DRAMA
Using Role Plays to teach the English language skills Árevalo Josué Mayorga Carlos Topa Fernanda Yazán Mishel
INDEX INTRODUCTION ROLE PLAY: KIDS ROLE PLAY: TEENAGERS ROLEPLAY: ADULTS BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION This book is aimed to present short and funny activities by using role plays to develop the four language skills: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking. What are role plays? Act out or perform the part of a person or character. What are the advantages of using role plays in our class? Students can use role plays to solve problems (in a specific topic). They can understand others by developing empathy They can learn things (skills, subjects...)
ROLE PLAY FOR KIDS WRITING Writing: The teacher sticks some pictures on the board and asks students "What do you think the story is about?" and give them some minutes to write their ideas in a paper.
READING AND LISTENING The teacher makes them listen and read (watch it if possible) to the story using this link: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/short-stories/the-lion-and-themouse The teacher provides the script for students to read and act this out. To check if they have understood this the teacher make them complete this activity: What’s the order? Watch the story and put the sentences in order by writing the numbers of the sequence: ______ The little mouse ran up the lion’s neck. ______ He saw the king of the jungle tied to a tree. ______ A lion was asleep in the sun one day. ______ ‘You were right, little mouse – thank you, I’m free.’ ______ ‘Be kind to me and one day I’ll help you.’ ______ The mouse worked quickly and chewed through the rope. ______ The lion caught him with a great big smack! ______ The mouse was out walking the very next day.
SPEAKING The teacher asks students to think about a moral or any good thing they have learn in this reading and listening activity The teacher divide students in groups of five. One student is going to be “the narrator”, the second “the mouse”, the third student “the lion” and the fourth and fifth student are going to be “hunter 1” and “hunter 2”
SCRIPT AND CHARACTERS THE LION AND THE MOUSE
CHARACTERS: NARRATOR MOUSE LION HUNTER 1 HUNTER 2 SCRIPT: NARRATOR: Once upon a time a Lion was taking a nap, when a little mouse began running up and down upon him; this soon woke up the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him. MOUSE: I am sorry!. Forgive me this time, and I will never forget it. I promise to do something for you in return some of these days. LION: Ha, ha, ha, yeah sure!. You can go. NARRATOR: A few days later, some hunters caught the king of the jungle. HUNTER 1: Hey, look what we got here!. This lion is so big and strong. Let´s take him to our king. HUNTER 2: Yes, but let`s tie him first to that tree while we go to get a wagon to carry him on. NARRATOR: Just then the little mouse was passing by. MOUSE: Da, da, da, Oh, what do we have here?. It´s my friend, the lion!. LION: It`s me, help meplease before the hunters come back. MOUSE: I will. I haven`t forgotten the promise I made to you one day. NARRATOR: So the mouse started eating the ropes. MOUSE: You are free now. A few days ago you laughed thinking that I couldn`t do something for you in return for what you did for me. Now it is time that you know that little mice are grateful and keep their promises. LION: I am sorry, my friend. Thank you for what you did for me now. I will never laugh at the promises made by the little ones, I know that when the time comes, they will not forget them. THE END
ROLE PLAY FOR TEENAGERS Brainstorming: First of all, the teacher shows the students two pictures of two people they are going to describe the characters’ attitudes.
READING In this part the teacher divides the story in some parts. Then, the teacher gives all the parts of the story to the students. So the students are going to form a whole group and they have to read and put in order the scenes of the story. After doing this, the teacher reads the story and the students have to see if they did correct if not, they can put the story correctly.
LISTENING The teacher makes the students to listen the recording of the story in order to notice the tone of voice and the expressions the characters use during the story.
WRITING The teacher tells the groups to create a different end of the story and write on a piece of paper. The groups have to act out the story but with their different end of the story.
SPEAKING The students are going to act out the story. So the teacher assigns the characters to each student. They have to use correctly the Past tenses. For example, in phrases like “Hans was sitting under a tree� Here the teacher divides the characters so one student is going to be the narrator, other student the rich landowner (Carl). Another student is going to be the old tenant farmer (Hans), and the last one is going to be the Doctor.
SCRIPT AND CHARACTERS Be Grateful CHARACTERS: · Narrator · Rich Landowner (Carl) · Old Tenant Farmer · Doctor SCRIPT: NARRATOR: A rich landowner named Carl often rode around his vast estate so he could congratulate himself on his great wealth. One day while riding around his estate on his favorite horse, he saw Hans, an old tenant farmer. Hans was sitting under a tree when Carl rode by. HANS: I was just thanking God for my food.' Carl protested, CARL: 'If that is all I had to eat, I wouldn't feel like giving thanks.' HANS: ‘God has given me everything I need and I am thankful for it.' The old farmer added, HANS: 'It is strange you should come by today because I had a dream last night. In my dream a voice told me.... The richest man in the valley will die tonight.' I don't know what it means, But I thought I ought to tell you.' Carl snorted, CARL: 'Dreams are nonsense,' NARRATOR: and galloped away, but he could not forget Hans' words…The richest man in the valley will die tonight. He was obviously the richest man in the valley, so he invited his doctor to his house that evening. Carl told the doctor what Hans had said. After a thorough examination. The doctor told the wealthy landowner, DOCTOR: 'Carl, you are as strong and healthy as a horse. There is no way you are going to die tonight.' NARRATOR: Nevertheless, for assurance, the doctor stayed with Carl, and they played cards through the night. The doctor left the next morning and Carl apologized for becoming so upset over the old man's dream. At about nine o'clock, a messenger arrived at Carl's door. 'What is it?' Carl demanded. The messenger explained, 'It's about old Hans. He died last night in his sleep.' You don’t need money to be rich, be grateful for what you have in lire and you will feel happier.
THE END
ROLE PLAY FOR ADULTS READING, WRITING, LISTENING, SPEAKING First, the teacher will provide students with the script of the role-play at the time he/she divides the class in groups of 4. Meanwhile students get in groups; the teacher will spread the sheets among the class. Lately the teacher will tell the story laud so students will listen to the teacher’s pronunciation and they will clear any pronunciation doubt. After that, the teacher will ask students for any vocabulary doubt before making them practice with the script. When clearing any doubt the teacher will ask students to start practicing with the role-play. It is not necessary to study the lines since students will have the chance of acting it out with the aid of the script. After that, the teacher will ask students to start creating their own ending since that was one of the aims at the very beginning of the class. When finishing creating the enD of the story the teacher will ask students to perform it.
SCRIPT Life is complicated
BIBLIOGRAPHY Lutes,
B. (2014). The lion and the mouse. Retrieved from
Learnenglishkids.britishcouncil: https://bit.ly/3iMK1Df Advance-Africa.com.
(2019).
Be
Grateful.
https://www.advance-africa.com/be-grateful.html
Retrieved
fromÂ