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!
Create awesome-looking custom word searches in seconds!
Make A Word Scramble:
Instantly create custom word/sentence scrambles for your class!
Make A Double Puzzle:
Generate double puzzles your students will love - hours of fun!
ESL Articles
View our latest knowledgebase articles that will help you become a better English teacher. Learn from
professional teachers and put a bit of your own creativity into it!
Discussion based activity for upper intermediate/advanced students. They should read the information and then discuss the pros and cons of each candidate and reach a joint conclusion. Afterwards, ...
This worksheet is for low level young learners practising questions with Have you got any …, please? and giving short answers 'Yes, I have. No, I haven't.' as part of a shopping role-play. ...
One of my favourite speaking activities, for teenagers and adults. Over the top, incredible situations (i.e: I saw you in your pyjamas on the roof, or walking a monkey in the park) ; students have ...
Presentation in Power point on international travel. Introduces new vocabulary and discussion questions as well as short assignments. New vocabulary is introduced at the beginning comprised main ...
Starting from the legend of Romulus and Remus, this exercise allows students to revise the use of subject and object pronouns. It offers a drama activity first and then goes back to grammar with t ...
This worksheet contains different phrases for giving advice and short role play situations for using them while talking about Healthy Lifestyle. Divide the ss into 2 groups. Cut out the situations ...
Who is the criminal? An engaging jigsaw reading comprehension mystery. It is an excellent role play reading best for upper-high intermediate who find working in groups an enjoyable activity. The i ...
Any kind of “Alibi” game is perfect for practicing past tenses (esp past simple and past continuous). Make up any story that something was stolen at the party at 10 pm last night. You ...
This worksheet is loosely based on Agatha Cristie's "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge". The aim of the discussion is to find out who the murderer is. There are six suspects and three detectives, thou ...
In this worksheet, students have to pick the appropriate word to fill the gap in this conversation between a travel agent and customer. Can also be used as a role-play activity. Target language/mi ...
My master thesis was 'Developing speaking skills with the help of games'. I have collected a lot of games connected with my master thesis. The collection contains structure, pronunciation, s ...
It is based on the episode of "Light Sleeper", Season 3 Episode 14. It basically starts with two Korean women that have been killed. Turns out they, and the Korean who found them all married US ar ...
Speaking activity. 'Imagine you are a radio presenter, Marie, and you have a programme to give your listeners some advice. This week- Christmas special! Welcome your listeners, tell them about the ...
In this worksheet there are seven different role play ideas for students to perform in the classroom. They were designed to work in pairs, but some of them can also be used in groups so that you c ...
Instructions: Play in teams of five ss and see which team can get the most correct guesses from their classmates’ pantomimes. We give students’ team who are playing pantomim ...
The lesson plan is intended for students who are not familiar with disasters vocabularies and it develops their listening and speaking skills. I have always noticed their lack of proficiency in s ...
Ideal for English conversational classes. Tell the students to sit back to back. Student A is the reporter. Student B is the runner. Student A will speak being a runner. Student B w ...
I had some students that wouldn't speak at all so I invented this. I have used it for all levels (from teenagers up) and it is always good fun. Give students around 30 minutes to work together in ...
This is an activity that I prepared for my upper intermediate and advanced students and it was very successful. Students will practice listening, vocabulary, speaking and then create a role play. ...
The worksheet is devoted to developing speaking skills at different levels. It concentrates at making suggestions, using such tenses as past simple, present simple and present continuous. It might ...
This is an advanced level lesson based on the television programme The Secret Millionaire. Due to the issues involved this is recommended for older teenagers or adults. Students watch an episode o ...
This worksheet contains several pictures of all kinds of medicines for you to print and cut, I usually paste them in foami or craft foam to give more resistance and strength or the material of you ...
I prepared this Power Point lesson for my Vietnamese students who wanted a lesson in 'daily conversations'. It is a dialogue that can be used as a play or as a simple lesson on how male and femal ...
This worksheet can be used to set up a role play between Lottery funding representatives and representatives of charities who want funding.Prior to this,they have been given or invent their charit ...
This is a form that students can use to evaluate their own performance in a group discussion. It can be used from pre-intermediate onwards but is best suited for intermediate and above. It would h ...
7 20,675Pre-IntIntAdv
Got a great worksheet on
Role Playing Games?
Tell us about it and become a BusyTeacher contributor!