The first-ever large-scale role-play workshop had finally transpired. The Academy of Language Studies (APB), UiTM’s Kota Kinabalu Campus, successfully organised a role-play workshop for the first-semester ELC121 (Integrated Language Skills I: Listening) students on 4th January 2023. The event’s turnout was overwhelming, with almost 890 students and 14 lecturers. The two-hour workshop was held during the regular ELC121 time slot at Dewan Al-Bukhari, Ujana Sarjana. The speaker, Ms Laura Elizabeth Hancock, an English Language Fellow (ELF) from Michigan, United States of America, delivered the workshop as a formulation to help students score better for the ELC121 role-play assessment. The event was a combined effort of the ELC121 Lecturer-in-Charge, Madam Lindey Easter Apolonius, Ms Delia L. Olaybal, the Head of the Department of Academy of Language Studies (APB), and the lecturers of APB who taught the subject during the semester.
The workshop kicked start with an interesting ice-breaking game, Two Truths, One Lie. Ms Laura exemplified and instructed the students to guess the statement that was a lie. Next, the students asked their peers to think about which sentence they lied about. The buzz in the hall signalled active participation in the warm-up activity. The workshop also introduced students to the rubrics of role play. The speaker explained each criterion assessed in a role-play – Content, Language and Communicative Ability. Then, Ms Laura gave a walkthrough of the stages of role-playing with some tips on the do’s and don’ts of role-playing.
A session called “an opinion burger” captured the participant’s attention. The concepts of role play reflect the ingredients of a burger. The three components of giving an opinion are introducing your opinion, justifying your opinion and concluding. Ms Laura showed the audience an example of an “opinion burger” and gave prompts that could be used to improve delivery. She also presented correct and wrong grammar examples for the students to observe and apply in their conversation. The session also included ways to add information and conclude one’s opinion with a reminder to restate their initial opinion in their conclusion.
The workshop climaxed with a hands-on activity allowing participants to apply the tips and create their “hamburger”. The attendees were given two minutes to plan their answers according to the burger analogy. The question asked was, “What is your favourite colour, and why?” Afterwards, the students were encouraged to interview their peers using the same question. The students then were instructed to mingle with other students and ask the prompted question using the hamburger analogy: “The internet is a good way to find a girlfriend or a boyfriend. Agree or disagree?”
Overall, the role-play workshop was a success. Participants were positively engaged in the activities as they took notes, conversed with their classmates about the tips shared by the speaker and moved around the hall to interact with their peers. The feedback from participants was astounding as they reported that they gained a lot of new insight into role play and also voiced their preference for more outside-class activities. Hopefully, more workshops are conducted to gear students for their assessments. APB looks forward to more workshops such as these.