Can we teach communicative competence without critical thinking? Is the topic of vaccination or chemtrails too controversial? Try this ESL role-play on science and let me know what you think.
Level: Upper-intermediate
Time: 25-30min
Skills: speaking, listening
Topic: science, conspiracies
Role-play #1
A. You are a cancer patient. You don’t want chemotherapy because you heard it is not good for
you. It kills cells. It doesn’t help, the pharmaceutical companies just want to earn money by
promoting chemo as useful. The doctors are paid by the pharma companies and they will let you
die because they care about money and not about you. Talk to your doctor and explain why you
refuse the treatment. Explain that you will use juices and herbal medicine instead. You read on the
internet that it saved thousands of people.
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B. You are a doctor. An oncologist. A person of science. A rational being. You believe in data, facts
, and verifiable experiments. You have a patient who refuses chemotherapy because they read on
the internet that it kills people. She wants to drink juices instead. You know that chemo could save
her. You caught cancer early on, here is a very high chance of recovery. You know that if she
refuses there is a very high chance she dies. Try to save her life.
Role-play #2
A. You watch the sky every day. You see it every day – the trails in the sky. The chemical trails.
Chemtrails. What else can that be? They are trying to poison us. Manipulate us. You’ve seen
videos. Some pilots confirmed it. Persuade your friend that chemtrails are a real danger.
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B. You are a person of science. A rational being. You believe in data, facts, and verifiable
experiments. You know that the so-called chemtrails are just condensation trails from planes and
are perfectly normal. Try to explain the science behind the condensation trails to your friend.
Role-play #3
A. You decided not to vaccinate your children. You read articles about vaccination and you learned
how dangerous it is. It causes autism and contains lead and other toxic elements. You know what is
best for your child and herbal teas and some meditation will work just fine. You are angry that your
friend doesn’t support you.
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B. You are a person of science. A rational being. You believe in data, facts, and verifiable
experiments. Your friend decided not to vaccinate their children. They believe that vaccination
causes autism and that it is dangerous. Try to explain the benefits of vaccination and to disprove
those absurd theories.
Download: Science role-plays
Other role plays:
ESL Pair Work Activity: Teenager Issues
ESL Speaking Activity: Business English Role Plays
ESL/EFL Speaking Activity: Role Play Debate
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