resolve their conflicts.short roleplay activity requires no materials apart from a blackboard. The situation is actually roleplayed twice, with some phrases for politely disagreeing introduced before the second round. The idea behind this is that the first round will hopefully help the students realise the importance of being polite in order to avoid arguments, and so they will be more receptive to the new language which helps them achieve this.only that these sentences are from two different people, A and B. Ask, Who are these two people, and what are they talking about? Give the students a minute or two to discuss it with a partner (make it clear that they should only discuss your question, not attempt to roleplay the situation yet!). The fact that A and B are housemates, and then explain the situation in more detail: they are not close friends, but they are living together in order to save money. However, lately B has been quite annoyed by some of A's habits. Write these habits on the blackboard, explaining them at the same time :: * plays loud music (all the time!)
* leaves his/her things all over the house (books, clothes, bags, etc on chairs, tables, and even the floor)
* doesn t pass on messages (if one of B s friends calls and leaves a message, A never remembers to pass it on)
* never buys food (when they moved in they agreed that A would buy the food one week, B the next week, and so on) who probably starts the conversation. B, of course. Suggest a polite conversation starter, such as:
Could I have a word with you please? get the students to roleplay the situation in pairs. Afterwards, get some feedback from a few pairs. Was the conflict resolved, and if so how? Introduce and drill some phrases for politely disagreeing:
* No offense, but ... (I do not like your music)
* I see your point, but ... (I have a bad memory)
* I understand your feelings, but ... (I can t concentrate) get the students to swap roles and repeat the activity, making use of the new phrases. It sa good idea to get them to swap partners too-this should help keep the momentum up. At the end, get more feedback on how their conversations turned out.you intend to ask the students to swap roles and also swap partners before the second round, you should plan it carefully to avoid wasting time. In most of my classes, the desks are arranged in three columns which are each two desks wide, so here is the way I managed it: for the first round, I assigned roles so that everybody on the left-hand desk was A and the others were B (check that everybody knows their role by getting them to put their hands up). Then for the second round, I simply asked all the A students to stand up and move to the desk in front of them.Roleplays, each character's three prompt sentences could be written on a roleplay card instead of on the blackboard. In this case, the 4 conflicts still need to be written on the board.the Differences: 10-15 min: Oral fluency practice: Students speak in order to find the differences between two similar pictures.is a well-known activity, and a classic example of the principle of an information gap in communicative activities. If you put two pictures in front of a pair of students and tell them to talk about the differences, there is not much to motivate them. But if you arrange the activity so that each student only sees one picture, then an information gap is created. Cooperating with their partner to identify the differences becomes an act of genuine communication.suitable pairs of pictures are provided in many modern textbooks, this activity is included here to remind teachers that it is not too difficult to create picture pairs by oneself, especially with access to the internet. For example, cartoons can be adapted. A suitable picture can be found to fit with almost any theme-based lesson.first step is to find a suitable picture. These might come from books and magazines, or from the internet. For example, try a search on Google Images (note that the Advanced Image Search allows you to limit your results to black and white, or a particular size). There are also several websites which sell cartoons online, such as CartoonStock.Discussions that Work (Cambridge University Press, 1981), Penny Ur writes:
The preparation of such pictures is fairly simple and fun to do. You need a black and white line drawing (not photograph) with a fair amount of detail but without shades of grey (these do not reproduce well). The content of the drawing should not entail vocabulary beyond the level of the students. You photocopy it and then make the requisite number of alterations to the original drawing, using either a black fibre-tip pen (for additions) or white type-correcting fluid (for erasures...
