Introduction

This activity starts with a short introduction, in which the teacher asks the students if they have a dream job and if they would like to tell the group about it. After the introduction, students choose a card which is faced down. (See here for sample cards.) These contain different jobs. Once they know what the job means (they can ask if they are not sure), they are then asked to think of a single pose or movement that encapsulates what this job, in their opinion, is about. After about a minute of consideration, everyone who feels confident in their pose or movement is asked to act it out in front of their classmates. While they are acting it out, it is important for the other students to observe what their classmate is doing and not shout out what their classmate is doing. Instead, those watching should wait until their classmate has finished, as they are only allowed to guess once the teacher asks them "What is he/she doing?" or "What job is he/she acting out?"

Depending on the time left, teachers could follow up this activity with another group activity, in which every group member is asked to act out the pose resembling the job they liked the most at the same time. This might help less outgoing students to also take part in this dramatic activity. 

Target group and Time

Target group: Grades 5 and 6. It is possible to vary the difficulty of the job terms between both grades (e.g. only using "chef" for the 6th graders) and focus on more straight-forward instructions with the younger students.

Time: 3 minutes for the beginning explanation. Then leave as much time as needed for the main activity. This is necessary because the number of students who feel comfortable could vary greatly between the various groups and different grades.

Learning objectives

General: With this activity, teachers aim to help students understand what tasks are required by different jobs, including their dream jobs.  It aids the ability to describe these tasks. If they lack certain vocabulary, they also have the opportunity to learn the names of certain jobs in English and how to describe them. "Describing" here refers to two ways of depicting an activity: Using their bodies to express their thoughts and verbally expressing what a job entails.

Vocabulary: Every student should to learn the vocabulary for 5-10 job descriptions by looking at the cards and the performance of their fellow students. Furthermore, they learn verbs related to the actions, e.g. "cooking" or "performing".

Grammar: Most of the time, the students are required to use the progressive tense.

Instructions to set up the activity

Prepare cards with job terms; distribute them randomly. Prepare more cards than there are students, so students can exchange cards with which they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable. Most students should still try out the word on their card instead of immediately asking for a new one if they are unsure what their card means.

Encourage students to try acting out - by talking about their dream job and reaching them at a personal level. However, it is necessary to give the option of not telling about their dream job to others.

Letting it run

Always encourage students to ask for vocabulary.

If students decide to ask questions, it is important to respect these and help as much as possible. This is true even if they talk in their first language to you or their fellow students - this actually shows that they are interested and want to take part.

If students show a lot of enthusiasm and use it in a beneficial way, use that positive energy. Don't cut the activity off.

Follow-up questions such as "How did you know Johannes was a baker?" can encourage more careful observation and more purposeful acting.