Great Performances Using Quranic Verses in English

Role play and simulations in the classroom have been around for quite a while. However, it was mainly put in the hands of students majoring or in the study of drama and/or theatre. Presently, ELL teachers are using small dialogue of a brief length in the language classroom. Researchers have made conclusive findings in its contribution to the development of the four language skills. Some teachers do not prefer role play and simulations activities because the whole class is not actively involved. In some teachers' opinion, it is felt that only a few can be up in front of the classroom and be in the spotlight, and the rest of the class may be too idle. Nevertheless, role play and simulations have clear linguistic benefits. During this activity, students practice different verbal skills such as agreeing and disagreeing, expressing oneself in different situational conflicts, negotiation, make decisions, etc. Another benefit of role play and simulations in the classroom is that it brings real life situations into the classroom. The difference between role play and experiential learning is that in experiential learning, students have gone through the experiences in context. However, in role play, students are expected to dive into a role that may be unfamiliar. The unfamiliarity in experience may still be real life situations but it may not be a situation whereby the student has had any experience in. This in itself may be a good thing because the student will have to depend on his new knowledge and his imagination which will inevitably tap on his creativity and develop his speaking skills.