7 Quick, Easy Role-Play Ideas for Business English Classes
Make your Lesson Plans Dynamic and Fun
So you want to make your classes more fun, engaging and beneficial? But you’re not sure exactly how to do it?
Look no further than these 7 role-play ideas to help you plan dynamic Business English classes.
Role-play activities that give your Business English students the chance to put their knowledge into real-life practice, gain confidence to speak English in the professional world, and have fun within the safe boundaries of a positive learning environment.
For best results, make sure each role-play activity is relevant to the job role(s) of your students (or the best you can). If you haven’t already, be sure to complete a Needs Analysis with your students to find out:
- why do they want to learn English?
- how do they use or intend to use English in their jobs?
- what do they want to improve and what are their future goals?
Read here for more information on conducting a needs analysis.
Before getting started, let’s highlight one more thing:
While most Business English students are eager to have fun and interact, you may come across a tiny percentage of students who are hesitant, nervous or don’t yet feel comfortable participating in such dynamic activities.
But don’t worry.
Be sure to positively reassure them, give them plenty of time to prepare and let them know you’re always approachable for a private chat if needed. I also like to agree on a strategic Timeout policy — at any time during the role-play activity, they can call a Timeout to pause or ask any questions.
Now let’s get into it:
1. Interviews
I know what you’re thinking. I prepare a list of questions, you’re Partner A, you’re Partner B, now go and talk — *Yawn*. Rather, there are many ways to spruce it up to make it more fun and engaging.
- Use props to make the interview more realistic
Fake microphones are very cheap and the students’ eyes always light up when they see them. - Always set the stage
Avoid just giving them a list of boring questions. Instead, give the interviewers realistic situations to act out. For example:
Senior management is considering changing their policy on Remote Working. As part of the investigation, they have asked you to find out the staff’s opinions on the Remote Working Policy currently in place — prepare your questions and then conduct the interviews with your class.
2. Practise Presentations
A versatile activity to put new vocabulary and skills into practice, no matter what the level. You can tinker with the topic, duration and the objectives. You can do them in groups or individually.
With beginners, for instance, get them to imagine they’re attending a work conference and they have to introduce themselves and their company. If students aren’t currently working, ask them to pretend they’re from a company of their choice.
I even like to hand them over the board pen and encourage them to write key figures/information whilst I sit amongst the ‘audience’ ready to give them feedback.
But aren’t the other students going to be bored? Not at all — ask them to prepare 1 or 2 questions to ask the presenter in a quick Q&A post-presentation and give their feedback.
3. Speed Networking Event
Relax, I said speed networking, not speed dating. Your students aren’t looking for love, rather they’re looking for connections and contacts.
With this fun dynamic activity, your students can practise small talk and introductions. It’s a perfect alternative to the monotonous course book exercises and to get the students moving.
Feel free to go all out here with the props here too: I bring a cheap reception bell to use to signal the end of each round — it works a treat.
Here are some more tips to help the activity run smoothly:
- Give beginner students time to prepare beforehand.
- Outline the topics to discuss during the task: introduction/company you work for / what your company does / why you’re at the event /
- In the 1st round, let them use their own identities. In the following rounds, give them role-play identity cards.
At the end, get students to to rate each other out of 5 (1 — I’d never want to work with this person, 5 — I’m interested in working with this person) and explain why.
Find materials and activities designed to support the Business English teacher at our Gumroad store:
4. Mock Phone Calls
Chances are at least some of your students don’t feel as confident as they’d like when it’s time to speak English on the phone. So it’s best to practise this often and with a range of different situations.
I let the students use their phones as props. Then I sit them on two chairs back-to-back so they can’t see or read each other’s lips.
Again here, flexibility is key.
For beginner students, why not start with simple tasks such as introductions, asking to speak with someone or giving the reason for the call? With more advanced students, give them scenarios in which they have to resolve specific problems over the phone.
5. Situation Pick-a-card
Now this gets them improvising.
Picture a pile of cards each one describing a situation and an instruction related to target vocabulary or a specific objective. One student takes one card and then has to follow the instructions.
Just the other day me and my students were practising indirect questions. So I prepped a pile of cards each with a situation, for instance:
“You’re new in the office and you don’t know how to work the photocopier.
Use an indirect question to ask your partner how it works”
Then comes the really fun part: Encourage them to improvise the rest of the conversation for as long as possible.
6. Meetings
Because meetings are so variable, it’s vital to give the students precise instructions to follow. Let them know the scenario, the objectives and the target vocabulary to practise.
Here’s a template you could use to help:
Objective: To discuss the recommendations to improve workplace efficiency and report back with your findings and action plan.
Target vocabulary: [phrases learned to highlight advantages/disadvantages]
Agenda:
Item 1 — Implement a flexible working hours policy.
Item 2 — Introduce a four-day workweek trial.
Item 3 — Automate routine administrative tasks using software solutions.
Action plan (example):
Mark — price up productivity training courses (4 days)
Sarah — speak with staff and investigate the possibility of remote work (1 week)
7. Newspaper Article Debate
Hopefully, you’re already recommending resources for your students to use outside of the classroom — so why not ask them to bring an interesting article, which is related to their work or class topic, and have a debate?
- What are the advantages/disadvantages?
- What will happen in the future?
- How will this affect you/your sector/your company?
- Do you agree or disagree?
These are some of the many ways you can dissect an article into an engaging discussion. And if you have a big class, remember to split them up into smaller discussion groups and then share their findings with the class.
And that’s a wrap! Let us know what you think.
Are you going to try any of these ideas? Tell us how it goes!
Are there any other activities you would add to the list? We’d love to hear them!
Need fun ideas for your Business English classes?
Find classroom materials and activities at the WM Business English Gumroad store:
