ROLE PLAYING STORIES

GENERAL. Role-playing stories can add much fun to your class. Unless your students are extremely shy they will enjoy acting out the simple plots of our stories. Role-playing is also a great way to practice speaking. Our patterns and vocabulary are basic and should pose no problems to most students with even just a few months of English.

We find it is best to role-play often but not for long periods of time. This allows student to hear and practise basic patterns often, but saves those who are not acting out the story (at the time) from boredom.

Another relief for the non-acting students is to get them to be directors and camera-children. When you begin any performance, turn the lights off in the class and begin with, "Lights, camera ...action!" Choose one child to stand in front of the class and clap his or her hands together like a director’s assistant. One or two children can also pretend to video the performance. Afterwards ask the camera-children for their "tapes".

If you have a very large class think about pretending to sell tickets to the performance. Send the extra students outside to line up. Require a token from them before they can come in and watch the show. Enforce a no-talking rule during all performances. After each performance the audience students can line up for autographs. Don’t forget to get the students to speak English during these roles ("Here is my ticket. Can I have your autograph?") and not just grunt or gesture their way through it all.

HOW TO. To successfully role-play any story, the children must first know, and know well, the details of the story: such things as the plot, the characters, the action and the dialogue. This of course is obvious in one sense but it begs the important question:

How can they know the plot, characters and action in such a thorough way that they are capable of role-playing it successfully?

To begin, read a story to your class several times. Our stories are short and don’t require much exposure before kids start to know what is what. Reading a story several times goes a long way toward getting your kids to learn the dialogue. Unless your students are in their first month of English they will be able to repeat some lines or words after the second or third reading. You can point to a character and ask, "What does he say?" You can speak the lines of one character and then give an expectant look to your students. Start to say the next sentence, "I am….." Then, shrug your shoulders. Give the look you give when you want the students to answer you. Chances are someone will be able to fill in the rest of the sentence at this point.

The above, however, is just the start. The following is a guide for teaching your children a story so that they are capable of role-playing it with minimum supervision.

1. Role-play with the entire class.

Place the story pages, in order, on the board. Point to the first page. Read the lines and then act them out. Get the students to repeat with you (as a group) the lines of dialogue. Simultaneously perform the appropriate action. If you are teaching "The Little Green Boy", say "Hello, little boy. Hello, little green boy," with your students and wave "hello".

Working as a group, students can learn the actions and dialogue without fear of being singled out, or noticed. You may divide the class into groups to play the various characters. Again, have the whole group act out at once and without moving from their spot in the classroom. (You can teach positions later.)

After a few rounds of practise, say the lines of the story out of order. That is, say lines randomly (without pointing to a picture) and see if anyone can mime the actions? Alternatively, point to a picture and say the wrong line. Ask the class, "Yes or no?" Both these exercises will give you a sense of how well the students understand the story at this point.

2. Improve speaking.

Once you feel the students are familiar with the lines and actions (in a general sense) work on improving their speaking. To do this, treat the pages of the story like any other flashcard. Hold up the pages of the story and ask the student to "identify", the dialogue. ("What is he/she saying?")

Play simple board or action games. Place the story pages on the board and call out the dialogue from one page. Ask two students to run up and touch the correct page (just like they would a flashcard). Encourage the students to repeat the lines of dialogue after you. Then get the entire class to repeat.

3. Students play character roles.

Now (and please note this is not all happening on the same day) start to get the students to assume the roles of the characters. Act out the story in small groups. See the individual notes on each story below for specifics.

At first you may want to have two or three student actors mime their parts while you and the class say the lines. In this way the children can get comfortable with their parts before they have to speak. You may also let shy students role-play only in this way. Remember, a child who can act out lines that you are speaking is a child that understands what you are saying.

4. Final stage.

The final stage is to get the students to act and say their parts without your help (in reality, with minimum help from you). Choose "good" students at first to give an example. Don’t worry if you still have to prompt the students with their lines. Keep the story pages on the board so you can point to a picture to remind students what they are supposed to do (and say).

5. Conclusion. 
   
   Use your own judgment. If you have class twice a week then work on one story for two or three weeks, for perhaps 10 or 15 minutes a class. Don’t worry if the students aren’t perfect by the end. Go on to a new story before boredom and fatigue set in. Do however, go back to the first story occasionally for review. If your students are in elementary school prepare a tape for them of the story dialogue. Ask them to practise the lines at home.

THE TWO LITTLE FROGS: ROLE-PLAY NOTES

Call two children up to be the two little frogs. Choose another student to be the bird. Get this child to hide behind a door, or a desk, or simply have the child stand behind the two frog children.

Begin to act out the story, helping the children with their lines as required. Act out the first 7 pages of the story as they are written. On, the 8th page, when the 1st frog asks, "What hungry bird?" and the second replies, "That hungry bird," have the 2nd frog point to where-ever the bird student is hiding. The 1st frog turns and sees the bird. He is shocked and scared. He shouts, "Ahhhhh!" and runs away. The bird student follows.

Let the two children (the bird and frog) chase each other around the classroom for a few moments. After this you will have no problem getting volunteers to role-play the story again.