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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.

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.”

Improv scenarios