Replacement Role Play

In a Replacement Role Play, students are naturally engaged. Students view a scene — acted out by persons in the classroom or on a videotape — that will naturally spark a reaction about how they might respond differently as one of the characters. In Replacement Role Play, students get a chance to do just that — respond as the character by joining the scene and performing.

Preparation

Choose a real-life situation that requires a decision to be made or an opinion to be expressed. It should be something with which students are familiar or can easily imagine. The situation should involve two to four characters and could involve more depending on the scene and the nature of the topic. Situations will differ depending on the context in which English is being taught, but some possibilities are: • a student asking to cheat off of a classmate during an exam • an adult not having enough money to take a bus or subway home • a parent having to break up an argument between siblings • someone cutting into line at a bus stop, grocery store, airport, etc. • a driver hitting another car, but only a young child saw the accident • a person throwing trash from food on the sidewalk while he or she is walking • a taxi driver finding an envelope of money after dropping off a passenger

Procedure When to Use It

• To make a routine dialogue or sentence drill more engaging • To provide alternate ways of practicing speaking • To provide a more controlled way of speaking about provocative issues • To encourage learners to express their opinions • To practice pragmatics

Level

Skills

Practice

Materials

Situation cards, video clips

Preparation Time

5–20 minutes, depending on what the prompt is (situation cards or video clips)

1. Divide the class in groups and have one group write a dialogue Activity Timefor the situation; the other groups should discuss or write what they would do in the situation (but no need to write a dialogue). 15–35 minutes, depending on groups presenting 2. Have the group that wrote the dialogue read or perform their dialogue in front of the others. 3. When the dialogue is finished, ask the class if they would do or say something differently from what happened in the scene. 4. Instead of having the student talk about what he or she would do differently, have him or her come up and replace the character they want to speak for. The original characters should remain and start the dialogue over as it was written, changing their lines as appropriate to the replacement character. 5. Continue replacing characters as students are interested in expressing what they would do or say.

Variations

1. Instead of setting this activity up so one pair or group is performing or reading for the whole class, have a couple pairs or smaller groups write dialogues on a situation (with the remaining students writing or discussing what they would do). Then run the same activity, but with the class divided in half or thirds depending on size so there are more students engaged at once and not as much pressure to perform in front of the instructor. 2. Invite students to come up with the situations. 3. Assign pairs or groups to create a dialogue as homework, during which they can incorporate research on current issues of interest, practice pragmatics, and get whole language development training. Pairs or groups can perform for a Replacement Role Play day. 4. Use a video clip as a point of departure for this activity. Students can either perform from the clip or write new dialogues in pairs/groups. 5. Take a dialogue from the textbook and instead of merely reading it aloud, add a new location or twist to the scene and have learners perform it in groups or in front of the class showing how they would change the lines.