Title: The Incompetent Doctor

Topic: Health

Level: Intermediate

Focus Age Group: 15 to 18 years

National Standards:

Communication   Cultures   Connections   Comparisons   Communities

Communicative Mode:

Interpersonal   Interpreptive   Presentational

NJ Cumulative Progress Indicators:

• 7.1.11 Interact with appropriate responses in limited social settings and basic situations
• 7.1.12 Express details of their everyday lives and of past experiences
• 7.1.13 Engage in original and spontaneous conversation in the language studied
• 7.1.14 Organize thoughts into coherent oral speech

Timeframe: One class period of 40 minutes

Description of Task:
You will be assigned one of the attached role-play situations. You will have five minutes to conceptualize and orally develop the role-play with your partner. You are not permitted to write. The presentation must be at least three minutes long. Your presentation may be videotaped.

Materials Needed: Tape recorder / camcorder, role-play situations

Teacher Notes:
Here is the suggested procedure:

1. Give all students a class assignment which is to be done while other students are presenting their role-play situations.
2. Randomly select pairs of students for the role-play.
3. Randomly assign role-play situations to each pair.
4. Each pair has five minutes to conceptualize and orally develop the role play.
5. After five minutes, all students must stop practicing and separate.
6. Pairs of students will be called to the front to present the role-play.
7. Other students are doing the class work which was assigned previously.

Prior to doing this task, students should have been working with health vocabulary in written and oral work. Due to the complexity of the symptoms and treatments, the teacher may want to provide the students with index cards with the prompts in English. The first time the students do this type of activity, you may want to extend the time in step 4. These are spontaneous conversations, however, and extended time is not beneficial. It is suggested that you record/videotape the presentations.

Scoring Criteria:

Adaptations: These role-play situations can be adapted to any of the upper levels.

Carol A. Meulener
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School
Clarksville Road,
West Windsor, NJ 08550
609.716.5050

ROLE-PLAY SITUATIONS

You just went to see the doctor but this doctor seemed to be a bit strange. You are telling your friend about how you were feeling and what the doctor did. You argued with the doctor about his/her treatment. Your friend tells you that he/she saw the same doctor last week and that he/she had a similar experience. Should you report this doctor to the police???