Social and Emotional Skills
Role play can resolve conflict.

Use role play to teach students strategies to use in developing relationships with peers, dealing with conflict and socializing in the world outside school. With younger students, role play examples of polite behavior, modeling saying "please" and "thank you." Role play situations like a visit to a store or to a library, discussing with students the way in which they should talk to adults. Have students take on various roles and role play the situation. Use role play to tackle issues that students may have with friends. Read a relevant story, discuss the issues with your students, then have them take on roles and act out how they think the situation could develop. How could a conflict be resolved? Role playing helps students see the situation more clearly from varied viewpoints.

Accessing the Past

When teaching students about historical events or famous people from the past, dramatize life stories to enhance their understanding. Have students research the life of a person from an event or era you are studying; they can then work in groups to create a scene, each playing the character they have researched. Role playing a character within a scene from the past helps a student to understand that person and their motivations. It helps to put studies into context and can engage the most reluctant student. It encourages students to research history for a purpose, finding out about the past in order to use that information to play a role. Performing to the rest of the class also means that each student will learn from each other.

Story Performance
Students can act out a fairy tale.

Have students take roles to act out a well-known fairy tale. This activity can be done by any age of student; older students in particular find it fun to revisit familiar stories. Choose several students to act; the rest of the class will be a participating audience. Have students act out the fairy tale. Encourage the audience to give them advice; ask them how a character should speak. What should he do next? What facial expression should he have? Make sure the audience is involved at all levels. Using a familiar story helps students focus on aspects such as characterization, motivation, story structure and dramatic effect.

Holidays and Celebrations

Teach your students about holidays and celebrations by re-enacting traditional ceremonies. Stage a baptism or wedding, with students taking on the roles of parents, clergy, guests, bride and groom. Talk your class through the meaning of each stage of the ceremony, allowing them to ask questions. Let them wear their best clothes to school and even have a class party afterwards with traditional food. Not only is this a really fun way to learn about holidays and traditions, it also builds a deeper understanding through student participation.