Talking about Jobs

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his section presents a stand-alone language-learning activity
emphasizing speaking. Specifically, students will participate in role
plays to describe occupations and job-related duties.

Role-Play Party:
Talking about Jobs
LEVEL: Upper Beginner or Low Intermediate

PREPARATION:

TIME REQUIRED: 45–60 minutes

1 . Before class, use small pieces of card stock
or paper to prepare character cards.

GOALS: To ask and answer small-talk

questions about jobs; to practice using
language related to greetings, introductions,
and taking leave

MATERIALS: Chalk and blackboard, or
markers and whiteboard; paper and pencils
or pens; role-play character cards and graphic
organizers (see Preparation section for
details); timing device; overhead or digital
projector (optional)
OVERVIEW: Students will role-play being

at a party with assigned character names and
job titles. Several role-play parties occur in
the classroom at the same time. Party “guests”
must introduce themselves and ask one
another about their jobs; they are encouraged
to have fun and be dramatic. Students can
refer to supporting language information on
the board, if needed, but they do not follow
a script. When the parties end, students use a
graphic organizer to write down details they
remember about the other guests and their
jobs, then discuss and compare the information
they collected. Scaffolding options for lowerlevel students and students who might not be
familiar with small-talk functions are provided
at the end of the activity.

• During the role play, students will
work in groups of 6. Each student in
a group will need a unique character
card. For example, in a class of 42
students working in groups of 6,
you would need to prepare 7 sets of
6 character cards; the different roles in
each set can be the same from group
to group. (Forming groups of 4 or 8
students is also acceptable; however,
with groups of 8, students will have
to remember more information in the
final phase of the activity.)
• Each character card should contain
a job title along with a male and a
female character name; students will
pick the name that matches their
gender.
• The jobs you include on the character
cards are limited only by your
imagination, your teaching context,
and the students’ proficiency.
Examples are:
doctor
police officer
pilot
hotel clerk
teacher politician

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Police officer

© John Roman Images/Shutterstock.com

lawyer singer
engineer shopkeeper
astronaut hairdresser/barber
tour guide
flight attendant
travel agent
zookeeper
If you like, you can customize the jobs to
make them specific to your local environment:
English teacher at [the name of your school],
clerk at [the name of a local hotel], and so on.

Name: _____ (male) / _____ (female)
Job: _________________________
Blank character card
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Name: Frank (male) / Francine (female)
Job: firefighter
Sample character card
2 . Make and copy three-column graphic
organizers that students can use to
record details about other guests
after the party ends. (If you prefer,
students can draw their own
organizers during the activity.) The
first column provides space for each
student’s real name, the second
column for the character’s name,
and the third column for details
about the character’s job.

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Graphic Organizer: Party Guest Information
Student name

Character name

Job title and details

(Example)
Carlo

Frank

Firefighter – wears yellow uniform, likes to help people,
works in a fire station

3 . To save time during the activity, consider
writing the job-description questions
on the board in advance and covering
them with a large piece of paper (see
Procedures, Step 4). Or, if you have an
overhead or digital projector, you could
prepare the text in advance and display
it as needed during the activity. If you
use the Scaffolding steps outlined
at the end of the activity, you might
also prepare in advance the SmallTalk Function Chart and the dialogue
between Frank and Paul.
PROCEDURES:

1 . Tell students they are going to pretend
to attend a party, and each student will
play the role of a party guest. Explain
that people at this party don’t know
each other, and therefore guests must
introduce themselves to one another.
Also, tell students that each person must
learn about the other party guests’ jobs
by asking them at least two questions
about their work. Let students know
that they must try to remember as
many details as possible about each
guest they meet.

character cards, giving one set facedown
to each group. In each group, students
should pass the stack of cards around,
taking one card without looking at it.
4 . When all students have a card, ask
them to look at it without showing it
to anyone else. Explain that students
should choose the name on the card that
matches their gender and that when the
party starts, they will pretend they have
the occupation written on the card. Tell
students they will prepare to play their
character’s role at the party by thinking
about answers to the questions displayed
on the board:
• What is your job? What type of work
do you do?
• What do you do at work?
• What do you wear to work?
• Where do you work? (Describe the
building or location.)
• What kinds of people and other things
do you see at work?

2 . Explain that before the party starts,
students will receive information about
their character and job, and that they will
have time to think about their character
and information related to the job.

• Is your work dangerous? … boring?
… fun? … difficult? … interesting?

3 . Put students into groups of 6. Ask a
student volunteer to pass out the sets of

• Did you go to a special school or
training course for your job?

• What do you like about your job?
What do you dislike?

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5 . Model the character preparation
process by doing a “think-aloud”
about an example character not
used in the student cards. Use levelappropriate examples, make notes
on the board during the process, and
elicit information from students when
possible. For instance, after you look at
your example card, your think-aloud
might go something like this:
“My name is Frank, and I’m a
firefighter. Hmm … what do I do at
work? I fight fires. I put water on
fires … . What else? [Ask students.]
“Ah, yes, I help people. What clothes
do I wear? I wear a uniform. [Ask
students what color the uniform is.]
“Yes, a bright yellow uniform … and
a special hat … . What is it called?
[Ask students.]
“That’s right; a helmet. Where do
I work? Hmm … a building for
firefighters … what is that place
called again? [Ask students.]
“Oh, right, a fire station … . What
does my character’s voice sound like?
Hmm … maybe a deep voice like
this [demonstrate a deep voice] …
Hi, my name is Frank. Nice to
meet you. …”
(Note: If you are female, you can replace
“Frank” with “Francine” and adjust the
character information, if necessary, as
you perform the think-aloud.)
6 . Give students a few minutes to consider
the character description questions. Tell
students they can make notes during
this preparation stage, but they can’t
use the notes during the party. Remind
them they can be dramatic and “get into
character” during the party by adopting a
different voice or by walking or standing
in a way that matches their character.
You might ask questions like these: “How
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does your character talk? How does your
character walk? What gestures does your
character make?”
7 . Ask student volunteers to pass out
the character graphic organizers.
(If students are making the graphic
organizers, guide them through the
process.) Explain that after the party
ends, students will use the graphic
organizers to record what they
remember about each character they
met. Remind students they will not
make or use notes during the parties.
Model filling out the organizer by
using details from your demonstration
character, Frank or Francine.
8 . Before starting the parties, give students
a minute or two to review the notes they
made about their characters. Remind
students to:
• Meet all the other party guests and
ask them at least two questions about
their jobs
• Try to remember as many details as
they can about each character
• Have fun while playing their character
9 . Establish “party locations” for each group
in different areas of the classroom, and
set a time limit for how long the parties
should last (approximately ten minutes,
depending on the group size). Ask
students to leave their notes and graphic
organizers at their desks, and then
ask students to get up and go to their
designated areas.
1 0 . Start the parties. Walk around, monitor
student performances, and provide
support, when requested, by referring
students to language examples on the
board.You might want to make notes
about language or communication
issues you observe for use in a
whole-class feedback session at the end
of the activity.

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1 1 . When three minutes are left in the
parties, give students a verbal
warning such as, “Only three
minutes left. Try to meet all of the
party guests.”
1 2 . When time is up, end the parties and
ask students to return to their seats. Ask
students to use their graphic organizers
to write down all the information they
can remember about the other party
guests. Tell them it is okay if they can’t
remember everything; they should just
do their best.
1 3 . After a few minutes, direct groups to
work together to discuss each character
at the party. Ask someone in each
group to volunteer to be the discussion
leader. For each student, the discussion
leader will ask the group members to
supply the character’s name and all the
details they can remember about the
character’s job. Tell students to add any

missing details to their charts during the
discussions.
1 4 . If you want, after the group discussions,
conduct a whole-class review of the role
plays. Ask all the students who played
each character to stand up or raise their
hands, and then ask students from a
few groups to share details about the
character and his or her job.You might
ask questions like these:
• Would everyone who played Mark or
Maria the shopkeeper please stand up?
• What did you all learn about Mark or
Maria’s job?
• How did this character act during the
party?
Because students in different groups
may have provided different character
details or acted differently, students can

Firefighter

© Flashon Studio/Shutterstock.com

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compare and contrast information from
other groups with information about
their own group’s character.
1 5 . In addition to the role-play character
discussion, to close out the activity,
you can review with the class any
small-talk, grammatical, or
vocabulary-related issues you noted
while observing the students’
improvised conversations.
VARIATIONS
More drama!

If you want to make the role-play parties
more dramatic and character-driven, add a
“character mood” or “character description”
note to each character card during the
preparation phase (Step 1 under
Preparation). For example, a character
card might say:
Name: Frank (male) / Francine (female)

The additional information encourages
students to use vocabulary knowledge about
moods and personalities while planning
and developing their character’s voice and
behavior. Include a fourth column called
“Character personality” on the graphic
organizer so students can note their
observations about each party guest’s
behavior and mood during the party.
Notes support

Some students might find it too challenging
to have unscripted conversations and then
remember the details from the conversations
they have had with several party guests. If
this is the case in your class, allow students
to take the graphic organizers to the party
and make brief notes after each conversation.
Students can revise their notes, adding any
details they remember after the party, prior to
the group discussions. Be sure to extend the
time allotted for the party conversations if you
choose this variation.
SCAFFOLDING

Job: Firefighter
Character description: grumpy [or shy, sad, very
happy, tired, nervous, etc.]

Small talk

If your students have practiced “small talk”
in English, you might be able to skip these

Small-Talk Function Chart
Introductions/Greetings —
Starting the Conversation

Acknowledgement
Statements — Keeping the
Conversation Going

Taking Leave —
Ending the Conversation

• Hi, my name is _____.
• I’m ______.
• Nice to meet you,
_____. / Nice to meet
you, too.
• Hi, ____, how are you?
• Isn’t this a great party?
• Are you having a good
time?

• I see. / Oh, I see.
• That’s interesting. / How
interesting!
• Oh, really?
• That’s great.
• That sounds fun / exciting /
difficult, etc.

• It was nice talking to you.
/ I enjoyed talking to you.
• It was nice to meet you.
• I’ll see you later. / See you
later.
• Have a good time. / Have
a good time at the party,
____.
• Enjoy the party!
• Bye. / Good-bye.

Note: This chart does not cover all small-talk functions; a limited number of examples are
provided here for upper-beginner/lower-intermediate learners.
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scaffolding steps or to review them quickly. If
your students are unfamiliar with small talk,
take time to explain that short conversations
people have at parties or in other settings are
examples of small talk. Ask students to give
you examples of other times or places small
talk can occur (waiting for a bus, waiting in
line at a store, etc.).
Tell students that small talk often has three
parts: starting a conversation, keeping
the conversation going, and ending the
conversation. On the board, display the SmallTalk Function Chart. Ask students to identify
examples of the different functions in a sample
dialogue (you might want to use the dialogue
between Frank and Paul, below), underline
examples they identify in the dialogue on
the board, and emphasize that the pieces of
information in the chart can be combined

during a short conversation. Ask students
to provide additional examples to the chart
under each functional category.You can keep
the Small-Talk Function Chart on the board
for the students’ reference, if needed, during
the role-play parties.
Sample conversation

If necessary, prepare students to participate
in brief small-talk conversations at a party by
modeling an example conversation. Display
the conversation on the board and model it
with the help of a student volunteer or by
playing both parts yourself using different
voices, body language, and/or positions for
the two characters:
Frank: Hello. My name is Frank.
Paul: Nice to meet you, Frank. I’m Paul.

Hotel clerks

© Dmitry Kalinovsky/Shutterstock.com

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Frank: Nice to meet you, too. Paul, what
do you do?

Frank: I wear a yellow uniform and a
helmet.

Paul: I work in a restaurant. I’m a server.

Paul: I see. Is your work dangerous?

Frank: Oh, I see. What do you like about
your job?

Frank: Yes, but I like to help people.

Frank: What do you dislike about your
job, Paul?
Paul: I stand up all day, so I get tired.
Frank, what is your job?
Frank: I’m a firefighter.
Paul: That sounds exciting. What do you
wear to work?

Astronaut

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Paul: That’s great! Have a good time at
the party, Frank.
Frank: You, too, Paul.
(Move on to chat with other party guests.)
This activity was written by Heather Benucci, an
EFL teacher, teacher trainer, and materials development
specialist. She has led virtual professional development
programs for EFL teachers in over 100 countries and
has worked face-to-face with teachers and students in
Russia, Korea, England, and the United States.

© Triff/Shutterstock.com

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Paul: I meet many new people.