The Heart of the Matter Lesson Plan

Making Small Talk

Kind of Activity:

Role Play

Objective:

Improvisation and character development

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3

Structure:

The "Argentine beef" dinner party sounds... dreadful (and not just because the beef is probably six months old -- yikes). What seems particularly difficult is the terrible amount of small talk everyone has to do. This is a classic British upper-class party scene, with drinks and completely inappropriate yet boring discussion.

For this exercise, students volunteer to play various roles. They have topics they must eventually discuss: Pemberton's suicide, the war, illness. However, they cannot indicate that they...