Using role play in teaching english for 10 th graders at nghi son high school

I INTRODUCTION Rationale In the process of industrialization and modernization, learning English is becoming the most concern of students in Viet Nam With more opportunities to use English in the future jobs, students, especially, at upper secondary schools find that the need to enhancing their language skills is becoming a matter of great urgency In order to meet the need of the learners, teachers are constantly challenged by the matter how to make English teaching and learning more communicative and effective For students at upper secondary level in Viet Nam, a general English course has been implemented which offers them different language skills including reading, listening, speaking and writing skills Of four language skills, speaking skills seem to be the most challenging skills for students to master The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency Learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest They should try to avoid confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation When teaching English speaking skills for 10 th graders at high school, it is noticed that the following skills might be seen as significant: - The ability to agree or disagree - The ability to identify people and places - The capability to express preferences - The skill to express opinions - The ability to ask for and give suggestions - The ability to report on what people are asking and saying - The ability to summarize a conversation To help students develop communicative efficiency in speaking, teachers can use a variety of activities to promote speaking ability of students Among the communicative activities using in teaching speaking skills, “role play” is useful for a wide range of purposes in class Aims of the Study The aims of the study are as follows: - To investigate the effectiveness of using role play in developing students’ speaking skills - To suggest some activities for some lessons in “Tieng Anh 10” 3.The subjects of studying the issue This issue is on the subjects of how to memorize the English language in the most natural way like the way a child learn to speak their mother tongue 4.The studying methods To carrying out this work, I use the following methods: 4.1.The method of studying and building up theory bases which is proved by language researchers 4.2.The method of doing survey, collecting information 4.3 The method of data counting and statistics II CONTENTS OF STUDYING THE ISSUE Theoretical background 1.1 Definitions of Role play Role play is one of communicative activities which give students the opportunity to demonstrate how to use English in real life situations and make them focus more on communication than on grammar Larsen-Freeman pointed out in her book "Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching", "Role-plays are very important in the Communicative Approach because they give students an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles." (p.137, Larsen-Freeman) According to Brown (2001), "role-play minimally involves (a) giving a role to one or more members of a group and (b) assigning an objective or purpose that participants must accomplish” Brown suggested role-play can be conducted with a single person, in pairs or in groups, with each person assigned a role to accomplish an objective (p 183) Mc Caslin (1995) introduced role play as having the following characteristics: It (role play) refers to the assuming of a role for the particular value it may have to the participant, rather for the development of an art….Role playing is what the young child does in a dramatic play, but it is also a tool used by psychologists and play therapists….According to Richard Courtney (1974), "Play, acting and thought are interrelated They are mechanisms by which the individual tests reality, gets rid of his anxieties, and masters his environment." (p.177)(p.10) In role play activity learners can participate as themselves or as somebody else in specific situation Students can act in various interaction patterns Ladousse (1989) supposes that the situation in role play can correspond to: - A real need in the learner’s lives (at the doctor, at the station), the learners may or may not have the direct experience; - The events that few learners will ever experience but which are easy to play (the journalist); - Fantasy roles which are imaginary, absurd and have nothing to with reality In short, Role-play is compared as any speaking activity when you put yourself into somebody else’s shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but yourself into an imaginary situation 1.2 Types of role play There are some types of role play activities that teachers should be aware to use in order to figure out which one is the most suitable for their students According to Littlewood (1994), role play can be divided into some types depending on the nature of information given to learners 1.2.1 Role-playing controlled through cued dialogues In this type learners are organized to work in pairs They are given the cues in the separate cards Each learner must listen to his partner before formulating a definite response Learners have their cues printed on separate cards Each learner must listen to his partner before formulating a definite response The cues enable them to predict and to prepare the general gist of their responses The teacher can elicit the appropriate forms which help learners later The cues control the functional meanings that learners have to express The social situation and relationship determine what kind of language is appropriate Teachers can prepare the activity by equipping the learners with suitable forms Two sets of cues must interlock closely, no cue produces an utterance which conflicts with what follows It limits the amount of creativity 1.2.2 Role-playing controlled through cues and information It has a more flexible framework Only one learner is given detailed cues The other has information that enables him to respond as necessary The main structure comes from one student who can improvise, introduce variations, the other one has to respond Mostly situations where one person needs to gather information or obtain a service The teacher’s control becomes looser and the learner’s scope for creativity increases The teacher is less able to equip the learners with the language forms that they will need There may be some gaps in the learner’s repertoire After the activity there should be the feedback session Both teachers and learners can see any difficulties that emerged and discuss them Learners perform at their own level of ability They sometimes produce inappropriate or incorrect language which will never be corrected because the teacher has no chance to correct everybody The emphasis in these activities is on practising the process of communication rather than on evaluating its product In the pre-communicative language practice the learner’s attention is focused on the forms he/she needs to learn These cued activities enable the teacher to control the interaction and to ensure that learners express a particular range of meanings The cues provide learners with a supportive framework 1.3 Role-playing controlled through situation and goals Gives learners greater responsibility for creating the interaction themselves It is now directed at the higher level of situation and the goals that learners have to achieve through communication The learners are initially aware only of the overall situation and their own goals in it They must negotiate the interaction itself 1.4 Role-playing in the form of debate or discussion The situation is a debate or discussion about a real or simulated issue The learners should have adequate shared knowledge about the issue, different opinions to defend At the end they have to reach a concrete decision or have to vote At first learners must digest the information relevant to the issue, then they must discuss in a small-group They must present their ideas in a more public context, higher level of formality is expected 1.5 Large-scale simulation activities Consist of more modules, each expected to last three or four hours They are suitable for advanced learners They provide a realistic and integrated context for foreign language use 1.6 Improvisation The last type of role-playing, the least controlled Learners are often presented only with a stimulus-situation, which they can interpret and exploit in any way they wish They may be asked to adopt particular identities or personality types The starting point may be a simple everyday situation into which the learners are asked to project themselves For the students at upper secondary school, it seems that the first type of role play is quite boring because the dialogues here are simple and not very creative However, the second and the third type enable students to develop their creativity The fact is that teenagers are interested in making up various situations in which they can express their imagination This can motivate students highly and fully In addition, the teacher can easily help students with the forms and vocabulary necessary for the particular situation 1.7 Principles in using role play Some principles are suggested as follow: 1.7.1 Regardless of what type of role-play you intend to do, it is imperative that students feel comfortable with the necessary structures and vocabulary This makes role-plays ideal for the final lesson on a particular topic If students perform well, move on to the next chapter and if students struggle, any mistakes in the following lesson The feedback given in any role-play lesson should be primarily positive and focus on pronunciation, acting, and creativity Role-plays are about encouraging your students and building their self confidence 1.7.2 Mini-role plays can be done in any lesson as a practice activity Rather than just practice the model dialogue in pairs or groups, encourage students to be creative and use props to better reflect a real life situation Students should have some space to move about the classroom and be given extra time to practice If the model dialogue is four to six sentences total, a practice activity in pairs may take five minutes with only two or three demonstrations while a minirole play of the same length may take ten to fifteen minutes to prepare with about ten minutes for performances 1.7.3 Role-plays can also take an entire lesson especially if students are put in groups instead of in pairs A lesson such as this would be ideal after several lessons on the same topic A directions themed role play might be best in groups of three or four where each student must say a minimum of three or four lines Structuring the activity in this way will give your students some easy guidelines to follow You can prepare your students by explaining the activity at the end of a class, placing them in their groups, and asking them to think about what they would like to Suggest that they bring in any props they would like to use and try to provide some if possible 1.8 Steps of using role play For the role play activities in the classes, six major steps in the procedure are advised to exploit: 1.8.1 Decide on the Teaching Material The teacher must decide which teaching materials will be used for role play activities The teaching materials can be taken from text books or non-textbook teaching materials such as picture books, story books, readers, play-scripts, comic strips, movies, cartoons and pictures The material is selected ahead of time by the teacher The teacher can also create his or her own authentic teaching materials for role play activities The teaching materials should be decided based on students' level and interests, teaching objectives and appropriateness for teaching 1.8.2 Select Situations and Create Dialogs Then a situation or situations to be role played should be selected For every role plays situation, dialogs should be provided (by the teaching materials or by the teacher) or created by the students themselves 1.8.3 Teach the Dialogs for Role Plays The teacher needs to teach the vocabulary, sentences, and dialogs necessary for the role play situations The teacher needs to make sure the students know how to use the vocabulary, sentences and dialogs prior to doing the role play activities, otherwise, the teacher should allow students to ask how to say the words they want to say 1.8.4 Have Students Practice the Role Plays Students can practice in pairs or in small groups After they have played their own roles a few times, have them exchange roles That way, students can play different roles and practice all of the lines in the role play When students are confident enough to demonstrate or perform in front of the class, the teacher can ask them to so for their classmates 1.8.5 Evaluate and Check Students' Comprehension Finally, the teacher shall evaluate the effectiveness of the role play activities and check if students have successfully comprehended the meanings of the vocabulary, sentences and dialogs There are several ways to student evaluations Students can be given oral and listening tests relating to the role plays Practical background There are many benefits of using role play Furness (1976) stated that a child can enjoy and profit from a role play experience "in terms of improved communication skills, creativity, increased social awareness, independent thinking, verbalization of opinions, development of values and appreciation of the art of drama."(p.19) Ladousse (2004) indicated that "role play is one of a whole gamut of communicative techniques which develops fluency in language students, which promotes interaction in the classroom, and which increases motivation." (p.7) In addition, he pointed out that role play encourages peer learning and sharing the responsibility for learning between teacher and student He suggested role play to be "perhaps the most flexible technique in the range" of communicative techniques, and with suitable and effective role-play exercises, teachers can meet an infinite variety of needs.(Ladousse,2004,p.7) Especially, lack of the teachers' background knowledge and suitable ways to lead their students into the new lesson is one of the important factors that can make students bored and ignore the lesson 3 Solutions to the problems In order to help students improve their listening, speaking and overall communicative skills, I have designed and conducted six role play activities for my students to practice and use English in a more meaningful way as a practical language, and the results of my students’ learning are quite positive They found it easier to express themselves in English Activity 1: In the library Unit 3: People’s Background (Tieng Anh 10, 2006, p.32, 33)-Reading period Aim: This activity can be used at post-stage when students have finished their reading tasks, which help them to ask for and give information about a famous scientist Patterns of interaction: pair work Material: cue card per student Student A: You need to write an essay about a famous person (Marie Curie) You arrive at a library In the library, you meet the librarian - Ask if there is a book about Marie Curie - Ask some information about this scientist such as date, place of birth, her career, her achievement - Say what time you would like to pay the book back Student B: You are the librarian of a library You know the information about Marie Curie then offer some information about her using the information you’ve read in the reading passage Time allowed: 10 minutes Procedure: Get students to work in pairs Ask them to use the card and set up the conversation Remind students with the way to open and close the conversation Activity 2: At a school Unit 4: Special Education (Tieng Anh 10, 2006, p.44, 45)- Reading period Aim: This activity can be used at post-stage when students have finished their reading tasks It gives learners greater responsibility for creating the interaction themselves and they must negotiate the interaction itself Patterns of interaction: pair work Material: Offer the situation for students Student A: You have a son who is deaf You are at the school for disabled children, talking to Miss Thuy who is the teacher at this school You wish to take your son to this school However, you need some information about the school, class and the result of students’ studying Student B: You are Miss Thuy You see a a man taking his son to your school You talk to him and persuade him why his son should learn here using the information you have in the reading passage Time allowed: 10 minutes Procedure: Get students to work in pairs Ask them to use the situation and make the conversation Remind students with the way to open and close the conversation Activity 3: Asking the way Unit 8: The story of my village (Tieng Anh 10, 2006, p.87 )- Writing period Aim: To practise vocabulary concerning buildings and prepositions To be able to give and follow directions, to ask about the way This activity can be long with some stages and teacher can this activity in an optional lesson Patterns of interaction: Whole class, pair work Materials: Strips with split sentences, worksheets ‘Asking the way’, role play cards ‘Asking the way’ ASKING THE WAY There are a lot of places and buildings in the town Do you know where to go if you want to: a) buy some clothes given by other people ……………………… b) watch a film ……………………… c) send letters or buy stamps ……………………… d) leave your car and walk in the town ……………………… e) buy a magazine or a newspaper ……………………… f) get some headache pills ……………………… g) have your clothes cleaned ……………………… h) announce that someone has stolen your car ……………………… i) exchange money ……………………… j) dance and listen to music ……………………… k) buy a pair of trainers ……………………… l) buy different kinds of goods ……………………… m) stay in the town over the night ……………………… n) buy bread and cakes ……………………… o) see the doctor ……………………… p) have some drink and food ……………………… q) buy a dictionary ……………………… r) use a computer and have something to drink ……………………… s) buy some new clothes ……………………… t) have a meal ……………………… the police station the charity shop the internet café the bookshop the baker’s the bank the disco the snack bar the cinema the dry cleaner’s the hospital the shoe shop the post office the supermarket the fashion the chemist the newsagent’s The Chinese restaurant the car park the Swan hotel boutique ASKING THE WAY Where is the Tourist Information Centre? Student A Look at the map There are ten buildings which have not been marked They are the following: Your partner has a map too and knows where these buildings are Ask him/ her questions to find out When you know, mark them on the map Your partner also has missing buildings and will ask you questions (Note: the Tourist Information centre, the railway station, St John’s church and the Red Lion pub appear on both maps so you can talk about them when you give directions, e.g It’s opposite the tourist information centre, etc.) Take it in turns with your partner to ask and answer questions Ask: Where is the …? Answer: It’s in … It’s the first/second building on the right/ left in … It’s next to/ opposite/ between … and … etc ASKING THE WAY Where is the Tourist Information Centre? Student B: Look at the map below There are ten buildings which have not been marked They are the following: the post office the the car park Chinese the bookshop restaurant the baker’s the cleaner’s the cinema dry the the supermarket fashion the Swan hotel boutique Your partner has a map too and knows where these buildings are Ask him/ her questions to find out When you know, mark them on the map Your partner also has missing buildings and will ask you questions (Note: the Tourist Information centre, the railway station, St John’s church and the Red Lion pub appear on both maps so you can talk about them when you give directions, e.g It’s opposite the tourist information centre, etc.) Take it in turns with your partner to ask and answer questions Ask: Where is the …? Answer: It’s in … It’s the first/second building on the right/ left in … It’s next to/ opposite/ between … and … etc ASKING THE WAY Role play cards 1A 1B You have just arrived in the town You are in You live in the town Now you are in front of front of the car park and you want to know how the car park A man/woman stops you and asks to get to the Chinese restaurant Stop a passer- you for help by and ask 2A 2B You have just arrived in the town by train You You live in the town You are at the railway are at the railway station and you want to go to station and someone asks you for help the Swan hotel Ask someone for help 3A 3B You stay at the Swan hotel Tonight you want You are a receptionist at the Swan hotel One of to go to the cinema Ask the receptionist about the guests asks you how to get to the cinema the way, 4A Explain the route 4B You are in this town for the first time You have You have just come out of the Red Lion pub lost your way Now you are in front of the Red Someone stops you and asks you for help Lion pub Ask someone how to get to the fashion boutique 5A 5B You are in this town on holidays for two weeks Your niece/nephew stays at your house for two You stay at your aunt’s house which is next to weeks She/he wants to send a letter Give the bookshop You want to send a letter Ask her/him some advice your aunt how to get to the post office 6A 6B When you were going out of the snack bar you You are a waiter at the snack bar One of your fell down and injured your hand Ask the guests has had an accident He/she asks you for waiter where the hospital is 7A help 7B You have come to this town on a short trip You You work at the newsagent’s One of the were cycling When you were buying a customers has had an accident – someone has newspaper at the newsagent’s someone stole stolen his/her bike Help him/ her your bike Ask how to get to the police station 8A 8B You are a visitor to this town You stay at the You are a shop assistant at the shoe shop Swan hotel Now you are in front of the shoe Someone comes to the shop and asks for help shop and you got lost Ask the shop assistant about the way to the hotel Time allowed: 45 minutes This activity can be used in optional lesson Stage 1(exercise 1) Places and buildings • Distribute the worksheets with exercise Students work in pairs Give them about ten minutes to finish the task • When the pairs have finished, let them check their work by comparing their handouts • For feedback ask some pairs to read out the completed task If there are any difficulties concerning the pronunciation, practise the sentences with students • Now the pairs turn over the worksheets Ask them questions: e.g Where can you buy some clothes given by other people? Where can you get headache pills? Where can you buy a dictionary? Students should know and remember all the expressions from this exercise • Key: buy some clothes given by other people charity shop watch a film cinema send letters or buy stamps post office leave your car and walk in the town car park buy a magazine or a newspaper get some headache pills have your clothes cleaned announce that someone has stolen your car exchange money dance and listen to music buy a pair of trainers buy different kinds of goods stay in the town over the night buy bread and cakes see the doctor newsagent’s chemist’s dry cleaner’s police station bank disco shoe shop supermarket the Swan hotel baker’s hospital have some drink and food snack bar buy a dictionary bookshop use a computer and have something to drink internet café buy some new clothes fashion boutique have a meal the Chinese restaurant Stage 2(exercise 2) Where is the tourist information centre? • Introduce the activity by asking where places are in your neighbourhood, e.g.: Where is the supermarket/post office/cinema? Elicit answers such as: It is in … Street / opposite the …/It is next to the … , etc Write some simple ways of indicating location on the board for reference if necessary • Students work in pairs Give each student the appropriate handout Stress that they must not look at each other’s handouts Explain that they each have the same town plan with twenty-four buildings marked on it Fourteen buildings are named and ten are blank • It is possible that some weak students will not understand English instructions, which could spoil the activity Therefore you can explain everything in mother tongue but encourage students to use only English when doing this exercise Be prepared that your students will make mistakes while speaking and not interrupt them by correcting them The main aim is to make oneself understood • Draw students’ attention to the expressions ‘right and left side’ when describing the position, they should use them from the front view • Sit the pairs back to back and get them to ask each other questions in turn until they have labelled all the blank buildings Allow them ten minutes for this • Pairs check by looking at each other’s maps • For feedback ask: Where is the …? Get a different student to answer each time Then ask students to turn over their handouts and work in their pairs to write a list of the twenty-four buildings from memory Congratulate anyone who remembers more than twenty Stage 3(exercise 3) Useful phrases • Students work in pairs Distribute the handouts with exercise • Students try to guess the meaning of the sentences They write them on the lines • For check let students read through the English and Vietnamese expressions • Explain to students that these are the sentences from the warm-up activity at the beginning of the lesson and that they will need to know the structures by heart for the following role play Give them some time to learn the structures Then one of the students in pair says the Vietnamese sentences and the other one translates After this they change roles • Some students may find it difficult to remember all the phrases by heart You should enable them to use this worksheet when doing their role play and memorize the structures at home At the beginning of the next lesson you can revise the role play, this time students not have to use their notes Stage (exercise 4) Role play ‘Asking the way’ • Students work in pairs Give them the appropriate handouts Explain to them that they will make the dialogues according to the maps from exercise Allow them some time to prepare their roles Encourage students to use the structures and vocabulary from the preceding activities • Start the role play Set the time limit of five minutes Monitor the activity Do not intervene at this stage Note down any mistakes students make because it will be useful in the feedback session • After the time limit is out collect the role play cards and distribute them again Now each pair has different role play cards Do this several times so that students try different roles • For feedback invite some pairs to perform the role play in front of the class Discuss the mistakes and possible problems Effectiveness of the Teaching Experience After the role play activities were exploited in the class students were asked several questions concerning the activities they had experienced The results of this questionnaire may not seem reliable because there are 38 students in the class of English conversation It is a mixed-ability group where both strong and weak students can be found The questions were given to students in their mother tongue to figure out students’ thought about these activities I think that role play is Responses: a) useful; I will use some of the phrases in future 33 b) useless; it is waste of time Which role play was the most interesting for you? a) Activity b) Activity c) Activity Responses: Activity 1: Activity 2: Activity 3: Would you like to spend more time on practising the structures? Responses: Yes: 26 No: 12 Do you think that role play can contribute to your fluency in speaking? Responses: Yes: 28 No: 10 According to the survey all the students have found role play practical and they think they may use some of the phrases in future They realized that some of the activitiess were attractive for them, for example, activity 2,3 The most favourite role play was activity It seems that with more time to with the activity and more stage in the activity, students found it interesting These responses would be helpful for the teacher Thus he/she could prepare activities which are highly motivating because students are always eager to study the items they are interested in Many students confirmed that they would need more time for practising the structures All the pupils responded positively about the effectiveness of role play They also confirmed that this method could contribute to their speaking fluency, which was the main aim of this work These suggested activities have been applied in my teaching to 10 th students at Nghi Sơn upper secondary school and they seem to be useful to students In order to make a comparison to figure out the effectiveness, these activities were employed at class 10A in school year 2015-2016 Meanwhile, no role play activity was used at class 10C Instead, teacher only used some discussions in this part It is interesting that most of the students of the two classes showed different reactions to the lessons Most of the students at class 10A with total of 38 students found it eager and more comfortable with playing role This was shown through their high motivation and interest in learning, their active participation in activities and then many students at low levels could carry out the tasks by themselves Asked about the role play activities, 95% of students enjoyed participating in these activities enthusiastically Moreover, a considerable number of the students found role play activity helpful for them to have something related to the topic in their mind and develop their communicative ability in English As a result, students’ communicative competence, to some extent, has been improved during the school years That also proved that students always wanted their teacher to motivate them by organizing interesting activities and creating comfortable learning atmosphere In contrast, students in class 10C seem to give a negative feedback They said that they felt hard to discuss the topics after the lessons They also claimed that sometimes they were not in the right mood to the discussion tasks because of the learning atmosphere and their bad health From the results above, it might be said that role play activity can bring students out of boredom and support them energy to the tasks Role play activities enable students to learn from each other and make them feel more confident to give out their answers in English III CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS Conclusions In conclusion, after trying to apply the adaptation techniques to design role play activities for lessons at Nghi Sơn upper-secondary school with the participants of 10th graders, it has been revealed that students are more eager to study speaking skills The adaptation and creation of role play activities in an easier and more familiar with their real life makes the students more confident in carrying out conversation followed because, to some extent, they have more confidence with their speaking The fact is that the presented activities have worked well in my classroom However, you can adapt them in order to fit your teaching style and your students Many of these activities can be modified and used as regular classroom activities It can be easily prepared and enhance the students’ motivation before class In this paper, I share my experiences with you, the teachers of English, with the hope that we can help the students improve skills in learning English in general and speaking skills in particular 2.Proposals By the way, I would like to send my proposals to the leaders of the Department of Education and Training I would like to say that the excellent experienced ideas which were recognized by The Departure of Education and Training should be widely popularized so that we can learn more from other colleagues’ experiences in order build up our teaching ability REFERENCES Al-Arishi, A Y (1994) Role-play, real-play, and surreal-play in the ESOL classroom ELT Journal, 48(4), 337-346 Brown, H.D (1994) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching N.J.:Prentice Hall Regents Furness, P (1976) Role-play in the Elementary School: A Handbook for Teachers New York: Hart Publishing Company, Inc HARMER, J., How to Teach English, Harlow: Longmann Group UK Limited, 2004 Ladousse, G P (2004) Role Play Oxford: Oxford University Press LITTLEWOOD, W., Communicative Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994 KLIPPEL, F., Keep Talking, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991 Rodriguez, R J & White, R H (1983) From Role Play to the Real World, Methods That Work, (pp 246-255) Rowley, MA, USA: Newbury House Publishers, Inc Xác nhận thủ trưởng đơn vị Thanhhóa, ngày 02/ 6/ năm 2017 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, không chép nội dung người khác Ngườithựchiện: Lê Thị Kim Lợi  ... Explain to students that these are the sentences from the warm-up activity at the beginning of the lesson and that they will need to know the structures by heart for the following role play Give them... students by explaining the activity at the end of a class, placing them in their groups, and asking them to think about what they would like to Suggest that they bring in any props they would like... know the information about Marie Curie then offer some information about her using the information you’ve read in the reading passage Time allowed: 10 minutes Procedure: Get students to work in