Improv scenarios

Role-play: Work problems

A1: You are a project manager who has been assigned to a new project. One of the members of your new team is not co-operating with the other team members. He opposes every idea, causes conflict, and is generally difficult to work with. Talk to him and solve the problem.

B1: You have worked for this company for 10 years and you feel unappreciated. You started to work on a new project with co-workers who are not so experienced as you are and you think your manager is incompetent. You complain a lot because things do not work as they should. Your manager wants to talk to you.

Role-play: Negotiation

A1: You have too much on your plate right now and you need help with your English essay assignment which is due on Friday. Ask your classmate for help. What would you be willing to do for them if they helped you? Think of the things you are willing to offer:..., ..., ...

B1: Your classmate needs your help with the English essay assignment which is due on Friday. You might consider helping them if they can provide the right incentives. Think of four things you want for helping them(can’t be money): ...,...,...,...

If they agree with three of the four, you might consider helping them.

Role-play: Traveling

A1: You are a receptionist of a 5* hotel. You are very polite and you can deal with annoyed guests. Try to calm down the guest and solve any issues they have. Try to avoid calling the manager.

B1: You are a wealthy businessman staying at a 5* hotel. You are used to quality service and luxury, but this hotel doesn’t offer it. The room is too small, staff is rude, AC is noisy. You want to talk to the manager.

Surveyed on the Street

Goal: Students will learn how to answer information questions and how to politely end a conversation quickly.

Key words/phrases:

Questions / Answers (More information questions than simple yes/no questions)

Avoidance language (I’m sorry, I’m in a hurry. I don’t have time right now. I’ve got to pick up my daughter at her dance class.)

Cold presentation (Cold greeting, quick presentation, participant capture)

Description: Imagine the situation: You’re walking down the street, and someone comes at you with a clipboard and a smile and asks you if you have a few minutes to take a “quick” survey. Students will be paired off, with one person very determined to give the survey, and the other trying to get on with their day.

Have a variety of survey ideas on hand, and encourage the person giving the survey to come up with suitable questions. Some survey topic ideas include political surveys, a basic survey of the neighborhood’s demographics a survey meant to canvass for a particular product (e.g. “Try our new chocolate bar and give your opinion”) and any other interesting topics you and your students might come up with.

Meanwhile, the survey takers can be given personality cards, to encourage them to respond in different ways. They might be in a hurry (give very short answers), they might hate surveys (refuse to answer or give incorrect answers) or they might be the opposite and be extremely talkative (give the survey taker winding answers that keep getting distracted from the main point). Have fun with it!

 International Space Station

Goal: Students practice identifying, discussing and resolving problems and conflicts using various methods and language skills.

Key words/phrases:

Critical language (Who brings a bag of seeds into space anyway?)

Descriptive language (It’s long and green, it’s got three eyes, it looks like…)

Instructional language (Try turning it to the left, you need to open the lid like this…)

Questions (Did you look under the control panel? When was the last time you saw it?)

Description: In this activity, students pretend to be visiting or working on the International Space Station. Assign roles to students, like astronauts and wealthy space tourists, but also more outside-the-box options like a school teacher invited to give science lessons from space or a common man who has won the visit in a lottery.

Each type of person would think and speak differently! Encourage students to have fun with it. Being enclosed in a vehicle that travels at thousands of miles an hour at zero gravity can lead to some pretty odd situations. Here are a few ideas to get students talking:

Someone brought sunflower seeds to munch on and they’re floating everywhere.

A piece of disgusting space garbage is floating outside the window.

Someone sees an extraterrestrial outside the window.

Cabin pressure drops and everyone has to find ways to fix the problem.

Set some ground rules by ensuring that students go through each scenario by identifying the problem or issue, discussing the issue and resolving it. It’s a fun way to practice conflict resolution in English.

You can get fun with this by adding props. For instance, an old TV remote can act as a communication device, your ESL textbook can double as a handbook for fixing something on the station, etc.

Let’s Get Down to Business

Goal: Students practice going over an agenda, running a meeting or giving a business presentation.

Language used:

Business-related terms (agenda, email, meeting, etc.)

Sequence words and phrases (It’s time to get started. Who would like to go first?)

Asking questions in a professional setting (I have a question concerning ___. What is our timeline for ___?)

Description: This role play is directed towards older students and gives them the chance to practice their business English. Encourage the “boss” to open the meeting with a greeting and a purpose for the meeting. The “employees” should be encouraged to ask questions and offer thoughts and opinions related to the topic of the “meeting.”

What’s great about this role play is that you can adapt it to any type of situation; you could assign groups of students to different types of business meetings. For example, one meeting might be an advertising meeting while another might be a downsizing meeting.

Bizarre Job Interviews

(kiwi picker in New Zealand, tiger tooth cleaner)

Goal: Students think outside the box in an interview setting and prepare to respond spontaneously to less common interview questions.

You will need to have made a few worksheets for each job interviewer ahead of time. A fun twist is to let the interviewer know which job the interviewee will be interviewing for, but to keep the interviewee in the dark until the activity begins.

For example, let’s say Student A has a list of questions to ask Student B, the interviewee. Student A might read, “How did you hear about the position for tiger tooth cleaner?” Student B will need to spontaneously come up with an answer.

Student B should also have an opportunity to ask the interviewer any questions he or she may have about the job. For example, “How many tigers are there?” This will evoke a quick, spontaneous response from Student A. Your students should switch roles among the different interview tables and bizarre jobs.

Sinking ship discussion cards

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/speaking-practice/discussion-starters-speaking-cards/people/problem-solving-2-the-sinking-ship/43939#google_vignette

Antarctic Development

Background: The Antarctic Development Commission and the Antarctic Protection League are facing off in a televised debate to inform the public.

The ADC wants permission to dig, mine and drill in this pristine region, while the APL is committed to limiting such development and preserving the continent’s natural state. On one side is cheap fossil fuels and minerals; on the other stands the wildlife and unique beauty of the last unspoiled wilderness.

Gameplay: The two teams must prepare their approaches and offer compromises to the other which ensure the protection of wildlife and the natural environment, while accepting that some form of development is almost inevitable. This is a perfect test-case for the notion of trickle-down economics.

Debating Skills: The Bridge

Background: While her husband is working away, a woman crosses the bridge in the center of her village to spend the night with her lover. She’s woken the next morning by gunfire and explosions. A civil war has broken out, trapping her on this side of the bridge. When she approaches the bridge, she’s turned away.

She asks her lover for money to bribe the soldier, but he refuses and insists that she stay permanently with him. A family friend also refuses to help, disappointed by her affair. When she tries to rush across the bridge, the soldier follows his orders and shoots her dead. Who’s responsible for the death of the woman?

Gameplay: This ESL classic has many variants. Feel free to add more characters, or color them in different ways (the soldier is drunk, his command officer is a megalomaniac, the husband has a girlfriend where he works, the lover is a serial marriage-wrecker, etc.) and assign roles to your students, who will then try to convince the class that they’re the least responsible for her murder.

At the end, everyone votes for the most (five points) to the least (one point) responsible character, and the votes are totaled

“You’re a father at a bakery, trying to buy a cake with your child’s favorite cartoon character. The baker has never heard of this character. You need to describe how the character looks so that the baker can create the cake you want.”