49 ESL Conversation Games & Activities - Jackie Bolen 2020
Role-plays
English conversation games and activities for all levels
Skills: Writing/Speaking/Listening
Time: 20-40 minutes
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials Required: Nothing
Give the students a conversation starter to get them going. For example, if talking about feelings in class that day, consider using the following:
A: Hey ..., how are you doing?
B: I'm great, how are you?
A: I'm ... (sad, embarrassed, angry, bored, etc.). ***Anything besides, “I'm fine, thank you, and you?” is good. ****
B: Oh? What's wrong?
A: ... .
B: ... .
Another context that I often use this activity with is illness or injury. For example:
A: Hey ..., you don't look (sound) so good! What's wrong?
B: Oh yeah, I'm not good. I ... .
A: Really? ... .
B: ... .
A: ... .
Another context that I use this with is excuses. For example:
A: Hey ..., you're ... minutes late!
B: I'm really sorry. I've been/I had to ... .
A: Hmmm . . . ....
Give the students about ten minutes to write the conversation with their partner. Adjust the number of lines and how detailed of a starter given to suit the ability level of the students. For lower level students, it can be helpful to have a word bank on the board relevant to the context so that the writing portion of this activity doesn't get too long (you could also provide them with a detailed, fill in the blank script).
Then, the students memorize their conversation (no papers when speaking!), and do a roleplay it in front of their classmates if you have a small class of less than ten. Remember to try to maximize the amount of time students are talking.
With a larger class, there are a few different ways to handle this. Pairs can come up to your desk and show you their conversation while the other students are working on something else. Another option is to use it as a speaking test of some kind. Or, each pair could join with one or two other groups and perform for them. One final option is to have students make a video of themselves and put it up on YouTube.
I really like this activity because it's perfect for lower level students who want to practice “conversation” but don't quite have the skills to do this on their own.
Teaching Tips:
Having students make conversations is very useful for practicing functional language and speaking sub-skills. I usually choose one or two functions to mention when I'm giving the instructions for the activity and provide a bit of coaching and language input surrounding that, depending on the level—beginners will need more help.
The functions in particular that fits well with partner conversations include agreeing, disagreeing, apologizing, and asking advice. The sub-skills to emphasize are things like turntaking, initiating a conversation, speaking for an appropriate length of time, stress and intonation, responding (really?), and cohesive devices, particularly noun pronoun reference: A: I saw a movie last night. B: Which one did you see? A. I saw Ironman. It was good.
This truly is one of the most useful things to do in conversation classes, especially for beginner or intermediate students so make sure to try it out at least once or twice over the course of a semester. It gives students a chance to have a real conversation which will build a lot of confidence but they won't have the pressure of coming up with something to say on the spot. That said, it's gets boring if you do this every class; I generally do it about once a month for a class that meets twice a week over the course of a semester.
Procedure:
1. Prepare a conversation starter.
2. (Optional) Pre-teach some language that students could use, if you haven't done that already in your lesson.
3. Write the conversation starter on the whiteboard, powerpoint, or on a handout.
4. Have students complete the conversation in pairs. Then, they must prepare to speak by memorizing and adding in stress and intonation. Give some individual help if possible to each pair to assist them in knowing what to stress and how to do it.
5. Have students stand up and “perform” their conversation if you have a small class. In larger classes, there are a few other options (see above).
6. Reward teams for interesting conversations, good acting (no reading), and correct grammar/vocabulary.