March 21, 2024
Dear ESL colleagues,
I’m thrilled to share one of my favorite ESL classroom activities. This activity combines collaborative learning and role-based engagement, drawing on theories like Vygotsky’s social development and situated learning. Students work in groups to engage with texts from various perspectives.
The activity enhances language skills, critical thinking, and cultural awareness, preparing students for diverse communicative environments. It supports learner autonomy and effective language acquisition, making it a valuable tool in our teaching repertoire.
Enjoy!
Procedure
Step 1) Form students into groups of 3, 4 if necessary.
Step 2) Give students an article to read in the group, or have the group choose one if that is an option.
Step 3) Pass out the 3 roles (add an extra if the group is 4) and have students choose one. They choose randomly or, if it is not the first time, they choose a different one from their previous role so as to not get the same role.
Step 4) While in the group, the students read the article and answer the questions on the role sheet.
Step 5) When all the students have finished, the groups are re-arranged. Students with Role 1 get together with other Role 1 students and form a group. Students with Role 2 get together with other students with Role 2 and form their own group. The same happens with the students with Role 3. Now there are 3 large groups based on the role.
Step 6) Have students in each group go around and share the answers they put on their forms. They can also discuss any difficulties they had or elaborate on the role. They can also share strategies on how to explain their answers to their original group.
Step 7) Once the large groups have had time to share their answers and strategies, the groups are dissolved and the original groups are reformed.
Step 8) Now the original group with 3 members (possibly 1 has 4), they take turns sharing their role information with each other.
Step 9) Once each group has finished, the class has a discussion on what they found. Students can volunteer or the instructor can ask students to share their answers.
Step 10) Optional. Instructor can ask a student or more to go to the front and present their findings to the class.
Step 11) Reflection. Ask students to freewrite for 10 minutes on the exercise: what they learned about the role they had. What worked, what didn’t, and what they would do differently next time.
Role 1: News Reporter: Reporting Facts
Name___________________________ Today’s date:
Read the article your group has selected. Your job is to report the facts in your own words. Take notes like a journalist: who, what, where, when and why. Use your own words as much as possible.
Title of the article:
Date of the article:
| 1. This article is about… (who) | |
| 2. This article is about… (what) This is important because… | |
| 3. The time period the article refers to is… This is important because… | |
| 4. The place of the article is… | |
| 5. The article is in the news because… |
Role 2: Language Wizard: Noticing Language
Name _____________________ Today’s date:
Read the article your group has selected. Your job is to report the facts in your own words. Take notes like a journalist: who, what, where, when and why. Use your own words as much as possible.
Title of the article:
Date of the article:
| 1. My favorite sentence is… | Paraphrase it here. What does it mean? |
| 2. My favorite vocabulary word(s) is (are)… | This/these is/are my favorite because… |
| 3. For me, the most meaningful sentence is… | This is the most significant sentence because… |
| 4. The most useful word or phrase is… | This is the vocabulary item I want to learn because… |
| 5. The least interesting sentence is… | This is an uninteresting sentence because… |
Role 3: Commentator: Expressing Opinions
Name_________________________ Today’s date:
Read the article your group has selected. Your job is to report the facts in your own words. Take notes like a journalist: who, what, where, when and why. Use your own words as much as possible.
Title of the article:
Date of the article:
| 1. What I like is… | Example(s) |
| 2. I like this article because… | Example(s) |
| 3. What I don’t like is… | Example(s) |
| 4. The journalist should/shouldn’t… | Example(s) |
| 5. You should/shouldn’t read this article because… | Reason(s) |