In order to succeed, a Simulation should be underpinned by a sense of
reality or should create a brand new reality. Ideally, it should be relevant
to the lives and interests of the students who are in charge, with the
teacher unobtrusively monitoring the proceedings. This feature of
Simulation increases students' autonomy and motivation, and lowers their
anxiety levels since they are interacting as equals with a small group of
their peers rather than performing for the teacher and class as a whole.
Realism can be enhanced, particularly for longer-term simulations, by
adapting the classroom so that it simulates the environment in which the
exercise is said to be taking place, i.e. for a simulation taking place in an
office, the classroom can be adapted to replicate a real working office.
Although this desideratum is not always practicable, there are other ways
in which the learning environment can be changed to resemble that
proposed under the Simulation, such as:
• black/white boards can be adapted to resemble office noticeboards;
• desks can be grouped or separated to simulate work stations;
• posters/visual aids clearly associated with college can be removed
and replaced by more appropriate work-related material;
• the radio should be playing, preferably in the target language, or
music if not;
• telephones/faxes/computers should be present;
• snacks, hot and cold drinks and personal possessions should be visible
at work stations.