your class, you need to be clear on what language skills you want them to develop. Is the role play designed to help them with the future tense, with question forms or with a certain vocabulary group? Are you trying to help them with set phrases used to negotiate or just with their fluency and ability to talk under pressure? Being clear in your aims for the role play will inform the preparation and follow up activities you choose to do. Prepare your Students Assess the level and age of your class in order to prepare them effectively for the role play. A lower level class may need more initial input in identifying the language they’ll need for the role play. You could do preliminary activities where they practice the language in written form or through a reading task. It may be helpful to write key language (phrases or sentences they may use) up on the board as a reference. Higher level classes will need less initial input but they’ll still get more out of the activity if you can prepare them by describing the role playView Full Post

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