Role Play
2015 World Languages Meet
Language Resource Center
Kutztown University
Kutztown, PA 19530
T 484-646-5865
F 610-683-4618
lrc@kutztown.edu
http://www.kutztown.edu/
LanguageResourceCenter
Description:
Teams are each given a scenario and characters that they may be asked to play. They are given 20
minutes to plan who will play which role. As the preparation time is limited and participants will not know
what scenario they will ultimately pull, they will not be able to plan the actual dialogues just general ideas
for character development. This challenge tests students’ ability to develop spontaneous dialogue in
Intermediate - Advanced level situations.
Rules for Role Play:
The objective of the role play is to promote improvisational dialogue skills in the target language.
1.During the prep period teams can plan a quick basic strategy based upon the scenarios and characters
for all of the scenarios (approximately one minute of prep time per scenario). The objective is not to
prepare the actual dialogue but the storyline and interactions. This may be done in the L1 or L2.
2.The order of presentation is based on a random drawing of team names.
3.Directly before going on stage, one team member will draw a scenario. This scenario will be announced
by a KU student volunteer and the participants who are presenting as well as their characters will also be
introduced.
4.Role plays must be between 3 and 5 minutes in length. The KU student volunteer will act as time keeper
and will indicate with signs time markers for competitors reference.
5.Teams are not allowed to continue planning while other teams are presenting. Violation of this rule is
grounds for immediate disqualification.
Hints for Success:
• Practicing improv
• Practicing prepared skits: focusing on character development and actions
• A consultation with school theater director
• Colloquial terms, slang, regional linguistic differences that may lead to miscommunications and examples
of cultural humor
• One-way dialogues: take an unknown skit and remove half of the dialogue
• Use theater improv as classroom warmup activities
• Look at examples in curriculum texts where dialogue aids in character development
• Encourage students to view examples of improv from L1 and L2 such as the TV show “Whose Line is it
Anyway?”
• Practice with an audience to get students comfortable with performing in front of others
• Use video recording (camcorder, mobile phone, Ipad or any other device capable of recording video) to
video tape practice improvs so students may critique their own improvisations.
Rubric:
Criteria
Excellent 5
Good 4
Fair 3
Poor 2
Language
Use
Students easily and
appropriately make use
of the past and present
tenses. Students have
control of grammatical
structure and can
circumlocute when
needed.
Students make occasional
errors in tense use or
complex grammatical
structures. May struggle to
circumlocute but can
convey the message
through other paralinguistic
cues.
Students make
frequent errors in
grammatical structures
or vocabulary that do
not impact the overall
communication of
meaning. Language is
predominately simple
in form and vocabulary.
Students make
errors in
grammatical
structure or
vocabulary that
interfere with the
communication of
meaning or make
use of the L1.
Participation
in
Preparation
and
Presentation
Actively involved in the
dialogue and reactive to
other characters. Little
to no hesitation to
participate from any
member. Able to recover
and overcome “hurdles”
in the dialogue
development.
All characters have a
defined speaking role but
show minimal reactions to
other characters.
Some characters are
not as actively involved
as others in the
dialogue and are
reluctant to participate.
Dialogue is
dominated by only
one or two
characters and
there is a lack of
team approach.
Presentation Convincing
of Character communication of
characters’ feelings,
situations and motives.
Adequate communication of Frequent breakdowns
characters’ feelings,
in the communication
situations and motives.
of characters’ feelings,
situations and motives.
Little to no attempt
to communicate
characters’ feelings,
situations and
motives.
Achievement Students effectively
Students accomplish the
of Purpose
accomplish the task
task to a minimal
required by the scenario requirement.
in the required time
frame.
Students fail to present
a crucial aspect of the
task or do not fill the
time requirement.
No attention given
to accomplishing
tasks set out be
scenario.
Use of NonVerbal Cues
(gestures,
eye contact,
props,
physical
reactions to
others’
speech)
Satisfactory variety of
non-verbal cues used
in an acceptable way.
Limited variety of
non-verbal cues are
used in a
developing way.
Total
Impressive variety of
non-verbal cues are
used in an exemplary
way.
Good variety of non-verbal
cues are used in a
competent way.