It’s all getting a bit “TEFLtastic with no irony intended” round here with all these fun and games I’m putting up. Maybe I’m too tired to even be sarcastic…
Anyway, here is my latest attempt to make none of us fall asleep during Business English classes. I’ve slipped in lots of emailing vocab and have tackled some common Japanese mistakes such as confusing “memo” and “note”. It also includes the most important factor for any classroom speaking exercise, which is to give the other people a reason to listen- in this case to decide if they were successful in solving the problem. The board with rules is below. A link to a full version with rolecards is also given, but please note that this is for quite a high level class that have covered most of this language before so you might need to make a different version of the cards for your class.
Business Problems Mini Roleplays
Rules of the game
Shuffle the pack of cards and put them face down on the top left box. The first person takes the top card and chooses how they are going to communicate and who they are going to communicate with to solve the problem. The options are to:
· Write an email
· Send a text (= a text message= an SMS)
· Phone someone
· Pick a time when you know someone is not available and leave a phone message
· Go and see the person and speak face to face
· Leave someone a note (e.g. put a post it on their computer screen)
· Write a memo for your whole team/ section/ department/ company to read
They should then tell their partners what they are going to say or write, or roleplay the conversation with someone. After that the other members of the group decide whether they managed to find a successful solution. If so, they can keep the card and score one point. If not, their card goes to the bottom of the pile. Play passes to the person on their right. The person with most cards when the teacher stops the game is the winner.
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Put the pack of UNUSED CARDS face down here
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| Put the card you have turned over face up here |
Useful language to play the game
“Who’s next?”= “Whose turn is it?” “It’s your turn”= “Take a card”
“Who are you going to contact (to solve the problem)?”
“How are you going to contact them?”
“What are you going to say/ write?”
“Who is going to play the other role?”
“I think that would work because…”
“I don’t think that would work/ I’m not sure that would work because…”
“Let’s ask, shall we?”= “Shall we check with the teacher?”
“Who has the most cards?”/ “Congratulations, you are the winner”