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Its a Heat WaveEight Short Argument Role-plays
Level : pre-intermediate - intermediateAim : a speaking activity
with emphasis on oral fluency; students role play a series
ofarguments that all take place on a hot summers day.Language point
: expressions to use for getting angry.Note : Try using these role
plays on a really hot day. It will allow your students tounwind and
let off steam! Tell the teacher next door before you do this
activity!WarmerWrite the words Heat Wave on the board. Whatdo
people understand by Heat Wave? A heatwave is a continuous period
of hot weather. Areheat waves common where the students comefrom?
At what temperature would studentsconsider they are in a heat wave?
(note: theremay be some variation in the answers here; aheat wave
for an English person may beradically different than for a Mexican,
Spanishor Turkish person!) What usually happensduring a heat wave.
Elicit examples of thingsthat happen. Doctors say that during heat
waves
people become more irritable and likely to getinto
arguments.
Stage one :Set up the situation. It is the middle of a heatwave
in a big city. Each pair of students will begiven a role card with
a situation and somelanguage on it. They have five minutes to
prepare their role play. The role play must lastat least one
minute and they must incorporatethe expressions on their role cards
(for this partthey have to decide who says the expression!).They
mustnt tell anyone else what theirexpressions are. Circulate and
help studentswith the meanings of their expressions. Thereare eight
different role play cards. If you haveless than sixteen students,
choose the ones youthink will be best in the situations. If you
havemore than sixteen students, repeat some of thesituations.
Stage TwoPairs perform their mini role play in front of
theclass. So that the class pays attention, give themthe following
task: they must try to spot theexpressions that were on the card
and recordthem in their notebooks. After each role play,see if the
class can find the expression!
Stage ThreeAfter all the role plays are finished, do a
quickreview of the new language that came out. Youmight want to
pick up on interesting use oflanguage you heard, or students
errors. Do anyof the situations seem familiar to the students?Has
anything like this happened to them before?VariationsFor more or
less advanced learners, vary the
preparation time and presentation time. Forlower students give
them more language to getthem started, for example the first two
lines ofdialogue (this requires a little more preparationon your
part). Very creative classes could makeup their own situations for
role play.If you have an odd number of students, make agroup of
three with the family role playsituation.Taboo variation : Of
course, in a native speakerargument, the expressions might be made
a littlemore colourful with intensifiers (see below).To make the
activity more realistic you mightsuggest some of these. If you do
teach yourstudents bad words, discuss the issue first!They should
know when these are acceptableand when not. Some teachers (and
students)might feel that swearing is never acceptable andcertainly
not in class, while others not. Only usethese if you as a teacher
are comfortable doingthis and that there is no objection in your
schoolor by your students!
Expressions for getting angry (strongervariations) Youve got a
damn nerve!Its not my fault goddammit!Your attitude really pisses
me off!I dont believe this! Its bloody ridiculous!Im tired of
getting all the shit jobs!IM NOT BLOODY SHOUTING!
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Its a Heat Wave Role Cards
Its A Heat wave!A: You are waiting in line to buy an icecream.
You turn around to talk tosomeone and when you turn back, B has
stepped in front of you.B: A friend was holding your place foryou
before A arrived.
Expression:Youve got a nerve!
Its A Heat wave!A & B : You are a couple driving tosee some
friends outside of town.When the car breaks down. You arealone on a
deserted road. A wassupposed to take the car to a garagefor
servicing last week but forgot.
Expression:Its not my fault!
Its A Heat wave!A: You are an English teacher on asummer course.
B is always late forclass and never listens to you.B: Your parents
are making you take astupid English course this summer. It
isboring. You want to be with yourfriends.Expression: This is the
lasttime. Im warning you!
Its A Heat wave!A: You are taking your child to a bigtheme park,
but it is time to go. Youdont want to spend another 30minutes
waiting to go on a ride.B: You really want to go on the
giantroller-coaster. Its the best ride in thepark and your parents
want to leave.Expression:Thats it! Ive had enough!
Its A Heat wave!
A: You bought a train ticket twominutes ago, but you realise now
thatyou gave the wrong date. You want tochange your ticket.B: A
bought a non-refundable trainticket. They cannot make changes orget
their money back.Expression: I dont believe it.
This is ridiculous!
Its A Heat wave!
A: You are going out for an eveningwalk with your girlfriend.
When shearrives, you think she is wearinginappropriate clothes.B:
Your boyfriend is very jealous. Hedoesnt like it when other boys
look atyou. He is also paranoid.Expression: Your attitude
really
bugs me!
Its A Heat wave!
A & B : You both work in a nice coolshop, but one of you has
to go outsideand clean the front windows (a 30minute job!) You cant
agree who hasto go outside.
Expression:Im tired of getting all thebad jobs!
Its A Heat wave!
A: You came to the clinic because youhave a stomach-ache. A
nurse told youthat someone would see you in 10minutes. You have
been waiting for 45minutes.B: You are the nurse.Expression: IM NOT
SHOUTING!
