Take a look at the picture above... Does it look all that different from an inclusive, conversation-based English language class? Admittedly, the guy holding the book upside down there doesn't do the ideas to follow any favours (and I think I've just spotted Gavin Dudeney sitting behind the group!), but let's ignore those minor distractions for the time being.
Those people are playing Dungeons and Dragons - a game I'm sure you've heard of at some stage (and if you haven't, there's got to be at least a chance you've heard of various famous computer-based successors to D&D like World of Warcraft).
Of course, these are fantasy-based roleplaying games. You may be wondering what the point is in bringing the idea of fantasy games to the topic of English Language teaching, or even aghast with a possible misunderstanding at the title of this post (recalling whip-wielding public school teachers from them bad old days or something).
I recently caught up with an old teacher of mine from high school who was a massive roleplaying games fan and who helped a lot of his students get into these games and learn from them. He was telling me how fantasy roleplaying games still resulted in better creative and critical thinking skills in students, did more for voluntary and extensive reading than anything else he'd yet encountered, and - this one is important - motivated previously unmotivated students to read, write and talk more.
Let's skip most of the dragons, demons, lightning-wielding wizard stuff for a moment and think more about what imaginative roleplaying games could bring to English Language Teaching. I recently referred to a post about immersion roleplaying ideas on this blog, and looking at my own World Adventure Kids concept, you'll see where I came from and where I'm heading with all this.
If we adapt the setting side of the roleplaying game concept (to make it more real-world in orientation, even if within a fictional or imaginative plot), make the teacher a Game Master (sounds nicer than Dungeon Master, doesn't it?), and remove the technical nature of most of the rules, we end up with an enormously powerful tool to engage and involve students in a communicative activity that absorbs all the major language skills fluidly and naturally. Undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges for almost all teachers of English is keeping the learners interested, and ELT Roleplaying could be a real talisman in that respect.
Most language teachers already do some sort of roleplaying activities in their classes (as well as interactive games), so this idea shouldn't feel entirely foreign to them. Teachers already active in Second Life will be even closer to a realisation that ELT Roleplaying has a lot of potential, and as a broader concept could be drawn on as a tool to facilitate genuine language use and genuine language growth across multiple, integrated skills.
So where are all those dungeon masters from the past who have now become teachers of English? I know you're out there somewhere... Why don't we see more roleplaying games used in ELT contexts, and what can we do to promote their growth and use (with appropriate materials and methods) in the classroom?
:-)
