The overall aim of role playing assignments is for students to get involved in a much more direct and practical way than is the case with classic face-to-face teaching. Splitting the word into its two components we can also get a good impression about the functioning of this technique. It provides the students with personas or characters which they can use to portray a role in a fictitious setting akin to theater. It offers the chance to play these characters in a relaxed and risk-free environment, to test one’s own skill and knowledge without any risks involved and additionally - as with any game we play - to have fun in the process. In a role play participants will either portray someone else or they will play themselves in a specific situation. Many critics have recommended that training by doing is the best way of learning for most students and topics. Reading or listening to someone lecturing is inferior to getting involved, to experiment and to take an active part in the scenario, and this is what role playing is all about.

There are three distinctive stages in a role play session:

(1) the briefing,

(2) the play and

(3) the debriefing.

In the briefing phase, the facilitator sets the stage. He describes the scenario and the roles available. The briefing phase is also the “warm-up” phase for all participants; it is a time used to introduce everyone involved, to explain the specifics of the role playing technique and to clearly state the aim of the exercise.

The facilitator will explain the scenario; the degree of detail necessary strongly depends on the topic. In the intercultural context it is advisable to keep the scenario rather open and to allow for free interpretation wherever possible, as cultural differences will only show up if the participants have the feeling that they are allowed to interpret the story and the characters in their own way. One good option to prevent the scenario itself from being culturally biased is asking the prospective participants for their input, especially if they like the scenario and feel comfortable taking roles in it. Also, the scenario should be somewhat flexible allowing for minor changes in the setup and adaptations according to wishes of the players involved.

Role description should include all information which the player will need to act ‘in character’ inside the scenario described beforehand but – especially if the aim of the exercise is to raise cultural awareness or train interaction processes – should leave some room for personal interpretations and ideas of the “actor”. Role descriptions which are too complex force the actors to keep too many details in mind and thus limit their flexibility and creativity. Role definitions are often defined and printed in two variants: one variant which is only known by the actor and the facilitator and one which is handed to everyone else. This is useful to simulate the fact that in reality we often meet and must cooperate with strangers of whom we know next to nothing.

After the scenario is described and the roles are distributed, the participants should be allowed some time for asking questions and chat with each other concerning the scenario and the roles. Often the participants start to develop an interest for a specific role or culture during this phase. There are many different approaches in how to assign roles, especially in multicultural scenarios. It is much easier to portray a character of the home-culture than a foreigner, especially if the culture that should be played is unknown to the player.