Opposites Roleplays

Opposites roleplays

Do the roleplay(s) below that your teacher tells you to, or choose your own.

One of you tells the other person off (= criticises the other person) for doing the exact opposite of what you asked them to do. Possible situations:

• Making a prototype of a product
• Rearranging, designing or decorating a room or house
• Organising a conference or trade show
• Organising the schedule of a visitor from abroad
• Organising your time/ Trying to be efficient

 

You both recall an experience or conversation you both took part in, but remember it in opposite ways, e.g. one of you remembers you both deciding to eat something light but the other remembers you both wanted something filling. Possible topics:

• A holiday (= A vacation)
• A festival or celebration
• An evening
• When you first met
• Your last lesson
• A meal/ A restaurant

 

Take turns saying one thing about a disappointing experience you had where everything was the opposite of what you expected, trying to outdo your partner in how bad the experience sounds. You should talk about different experiences of the same kind, e.g. your (separate) summer holidays. Possible situations to talk about:

• Vacations
• Dates
• Relationships/ people (family members, bosses, romantic partners, etc)
• Jobs (including workmates, workplace, etc)

 

You want to book or buy something together but have completely opposite ideas on what kind of thing is most suitable. Disagree completely with everything your partner says, then try to negotiate a compromise if you can. Possible topics:

• A holiday/ A hotel
• A car
• A house, or furniture for it

 

One of you is a customer/ guest/ passenger/ student complaining about something not being what was promised and/ or not being suitable. The person receiving the complaint politely rejects all the claims, saying that it is isn’t that way, that no one said it would be that way, that it doesn’t need to be that way, or that it shouldn’t be that way. You can roleplay communicating face, on the phone or by email (just saying what you would write).

 

Take turns boasting about your own possessions, romantic partner, children, job, skills, etc and saying bad things about your partner’s.

 

Talk about romantic matches for someone (imaginary), talking about things like compatibility (“opposites attract” or not, etc) and previous failed relationships.

 

As a class, choose one of the situations/ topics above and brainstorm suitable vocabulary with opposite meanings.