Role Plays for Communication Activities

1. SURVIVAL
The rules of this game are taken from the article “Teaching ESL versus EFL: Principles and Practices” by Daniel Krieger (Forum Vol. 43 No. 2/2005).
“Students working in pairs are asked to choose six out of ten people from a list to be the last survivors on earth. They must discuss the qualities of each candidate, compare their importance, give opinions on the candidates, and reach a consensus. When their selection is completed, students compare their choices with those of another pair.” (Krieger, p. 11)
Here I suggest cards for students who will play the characters of the game and make a decision. You are welcome to ask your students to give some more information about the characters so to use their imagination, or students could invent their own characters.

Card 1
Mr. Miller, 50
An accountant
Lives in a two-storeyed building
Blonde hair, green eyes, sporty build
Hobbies: tennis, swimming, going to the gym, collecting beer mugs
Favourite colour: pink
Favourite music group: The Beatles
Favourite food: pizza, white chocolate, cocktail
Book he is reading now: a detective story by A. Conan Doyle

Card 2
Mrs. Hewlett, 40
A teacher
Lives in a three-room flat
Brown hair, brown eyes, rather tall; she’s wearing glasses
Hobbies: reading, boating, aerobics
Favourite colour: green
Favourite music groups: Queen, The Rolling Stones
Favourite food: pasta, chicken, peanuts, strawberries
Book she’s reading now: A Secret of Palms (science)

Card 3
Mr. McKenzie, 35
Vice-President of Pan-Travel Co.
Lives in a cottage near the sea
Blonde hair, blue eyes, middle height
Hobbies: travelling, snowboarding, white-water rafting, collecting ancient coins
Favourite colour: blue
Favourite music groups: The Scorpions, Led Zeppelin
Favourite food: fruit salad, avocado, melon, grapes, juices He is a vegan.
Book he is reading now: a science fiction story

Card 4
George Mawson, 18
A student
Lives in a one-room flat. Smokes a lot.
Dark hair, brown eyes, quite tall
Hobbies: basketball, football, travelling, playing the guitar, creating WEB-sites
Favourite colour: violet
Favourite music group: The Black Sabbath
Favourite food: meat (beef or pork), French fries, crisps, black coffee
Book he’s reading now: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Card 5
Alice Newman, 8
A schoolgirl
Lives with her parents in Norfolk
Blonde hair, grey eyes, very slim
Hobbies: dancing, table tennis
Favourite colour: red
Favourite singer: Madonna
Favourite food: cake, plums, hamburger, ice tea
Book she’s reading now: Alice in Wonderland by L. Carroll

Card 6
Mark Newman, 36
A sales manager
Lives in a two-room flat in Norfolk
Red hair, blue eyes, middle height
Hobbies: playing chess; painting; hunting; angling; going to the movies
Favourite colour: yellow
Favourite singer: Shakira
Favourite food: omelet; bacon; apple pie; vanilla ice-cream; beer
Book he’s reading now: IBM: The History of the Company

Card 7
Sarah Newman, 34
A fashion clothes designer
Lives in Norfolk with her husband and daughter
Blonde hair, grey eyes, tall and slim
Hobbies: playing chess; designing new clothes; writing short poems; collecting antique furniture;
going to the movies
Favourite colour: yellow
Favourite music group: U2
Favourite food: chocolate; spaghetti; roast beef; Cappuccino
Book she’s reading now: a romance story

Card 8
Mrs. Button, 82
Ex-tailor, now pensioner
Grey hair, green eyes, rather tall
Lives in a small cottage
Hobbies: classical music; playing the piano; gardening; making origami
Favourite colour: white
Favourite music: Bach, Mozart
Favourite food: pudding; macaroni; bananas; cheese sandwiches; white coffee; yoghurt
Book she’s reading now: a romance story by Barbara Cartland

Card 9
Mr. Whitman, 78
Ex-driver, now pensioner
Grey hair, blue eyes, quite tall. Smokes a pipe
Lives in a semi-detached house in the suburbs of Newcastle
Hobbies: collecting pipes from all over the world; travelling; ice hockey (now not very often); angling; long walks in the country
Favourite colour: dark blue
Favourite music: jazz
Favourite food: chocolate ice-cream; roast dumplings; ham sandwiches; stake; nuts; apples; beer
Book he’s reading now: a detective story by H. Grant

Card 10
James Broad, 15
A college student
Red hair, brown eyes, not very tall
Lives in a two-room flat
Hobbies: playing PC games; football; badminton; rock concerts; going out for long walks in the park
Favourite colour: black
Favourite music: only rock
Favourite food: pizza; milkshake; chocolate; vegetable salad; orange juice
Book he’s reading now: The Time Machine by H. Wells

2. ADVERTISING GAME
People are always influenced by various advertisements. So they hear them on TV, radio stations, see on the buses’ walls, etc. But they do not trust most of them. They could only do so if a close friend or relative has used it and said it was worth buying. Here is an exciting advertising game.

Rules:
Tell your students they are going to play a game. They have all been invited to a picnic. At the picnic they represent different people. Their task is to persuade other people to start using a new thing (or service) they advertise.
There are only six cards, so you may add your own cards or ask your students to think about the goods they could advertise on their own.
Role cards for students:

Card 1: Linda
You work as a sales manager. Recently you’ve bought a new “Shuna” washing powder. Your clothes have become much cleaner after using it and white clothes have become whiter. So you are really happy about it. One minus: it costs more than other washing powders, but, on the other hand, is worth buying.

Card 2: Jeffrey
You are a film editor. A few days ago you bought a mixture of frozen vegetables “Keila”. When you made supper using it, you and your teenage kids enjoyed it. It was delicious! These vegetables are easy to cook; they do not contain soya or preservatives. They are really good with sour cream or mayonnaise dressing. The mixture consists of cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, onion, red pepper, peas and corn. It costs even less than the mixture you used to buy.

Card 3: Isabel
You are an aerobics trainer. Last Friday you were shopping in the sports complex “Jupiter” and bought a new pair of badminton rackets “Kroyak”. They are well designed. The strings are of good quality, so it’s not so easy to tear them. The shuttlecock is bright and made of feathers. It flies well even if it is a bit windy. It’s not cheap, but cheaper rackets have a lot of problems and don’t serve for a long time.

Card 4: Robert
You are a taxi-driver. At the weekend you bought “Warrior” headphones. They are made in the USA. They are rather comfortable to put into your ears; the sound can be regulated by a special button. The design is fashionable: you can choose any colour you prefer. They aren’t expensive. You also decided to give them as a birthday present to your brother.

Card 5: Pauline
You are a computer programmer. You’ve bought a new table lamp. It is made of white plastic and can be easily fixed to any surface. It has got a very good extra feature: pens can be put into the place where it is fixed. So you are happy since you’ve had it in your room near the computer.

Card 6: Beatrice
You are a university student. You bought a new CD Encyclopaedia a few days ago. It’s a wonderful and useful thing! You can find a lot of necessary information, for instance, who Niccollo Pagannini was, or how coral reefs move. Just enter the name or word, and you’ll quickly see the article about it. It’ll be less expensive if you search for the information in the Internet.

3. LEGEND GAME
At my English lessons I give my students a task to make a legend about them, so they speak about themselves as if they were other people (e.g.: from an other country, age, job, hobbies, etc.). But many of my students were not so imaginative to make and present quite a new story. (Some of them just duplicated their own presentations made at our first lessons, which I always ask when I start working with a new group of students). Thus I decided to write a set of cards for this activity to help some of my students:

Card 1: Stuart Middleton
Age: 14
Country: England, Manchester
Family: parents, elder sister Mary, a spaniel
Likes: football; tennis; collecting love poems; reading fantasy
Hates: rows with Mary
Has a dream to visit the USA
Favourite music: Hanson, Slipknot

Card 2: Jessica Smith
Age: 16
Country: USA, Texas
Family: stepmother, father, brother Jeffrey aged 27, who is married and has a son
Likes: cowboy movies; snack bars; swimming; chatting to people via the Internet
Hates: brown colour; spaghetti; boring people
Has a dream to become a TV-star
Favourite music style: rap

Card 3: Ivonna Skobinsky
Age: 20
Country: Poland
Job: a secretary
Family: parents, a boy-friend, a cat
Likes: horror films; sailing; chocolate; going out at the weekend
Hates: loud parties
Has a dream to work for an international company
Favourite music: Kylie Minogue

Card 4: Tokiro Kurosito
Age: 19
Country: Japan
Job: a university student, law department
Family: mother, younger sister Kimura
Likes: volleyball; swimming; creating computer games; vegetarian food
Hates: spicy food
Has a lot of dreams: to learn Russian; to take part in a TV-show; to travel to different countries all over the world; to earn enough money to buy a Toyota; to get married to a pretty girl
Favourite music: Black Eyed Peas

Card 5: Rosa de Lopez
Age: 15
Country: Venezuela
Family: parents, two sisters (10 and 7)
Likes: dancing; playing the guitar; reading love stories; going out with friends
Hates: studying geography
Has a dream to pass her geography exam
Favourite music: Linkin Park

Card 6: Jean-Pierre Minault
Age: 16
Country: France, Lyons
Family: parents, younger brother Charles
Likes: discos; taking part in school plays; learning Spanish; going out with friends; national food
Hates: rows with his parents
Has a dream to become an actor and play the leading role in the film
Favourite music: techno; H.I.M.

Card 7: Veronica Beaver
Age: 14
Country: Australia, Melbourne
Family: mother, stepfather, sister Carol (5), a dog, a tortoise
Likes: visiting local zoo; films and TV programmes about animals; singing Karaoke; playing volleyball; eating sweets and nuts
Hates: to have a lack of free time
Has a dream to open a vet clinic and write a book about curing pets
Favourite music: pop

Card 8: Eugene O’Neville
Age: 15
Country: Ireland, Dublin
Family: mother
Likes: football; visiting friends; studying French; loud parties; getting good grades at school
Hates: being alone
Has a dream to go windsurfing
Favourite singer: Eminem

Card 9: Lora Banielli
Age: 14
Country: Italy, Milan
Family: parents; two elder sisters (16 and 18)
Likes: long walks; speaking English; visiting friends; making and eating crab and cherry salads
Hates: greedy people
Has a dream to open her restaurant (pizzeria) one day
Favourite music: Depeche Mode

Card 10: Danila Bezlepko
Age: 17
Country: Ukraine, Kiev
Family: parents, younger brother, a dog
Likes: discos; studying economics; playing PC games; going to the movies; eating borsch, pancakes and ice-cream
Hates: quizzes at college
Has a dream to get a well-paid job
Favourite singer: Dima Bilan

4. GUESS THE WORD
The idea for this game is taken from the article “Teaching ESL versus EFL: Principles and Practices” by D. Krieger (Forum Vol. 43 No. 2/2005), though I decided to change the rules. Students get the cards with the guessed word and three words somehow connected with it. Other students should try to guess the word. (It’s better to distribute the cards so each student gets one card.)
This game is good for vocabulary revision and can suit extra-class activities (competition games). For example, the student gets the card with the words: UMBRELLA – wet, dry, rain. He says three sentences, stressing the word written on his card: It is wet. Then it is dry. It rains. So other students could guess the word umbrella.

Sample Cards:
1. LESSON – book; pen; exercise
2. WATCH – time; wrist; second
3. TEACHER – school; classroom; student
4. SUNGLASSES – eyes; sun; black
5. CURTAINS – window; frame; line
6. WEDDING – rings; bride; church
7. RESTAURANT – menu; fork; wine
8. EXAM – question; answer; nerves
9. HALLOWEEN – mask; skeleton; witch
10. CAR – hood; windscreen; lights
11. GOVERNMENT – minister; bill; speaker
12. CONCERT – guitar; song; applause

It’s good to ask your students to write their own cards for the next lesson.