Smarter Role Play Planning with GenAI

Ever spent ages crafting the perfect role play only to run out of prep time for the rest of your lesson?

Role plays are a powerful and proven teaching technique, offering students the chance to practice English in realistic, meaningful contexts. But while they're effective, planning them can be time-consuming.

That’s where generative AI (GenAI) comes in: a time-saving tool that can help you quickly create effective scenarios.

In this blog, we’ll walk through four simple steps for designing customized, level-appropriate role plays using GenAI tools – saving you time while keeping your lessons engaging and purposeful.

Why Role Plays Work

Role plays bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world communication by immersing students in realistic scenarios. As Thornbury explains, speaking activities with a drama element "provide a useful springboard for real-life language use," allowing students to simulate situations they are likely to encounter (Thornbury, 2005, p. 96).

Whether negotiating a salary or engaging in small talk, learners practice essential skills in a low-risk setting, improving accuracy, cultural awareness, and confidence. This prepares students for real-world communication.

Customizing Role Plays with GenAI: A Practical Guide

GenAI makes crafting role-play tasks easier than ever. Quickly generate realistic scenarios aligned with your students' needs, from study abroad preparation to everyday interactions. Leverage built-in scaffolding for extra support and empower students to personalize their learning. Here is a quick snapshot outlining the prompt-to-activity process:

Step 1: Define Your Objectives

Your prompt needs to be as well-crafted as your teaching and learning objectives. To improve GenAI’s results, include the writing perspective in your instructions for your desired role play scenario.

"Act as an expert ESL teacher. Create a role-play scenario where two students practice [communication skill] while [specific situation]."

So, if the role play’s goal is to practice persuasive language as the communication skill, consider these specific situations:

Elementary: Choosing a movie with a friend.
Intermediate: Negotiating workflow responsibilities with a coworker.
Upper-Intermediate: Defending job performance during a salary review.
Advanced: Challenging a low grade with a professor.

Clear, well-structured prompts lead to GenAI outputs that better support your students’ language development.

Step 2: Add Support

The initial response you receive from GenAI may need to be edited to align with the intended teaching and learning objectives.

For example, if target vocabulary or structured guidance is missing, prompt GenAI for additional support:

Vocabulary Support: “List five key words and five key phrases relevant to this role-play. Include definitions and a sample sentence for each key word/phrase.”
Clear Learning Goals: “Outline the role-play objective in the instructions for each student’s role. Identify the teaching objective(s) and student learning outcome(s) for the teacher.”

Step 3: Adjust for Level

For lower-level learners, additional scaffolding may be necessary for role plays to be fully accessible:

“Generate an eight-line model script with sentence and question stems for two elementary ESL students to complete before they play their roles.”
“Create a 10-line role-play template for two beginning-level ESL students to read aloud. Use one key word/phrase (from the list you just generated) in at least two of each student’s lines of dialogue.”

These refinements should help you to create a more finely crafted role play for your students, no matter their level.

Step 4: Personalize Your Role Plays

GenAI-generated role-play scenarios provide a solid foundation for your lesson planning. However, using your expertise as an ESL teacher to further prompt the AI tool will help to enhance clarity, cultural relevance, and language level appropriateness.

To tighten GenAI’s results, specify the adjustments you need. For example:

Contextual Relevance: “Modify this scenario for adult learners in a business setting.”
Politeness and Formality: “Adjust the dialogue to reflect polite yet assertive customer service language.”
Enhanced Clarity: “Refine the dialogue for clear turn-taking between a manager and an employee, not between two friends.”

For an even more student-centered approach, encourage students to use their own experiences to personalize the role-play scenarios you bring to class. The more meaningful the context, the more engaging and impactful the language practice becomes.

Examples of GenAI Prompts and Results

To show how refining prompts can improve GenAI’s results, here are a couple of before/after examples that illustrate how clearer, more specific instructions lead to stronger, more teachable role plays.

Example 1

Initial Prompt:
"Make a role play about choosing a movie with a friend."

Improved Prompt:
"You are an English language instructor for adult learners. Create a role play for elementary adult learners practicing giving opinions and making simple suggestions while deciding on a movie to watch with a friend."

Sample Dialogue:

A: How about we see the new comedy tonight?
B: I’m not sure - I prefer action movies.
A: What if we watch the superhero one instead?
B: That sounds good! Let’s do that.

Example 2

Initial Prompt:
“Defending job performance during a salary review.”

Improved Prompt:
“Take the role of an experienced ESL educator designing a lesson. Create a role play for upper-intermediate adult learners practicing persuasive language in a salary review meeting with their manager.”

Sample Dialogue:

Employee: Over the past year, I’ve led three successful projects that increased team productivity.
Manager: That’s impressive. Can you give an example of how your leadership made a difference?
Employee: Sure! My scheduling system reduced missed deadlines by 40%.
Manager: I see. Let’s discuss how that aligns with our compensation structure.

These quick prompt upgrades lead to more focused, realistic, and level-appropriate role plays. With just a few tweaks, GenAI becomes a reliable tool for designing meaningful speaking practice.

Conclusion

AI tools are transforming the way we plan speaking activities in the ESL classroom. With GenAI, you can generate customized, level-appropriate role plays in minutes – freeing up time while enriching your students’ speaking practice.

Whether you’re targeting fluency, vocabulary, or communication skills, GenAI can be your creative partner.

Ready to get started? Try one of the prompt templates above, and see what you and your students create together!

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