286 FREE Role Playing Games Worksheets
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FREE Role Playing Games

Sometimes the same old exercises and games get a little too boring for your class - and that’s normal. The learning process requires some switching up from time to time. Too much repetition and structure make it much harder for students to absorb and work with a new language - but a relaxed and playful environment lets them know it’s safe to play around with what they’re learning, and use their grammar and vocabulary in new and creative ways.

Some teachers aim to address this problem with games like “hot seat” and “telephone” - and there’s nothing wrong with those games, in and of themselves. But repeating the same games every few days will bore students quickly, and make them feel like even the “fun” aspects of your classroom are still too rigid to really engage them. This is why new ESL teachers often find themselves looking for games and activities that break through those worn-out routines and breathe some fresh air into the class atmosphere.

If that’s where you’re stuck, why not help your students switch up their identities a little? BusyTeacher.org’s 286 free role playing game worksheets will help bring your students out of the everyday, and put them in all kinds of situations that’ll challenge them to use their language skills in unusual ways. Our community of ESL teaching experts has done all the hard work for you - each worksheet provides clear and complete directions on how to set up and manage a role playing activity, so you’ll be ready to go as soon as you print it off.

These 286 worksheets offer role playing activities of every shape and size. Some put the students in various roles to act our common real-life situations - while others invite them to imagine voyages to foreign cities, challenge them to take on different jobs, or even cast them as characters in movies and fictional stories. From everyday dialogues to far-flung adventures, you’ll find a role playing activity for any occasion among the 286 worksheets we have to offer.

What’s more, BusyTeacher.org’s worksheets cover an abundance of ESL levels and topics. Whether you’re practicing basic sentence structure with students around levels two and three, or pushing for fluency with advanced students at level five, we’ve got a worksheet for you. In fact, many of the 286 worksheets you’ll find here can easily be adapted for a variety of levels. And the topics they focus on range from pronunciation to grammar to vocabulary - and beyond.

How can you be sure that these worksheets will work in your classroom? Because every single one of them was created by an ESL teacher like you, and used successfully in a classroom somewhere in the world. All the worksheets on BusyTeacher.org are contributed by our community of hard-working ESL teachers all over the globe - and they’ve made their resources available to you for free. That’s right - you don’t have to pay, or even register, to download, print, use, or duplicate any of the worksheets on this site.

Have a worksheet you’d like to share with our community? Just click the “Submit a worksheet” button below. Or browse the list in thumbnail view until you’ve found a role playing worksheet you can’t wait to use. It’s all easy with BusyTeacher.org!

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Dealing With The Real Story

Dealing With The Real Story

A complete worksheet recording a recent Associated Press style story of 500 words dealing with an issue relevent to everyone today..."The Crises" and how it is hurting real people. Included is a s ...
16 Views 19,141 IntAdvExam
Personal Profile Cards

Personal Profile Cards

, Role Playing Games
These cards can be used either as an information gap activity where students ask and answer questions to each other (Where are you from?, what's your star sign? Can you....? , etc) and complete a ...
22 Views 24,451 BegElem
Complaining in a Restaurant

Complaining in a Restaurant

Vocabulary preparation and practice for simple roleplays about complaining in a restaurant. First students translate some common sentences. Then they put a few short conversations in the correct ...
26 Views 34,270 Elem
Classroom Issues Role Play - Great For the Back To School Lesson

Classroom Issues Role Play - Great For the Back To School Lesson

This is a set of 20 cards, each has a situation on it, a role to act out regarding their attitude to learning. I find it a lot of fun to hand one to each student and have then let them think about ...
31 Views 27,767
Travel Guide Role Play

Travel Guide Role Play

, , , Role Playing Games
This material is suitable for your speaking class. There's a role play between a travel agent and the tourist. Students can develop their vocabulary by having a conversation about tourism places a ...
55 Views 95,293 Pre-IntInt
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Gestures Activity

Gestures Activity

, Role Playing Games,
In this activity students are asked to think of appropriate gestures to illustrate various words, then to actually say several sentences supporting them with corresponding gestures and emphasizing ...
26 Views 38,473 All
Who Am I? Celebrity Names For The Mingling Activities and Role Plays

Who Am I? Celebrity Names For The Mingling Activities and Role Plays

Every teacher knows how exciting and motivating it is for students to 'try on' a new personality, to have a chance to be someone else - even for a few minutes! That's why all sorts of 'impersonat ...
20 Views 24,625 All
Silly Superstitions

Silly Superstitions

, Role Playing Games
This is a role play that I use to teach superstitions. I firstly introduce the topic and then ask students to brainstorm and come up with a list of superstitions from their country. After that I t ...
31 Views 42,343 Adv
A Job Interview

A Job Interview

It's an interesting way to revise the word order and understanding of questions. You could change the questions depending of the level. The children enjoy answering and pretending they are on a re ...
38 Views 35,640 Elem
Sweatshop and Child Labor Role Play

Sweatshop and Child Labor Role Play

, Role Playing Games
Objective: This is a fun way for students to understand the complexity of the sweatshop issue. It also serves as a review of the lessons and issues. Setting:A hearing concerning sweatshops and ch ...
16 Views 15,753
Political Nightmares Role Play

Political Nightmares Role Play

, Role Playing Games
Political Nightmares  Aim: Discussion, expressing opinions, agreeing and disagreeing Activity: Political Nightmares - Interviewing and discussion Level: Advanced   Outline: • ...
14 Views 27,309 AdvExam
Bingo TV: Chairing A Meeting Role-Play

Bingo TV: Chairing A Meeting Role-Play

, Role Playing Games
This worksheet contains 3 role cards for a role-play about a TV company.  Example: Role A:You are a senior manager of Bingo TV, an independent broadcasting company. Prepare to table th ...
13 Views 15,776 IntAdvExam
Times of the Day Worksheet

Times of the Day Worksheet

, Role Playing Games
This worksheet will help practice times of the day along with Present and Past Simple. Pair work is determined to make questions and answers using pictures about the daily routine and saying the r ...
28 Views 28,234 ElemPre-IntInt
What's In Your Pencil Case? Worksheets A, B and C

What's In Your Pencil Case? Worksheets A, B and C

First worksheet of three. Worksheet A is a Find Someone Who type of worksheet. Students mingle and ask others ...Do you have ............ ? ( these students have cards, worksheet B, that tell th ...
19 Views 18,414 ElemPre-Int
Role Play: Big Brother

Role Play: Big Brother

» Role Playing Games
This activity is not originally mine. I´ve adapted it from a magazine. Students are the participants in the reality TV show "Big Brother".They should choose two people who are going to be dr ...
17 Views 21,626 Int
56 Helpful Phrases

56 Helpful Phrases

Role Playing Games,
To use in compositions and oral topics: formulas to start, to give opinion, to grab attention, and to finish a text\speech.
34 Views 14,058 All
Worldcup Vuvuzelas: Pros and Cons Reading

Worldcup Vuvuzelas: Pros and Cons Reading

This activity includes two newspaper articles. One brings arguments against the use of noisy vuvuzelas during the worlcup and the other one gives arguments in favour of them. 
27 Views 17,360 Adv
Swappy Role-plays for Adults #3

Swappy Role-plays for Adults #3

» Role Playing Games
3 situations, 6 cards for roleplaying. Why swappy? Because you swap the roles of partners during the dialogue! It´s FUN! Instructions on page 3. Enjoy!
53 Views 77,665 Pre-IntIntAdv
Swappy Role-Plays for Adults #2

Swappy Role-Plays for Adults #2

» Role Playing Games
3 situations, 6 cards for roleplaying. Why swappy? Because you swap the roles of partners during the dialogue! It´s FUN! Instructions on page 3. Enjoy!
45 Views 36,539 Pre-IntIntAdv
Swappy Roleplays For Adults #1

Swappy Roleplays For Adults #1

» Role Playing Games
3 situations, 6 cards for roleplaying. Why swappy? Because you swap the roles of partners during the dialogue! It´s FUN! Instructions on page 3. Enjoy!
69 Views 81,401 Pre-IntIntAdv
Survive The Sinking Ship - Who Do You Save?

Survive The Sinking Ship - Who Do You Save?

A survivor activity for revising personal characteristics vocabulary and subsequent discussion on who to save.
33 Views 94,390 Pre-IntIntAdv
Regrets Worksheet

Regrets Worksheet

, , Role Playing Games
A writing template where Ss are supposed to create sentences (express regrets and aplology) according to the suggested pattern.
28 Views 20,929 Adv
Using to be supposed to

Using to be supposed to

, Role Playing Games
Using pictures to give you an idea and make sentences with be supposed to. Students must be encouraged to produce different situations from the pictures.
23 Views 25,037 Pre-Int
5 Transportation Role Plays To Get Your Students Talking

5 Transportation Role Plays To Get Your Students Talking

, Role Playing Games
There are five different role plays for the students to perform in order to get them talking and they are all about transportation. At the Bus Station At the Train Station At the Airport
28 Views 44,056 Elem
Amy Johnson: worksheet and lesson plan and keys

Amy Johnson: worksheet and lesson plan and keys

Role Playing Games,
Hi, this is a pairwork about Amy Johnson, Britain’s most famous female pilot. Students revise the simple past. Key and lesson plan included
12 Views 12,130 Int

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