The teacher's new role In most role plays the teacher will not take part. If he does, it will not be in his role as teacher. The teacher's role during the role play phase is to be as unobtrusive as possible. There are two ways in which this can be done. The first is as described in the two examples in Chapter two, where the teacher either sits somewhere where he can hear much of what is going on (as in the advanced example); or, when the role play requires a lot of moving around on the part of the students, as in the beginners' example, the teacher can move quietly round the room. Details can be found by clicking Novelist or emailing the administrator. Where there is a large class, with a lot of role play groups, or where the groups are in corridors or other rooms, tape recorders can be used. The second way in which the teacher can observe the role play is by taking a role himself.
This should not be a major role, or the teacher may quickly become the dominating personality, and the role play will turn into something resembling teacher-guided group work. Minor roles, which nevertheless give the teacher a chance to be near ihe 'action', are, for example, a porter, a head waiter, a secretary. With classes used to role play, and used to discussing teaching techniques and their aims, these subterfuges may not be necessary. Such classes are well aware of what is happening and acknowledge the 'rules' of the whole language learning game.