Download METODOLOGÍA: ROLE PLAY AND SIMULATIONS

Metodología y Recursos…
Eva Fernández y Mari Carmen Valero
ROLE PLAY AND SIMULATIONS
PRACTICE
1. Booking into a hotel

Useful vocabulary. (To be written on the blackboard, as an orientation for
students).
- Businessman.
- Meeting room.
- Folder.
- Luggage.
- Reserve.
- Cancellation.
- Completed / Full.

Role-cards. Divide the students in pairs and give them these role-cards:
STUDENT A
- You are booking into a hotel where you have a reservation.
- You are on your own.
- You want:
o A shower.
o Breakfast in the morning.
- You have an early meeting and must not be late.
STUDENT B
- You are a hotel receptionist.
- Welcome the guest.
- Find him/her a room.
- You can’t find his/her reservation.
- You only have a double room with a bath available.
2. Picture role play
Time: 15 minutes.
You will need some photographs which reflect your class’s needs. Students use
these photographs to help them identify with a specific person in a particular situation.
See one example of a photograph in the attached document:
Picture role-play.jpg

Useful vocabulary and expressions.
PICTURE A
- Wife
- Husband
- Sweetheart
- Remote control
- To have an argument
- I can’t stand...
- What were you thinking about?
- What happened when...?
Metodología y Recursos…
Eva Fernández y Mari Carmen Valero
PICTURE B
- Andalusian frilly dress
- Lilo (colchoneta)
- Swimsuit
- I can’t stand...
- What were you thinking about?
- What happened when...?
Procedure:
1) Group the class according to the number of people in the photograph, (ideally pairs
or groups of three).
2) Ask each student in the groups to identify with a different person in the photograph.
3) Ask them to write down an imaginary biography of the person he or she has chosen.
4) Give your students time to think about the person they have chosen, and make sure
they all feel confident to talk about what is happening in the photograph before you
proceed.
5) Ask your students to interview each other in their roles.
3. The Lost Property Office.
Students attempt to claim back and object at the lost property office.
Take A and B cards from the attached document:
Role-play_The lost property office.jpg
You will need enough sets of A cards for half the class and enough sets of B
cards for half the class. Arrange all the briefcases together in a pile in random order, all
the handbags, etc.

Useful vocabulary and expressions. Ask students if they know the meaning of
these words before carrying out the activity.
-
Handbag
Briefcase
Wallet
Umbrella
Strap
Handle
- Leather
- Fabric
- Patterned
- Square
- Round
Excuse me...
What does it look like?
Would you mind...?
Metodología y Recursos…
Eva Fernández y Mari Carmen Valero
A mind map may be more useful:
Vocabulary:
-
- Square
- Round
Handbag
Briefcase
Wallet
Umbrella
- Leather
- Fabric
- Patterned
- Strap
- Handle
Expressions:
Excuse me...
What does it look like?
Would you mind...?
Procedure:
1) Organize your students in pairs, with one group of three if there is an odd number.
2) Give an A card to one student in the pairs, and a B card to the other student. Make
sure they do not show one another their cards.
3) If you like, you can demonstrate the role play with a pair of students, as follows:
- Student A begins the role play by asking if the lost property clerk (student B)
has the lost item on the card.
- If student B has picked up a card with the same picture as on student A’s
card, he or she will say ‘yes’ and give the card to student A. If student B has
picked up a different picture, he or she will say ‘no’, apologize, and the cards
will be replaced.
4) The students should then reverse roles, and the role play is carried out again.
5) The game is continued until all the cards have been picked up.
Here are two sample dialogues at a very simple level:
A Excuse me, I have lost my briefcase.
B Yes, madam, what does it look like?
A It is square and has my name on the front.
B Is this it?
and then either
A Yes, thank you very much.
B Would you mind signing for it here, please?
A Yes, of course.
or
A No, it is not like that. It is made of leather.
B Sorry, madam, this is the only one we have got.
A Oh, dear! What shall I do?
Metodología y Recursos…
Eva Fernández y Mari Carmen Valero
4. Igartiburu’s People.
The classroom is a TV show in which the presenter, Anne Igartiburu (also a
student), will interview different fictional characters. Students may disguise with
colorful clothes, wigs and hats.

Role-cards.
- For the presenter Igartiburu.
o You are Anne Igartiburu, a TV presenter.
o You are going to interview different fictional characters.
o Ask them…
- about basic data: who they are, why they are famous,
who their friends / enemies are,…
- about additional data: Their grandpa’s name, their
underwear size,…
- For the fictional characters.
- You are a fictional character from a book, a film, etc.
- Answer Igartiburu’s questions; you can make up some
facts according to your character’s personality.
5. Role switching.
Time: 15 minutes.
Divide the class into two groups.
They all choose a topic for discussion. One group will adopt the role of being
in favour of the idea suggested and the other group will be against it. These were the
topics discussed at our classroom:
- Monarchy: pro or against.
- Piracy: pro or against.
Explain that at a certain signal the roles pro and against will change. For
example, at one hand clap, or blast of a whistle, those who supported monarchy will be
now against it.
Continue swopping roles in this way until the time limit for the activity (15
minutes) is reached.


Useful vocabulary and expressions.
- Dictatorship.
- Democracy.
- Contribution of citizens.
- Freedom.
Auxiliary role-cards. If there is a student who does not speak, fill up the
role-card below with his/her name and a topic he/she could talk about. Then
give the role-card to one of their classmates, who will make the intended
question to his shy mate, in order to start a brief exchange between the two
of them.
Ask ______________________
about ______________________
Metodología y Recursos…
Eva Fernández y Mari Carmen Valero
6. Simulation: Super Market Magic.
Time: 1 ½ hours - 2 hours.
The simulation is a meeting to decide whether to introduce subliminal messages
onto taped supermarket music or not, in an attempt to fight shop-lifting.
Make enough photocopies of the notes to participants opposite, and prepare role
cards for the whole class. Make sure there are multiple copies of the library documents,
that is, the extract from the Home Office report, the newspaper articles, and the article
form Supermarket Management.
Procedure:
1) Organize students in groups of five to eleven.
2) As a warm-up, you can ask the class what they know about shop-lifting, and if they
have any anecdotes to tell. If this is not productive, move straight into the
simulation.
3) Distribute the notes to participants and talk through the situation with your students
to make sure everyone understands what is involved.
4) Distribute the role cards. Either let your students choose their own cards, or give
them out according to which role fits which student.
5) Set up the “library” on a table in the corner of the room, and explain to the students
that they may need to consult some of the documents in the “library” to help them
in their role, but not necessarily all of them.
6) Once the simulation begins, you should only be concerned with problems of
organization, and should not intervene in the process of decision-making.
7) When the allotted time is up, stop the simulation and bring the class together.
8) Conduct a feedback on:
- how the final decision was reached;
- any language problems that arose which you think need correcting.

Notes to all the participants.
You are about to take part in a meeting at which a decision will be taken on
whether or not to introduce subliminal messages onto taped supermarket
music in order to discourage people from shop-lifting. The people taking
part in the meeting are as follows:
- Mr/Ms. Brand, Managing Director of the ABC chain of supermarkets.
- Mr/Ms. Jones, Manager of the Rington branch of ABC Supermarkets.
- Mr/Ms. Smith, Assistant Manager of the Rington branch of ABC
Supermarkets.
- Mr/Ms. Stacey, representative of Marketing Magic Ltd (company
which sells tapes of canned music to supermarkets).
- Mr/Ms. Edmonds, President, National Consumer Association.
- Mr/Ms. Powell, Managing Director of Security Risks Ltd.
- Mr/Ms. Robinsons, a regular customer at the Rington branch.
You will find all the information you need on your role cards, and in the
documents in the “library” that you may consult freely. It is the Managing
Director’s job to start the meeting, act as a chairperson, and finally to make
sure that a decision is reached. Only Mr/Ms Brand, Mr/Ms Jones, and Mr/Ms
Smith take part in the decision-making. It is up to the other participants to
influence this decision in their own interest.
Metodología y Recursos…
Eva Fernández y Mari Carmen Valero
Mr/Ms Stacey, Mr/Ms Edmonds, Mr/Ms Powell, and Mr/Ms Robinson may
be played by one or two people according to the number of people taking
part in the simulation. It is also possible to leave out Mr/Ms Smith.
Library documents
- Extract from Home Office report on shop-lifting.
- Recent articles on shop-lifting from the Evening Post, the Daily
Record, and The Echo.
- An article from The Gazette on subliminal messages in supermarkets
in America.
- An article on “How to keep shop-lifters at bay” from Supermarket
Management.

Role cards.
See the following attached documents:
Simulation_Role card A.jpg
Simulation_Role card B.jpg
Simulation_Role card C.jpg
Simulation_Role card D.jpg
Simulation_Role card E.jpg
Simulation_Role card F.jpg

Library documents.
- Extract from Home Office report on shop-lifting. See the attached document:
Home Office report.jpg
- Recent articles on shop-lifting from the Evening Post, the Daily Record, and
The Echo. See the attached documents:
Simulation_The Evening Post.jpg
Simulation_The Daily Record.jpg
Simulation_The Echo.jpg
- An article from The Gazette on subliminal messages in supermarkets in
America. See the attached document: Simulation_The Daily Gazette.jpg
- An article on “How to keep shop-lifters at bay” from Supermarket
Management. See the attached document: Simulation_Supermarket
Management.jpg