Role Play

FOUNDER OF ROLE PLAY 

•          Physician Jacob L. Moreno (1889-1974) in Vienna.

•          The term "role" comes from the "rolled-up" script actors used to use over two thousand years ago in Ancient Greece.   

WHAT IS ROLE PLAY?

•          Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else’s shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation!

 WHY USE ROLE PLAY

•      It’s fun and motivating 
•         Quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way 
•         The world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world 
•         Teaching communication skills. 
•         Identifying options and solutions.  
•         Managing conflict. 
•         Practicing newly acquired competencies. 
•         Exploring attitudes toward reactions and situations.

VALUES OF ROLE PLAY

•           Engage participants in better understanding of the motivation behind their behavior and emotions. 
•           Enable participants to practice newly acquired competencies in a safe environment, such as communication skills, problem-solving or conflict management. 
•           Provide analysis of learner's reactions and responses through direct and immediate feedback.

Principles of role-play

•Match the role play to the target concept
•Choose the technique with care.
–Pairs
–Small groups
–One group presenting and other observing
–Form groups of appropriate size.
•Take Your Students Where You Find Them
–issues that matters and interest them
–Meaningful problems are better teachers
•Ask Leading Questions and Let Them Talk

         •Allow time for questions and discussion of the scenarios.
•Define the student’s roles
•End the role play as soon as the problem is resolved (don't let it drag on).
•Leave time for discussion afterwards.
•Be Mindful

Purpose of Role Play 

•          To stimulate interest among the students because children have always enjoyed learning through mimicking and duplicating the actions of others including their parents and peers.
•          For long term retention-Learning by acting. People enjoy playing, especially young people. If students are already motivated to play, learning through play would become even easier.
•          For cognitive learning method-Role playing encourages the use of critical thinking because it involves analyzing and problem solving, therefore role play is a cognitive learning method. 
•          Role-playing teaches many lessons; some of the most important lessons it teaches are lessons that are needed in society, competition, cooperation and empathy. 
•          It enhances active participation and decision making-Participation in role-play allows students to make decisions, and through the feedback he or she receives, he sees the results of his actions, and can therefore learn how to adjust his words and actions to produce more likeable results. 
•          For the exchange of knowledge-Role-play allows exchange of knowledge between students.The teacher is also able to see the various capabilities of students at the same time. 
•          To develop communication skills and build confidence-Role-play allows interaction between classmates and peers. It also allows introverted students to speak out. It helps to break down ”cliques”

Procedure of the Role Play

 1.   Prepare class for role-play

•         Present an artificial problem, situation or event that represents some aspect of reality.
•         Define the problem, situation and roles clearly.

 2.   Give clear instructions

•         Determine whether role-plays will be carried out using student volunteers in front of the class (the teacher may or may not play a role), in partnerships/small groups with every student playing a role, or in small groups with role-players and observers.
•          Divide students into groups, if appropriate.Using Small Group Activities
•          Model the skill with a scripted role-play.

 3.   Act out role-plays

•          Students follow the procedure outlined by the teacher to act out role-plays.
•          Unless the teacher is playing a role, it is helpful to walk around the room and observe how students are experiencing the role-play and offer coaching to students who are stuck.

Discussion (small group and whole class)

•          Begin by allowing players to communicate feelings experienced during the role-play.
•          Have students identify sexual health skills that were demonstrated during the role-play.
•          Determine actions that strengthen or weaken these skills (i.e. body language).
•          Discuss how this role-play is or isn’t similar to real life. 
•          Identify ways of using identified sexual health skills in real life situations. 

ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL PROCEDURE

•          Have students write role-plays as scripts.
•          Have students write down responses and then role-play in front of the class.
•          Have students generate a list of challenging “lines”, then have a student read the lines to the class and have each student give a response.
•          Have students develop and act out plays. 

TIPS FOR USING ROLE-PLAY

•         Begin with fairly easy situations and work up to more challenging ones.
•         Be aware that some students may feel threatened or self-conscious. Using humor can help dispel embarrassment. Using role-plays that exaggerate weak responses might break the ice.
•         Reduce the level of abstraction or complexity so that the students may become directly involved with underlying concepts.
•          If students find it difficult to determine skills which model sexual health, they could observe successful role models or ask experts to suggest approaches. 

Merits and Demerits of Role Play Strategy.

Merits of Role-play Strategy
1.Student interest in the topic is raised.
2.Active Participation.
3.Long-term retention.
4.It enhances communication and interpersonal skills.
5.It can be used with individuals or in group situations.
6.It teaches empathy and understanding of different perspectives.
7.It help individuals to learn to accept both their own feelings and those of others.
8.It develops confidence and self-efficacy.
9.Provides teacher immediate feedback about the learner’s understanding and ability to apply concepts.
10. It develops competence. 

          11. It is useful for a range of topics, including interviewing, counseling skills, personal relationships, and team working.
12. They require mental and physical activity e.g. gesturing to put forward a point. 13. Reduces discipline problems which often arise from boredom and lack of motivation.

Demerits of Role-play Strategy
1.Role play may awaken previously subdued or suppressed emotions.
2.Less effective in large groups (Chaos).
3.Teacher must accept her new role where she/he does not dominate the class anymore.
4.Embarrassment for some students.
5.Can lack focus unless well planned and monitored.
6.Can be unpredictable in terms of outcomes. Can be time-consuming.