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ROLE
PLAYS IN GROUPS.
Provided you have more than three students
in a class, and provided they have enough knowledge of the language
to function in at least simple situations, group preparation of Role
Plays can provide several advantages:
- By working in groups more people are
speaking.
- They are working on a task in the
target language.
- Peer pressure should push them to
produce something of high quality.
- The teacher can concentrate attention
where most required.
- As students prepare the RP in groups,
each group's RP, when acted out should have an element of surprise
for the others.
Step 1
- Consists of a generalised preparation
filling in vocab gaps with the whole group and talking over the situation
to be acted out.
- Get ideas from the pupils as to what
sort of problems might occur in the situation being explored.
- Students may come up with totally
new ideas or variants when it actually comes to putting ideas down
on paper but don't count on it. Make sure that an adequate choice
of workable ideas has been provided which the pupils can fall back
on if they don't have any original ones themselves.
Step 2
- Split class into groups of 2 or 3
.
- Tell them to prepare the dialogue
of a Role Play on paper, tell them it is to be acted out when completed.
- The teacher moves from group to group
advising. He should reject ideas too complicated for the level and
simplify concepts so that they can be expressed in available structures.
- Students decide who is to play the
parts.
- If groups of 3 are formed, locate
the pupil in each group who is least inclined to participate actively
and make him do the writing. That way he is forced to communicate
with the others and to take a more active part.
- Make groups of 3 move to table ends
with one on either side of the writer who is at the table end. It
makes for better group dynamics.
Step 3
- People nominated from each group act
out their prepared Role Plays. Groups do this in turn.
- Students can either read their lines
from written notes or try to do without them. This depends upon the
teacher's opinion of their ability to handle the role play without
notes, if they try to do without them they can appeal to the third
person in their group, if there is one, for help if needed.
Step 4
- When each group has acted out its
role play, and if third members of groups have done nothing active
as yet, get them to give summaries of what happened in another role
play to that in which they helped.
N.B.
If it is the first time a group has done
a Role Play you can seriously consider instigating applause for the
first effort. If you can get them to clap each other's performance it
will act as an additional spur to put more real theatrical effort into
their performances next time.
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