Topic: Illness, Injury, Medical Care
Mode: Interpersonal
Level: Intermediate
Students will role play a visit to the doctor.
Instructions to the teacher
In advance, write potential illnesses/symptoms on index cards to distribute to the students. If necessary, you can provide the English translation of the term (e.g. students won’t know the word for appendicitis in the target language, so you could provide it. They would, however, be able to express the symptoms of this illness using their language knowledge: stomach pain, nausea, fever, etc.)
You and the students will conduct an improvised role play of a doctor’s visit. The teacher will take on the role of the doctor, at least for the first few scenes. This will allow students to observe what the doctor says and what kind of questions the doctor asks the patient. Once students get the hang of the scene, you could ask a student to take over the role of the doctor.
This activity is focused on spontaneity and fluency, and therefore it will be the most effective if students do not prepare in advance. Ideally students would come to the front, draw an index card, and the scene would begin. They certainly should not follow a script. The teacher should give the class some general feedback about their language production after the activity, but correcting each error is not the goal of this activity.
Instructions to students
Draw an index card with potential illnesses/symptoms and act out a visit to a doctor. Be sure to be descriptive about your illness or the symptoms you are having.