As Larsen-Freeman pointed out in her book "Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching", "Role-plays are very important in the Communicative Approach because they give students an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles." (p. 137, Larsen-Freeman) In order to help students improve their listening, speaking and overall communicative skills, I have designed and conducted several role play activities for my students to practice and use English in a more meaningful way as a practical language, and the results of my students' learning are quite positive.
In the past few years, I have tried to let students act out several short plays adapted from children's favorite story books. Students love acting and playing, but the scripts can look overwhelming and intimidating since they have just begun to learn English as a foreign language, and the amounts of English words they know are limited. The lines normally take a lot of time and efforts for students to learn, practice and memorize. So, instead of asking students to perform an entire story, I tried to extract some situations and dialogs from teaching materials and have students act out some dramatic situations. Students played characters and said their lines out loud. It's much easier to teach vocabulary, lines, and the dramatic elements needed for a role play situation than to teach the elements of an entire play. And by letting students practice in pairs or small groups, every student can be involved in the role play exercises and enjoy the benefits of role play.