Apocalypse Chaffinch - An RPG for English Learners

APOCALYPSE CHAFFINCH 

ROLE PLAYING GAME

How to Play:

Hi there, in this lesson you will have an adventure while practicing your English. This game is best played in pairs of with a group of fellow English learners. It can be played with an imaginary friend but you must talk aloud to yourself. I haven´t included a glossary this time, so bring your dictionaries on this adventure.

After each part of the story there is a TASK. Each task is marked I for INDIVIDUAL or  G for GROUP. In the individual tasks you will have a chance to compete against your partner or do something that the group will discuss later. Group tasks are usually discussions. Just follow the instructions and have fun!

LEVEL- to INTERMEDIATE and BEYOND

STORY: It all begins in London Zoo on a strangely quiet day. You and your friends are visiting the Nocturnal Exhibit. You see the bats and big-eyed monkeys.  They seem agitated. ´That´s strange,´ you think. ´It´s almost as if they sense something bad is going to happen.´ You stop banging on their glass cage with your fist. Then you feel the earth shake and a moment later you hear a massive explosion. What´s going on?

Suddenly, the Great Doctor Dolittle bursts through the door to the Nocturnal Exhibit. ´Come with me quickly´ he says ´the world  has ended´. 

Many miles away a huge asteroid has crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. A tsunami the height of 12 skyscrapers is heading your way. There´s very little time left. You follow the Doctor to his secret ARK - A submarine powered by animal faeces hidden under London Zoo. ´This is where your charitable donations have gone!´ He says before explaining that you must save as many animals as possible before the floods come.

TASK (I.)  NOAH´S RACE

You have 3 minutes to write a list of all the animals you can think of! You can only write their English names. Go!

When your time is up, compare your list of animals with the rest of your group. Who got the most animals? Who got the animal with the longest name? Well done, everyone, these are the animals you´ve saved!

STORY: The world has been completely covered by water. You and your fellow survivors are afloat on your yellow boat, looking at the blue horizon, and you suddenly realise that you need to build a whole new world together. What a great opportunity to do away with the worst aspects of the previous 10´000 years of human civilisation. 

TASK: (G) A NEW SOCIETY

Discuss the following. One student should play the secretary and take notes. 

Which 3 professions will you definitely have in your new society and why?

Which 3 professions won´t you have in your new society and why? (those Professionals will be forced to walk a plank into shark infested waters)

What will be the 10 New Commandments of your civilisation? e.g. thou shalt not worship false prophets (in old English) or you must do your homework (in modern English). Try to make sentences using the modal verbs MUST and SHOULD, as well as HAVE TO, NEED TO and CAN´T. 

STORY: Congratulations! Your new society is thriving. Despite the claustrophobic living conditions of a Submarine, everyone appears to be getting on. There´s even a new generation being born - a race of gilled and stunted albinos. Sociopaths and outsiders are easily dealt with. A splash in the ocean and the submarine is back on it´s way, searching for dry land and a way off this fucking boat. 

A group of you have gone updeck to do some fishing when suddenly you see a strange and worrying sight!
Floating in a bath tub is Justin Bieber and a Chimpanzee. 

TASK (G) THE FLOATING ENIGMA

Part 1) Make DEDUCTIONS as a group answering the following questions:
How have they survived this long? Think about the tsunami disaster as well as food, morale, exposure to the elements, dangers of the deep, etc. 
Why is a monkey with Justin Bieber in a bathtub?
Why does Bieber still look the same after 30 years at sea?
Use the MODALS: Could(n´t) have and Must(n´t) have. 

Part 2) Oh no! There´s only room for one of the survivors on the submarine! 
Together decide who should be saved: Bieber or the Chimpanzee and give your reasons.

STORY: Before you could give the winner the good news, the Chimpanzee decided for you and broke Bieber´s neck, casting him into the sea. You welcome the Chimpanzee on board and sail on your merry way. 

Three weeks later in shallow waters the submarine is hit by a huge storm. For days and nights, there is only rain, wind, thunder and lightning. Everyone is seasick and the stink of vomit is unbearable. All the animals have diarrhea too. ´Bieber has cursed us´, the old people say. 

One night, a terrible discovery is made. A sad wailing is heard from one of the animal cages. It´s Rhino the Rhinocerous! He´s been dressed up as a girl and has been made to wear roller skates and listen to old Bieber records. Good God, there´s a crazy person on the boat!

But who could it be?

TASK (I) PSYCHO  TEST

Part 1) Everyone is a suspect! Find out who is crazy by performing this psychological test. Individually, draw a picture including the following items: 

house, 
cloud, 
sun,
path, 
tree, 
bush or bushes,
snake

You have 3 minutes! Go!

Part 2) Psychologically analyse the pictures of your fellow shipmates using the key in the ANSWERS section at the top of the Blog. Decide who is crazy and should be made to walk the plank!

STORY: The nightmare has ended. Just as you declared one of your shipmates crazy, the true culprit appeared. It was Justin Bieber. No one knows how but he´d  managed to get onto the submarine and had been torturing the animals with his music. Throwing him overboard, the clouds part and under clear blue skies you see - DRY LAND!

Oh, how wonderful! You cheer and jump and dance for joy. And look, there´s a little bird coming towards you, carrying what appears to be an olive branch! ´It´s the dove of our lord God,´ someone cries. ´Carrying the olive branch of peace!´

But oh my god, it´s getting closer. 

It´s not a little bird but a giant radioactive fire-breathing Chaffinch! And it´s carrying a telegraph pole. What does it want?

´What do you want with us, you Monster?´ You ask the giant radioactive Chaffinch. ´I just want,´ he replies. ´to talk!´ He has developed a huge brain from absorbing all the nuclear waste of the asteroid crash and he misses good conversation. `Talk to me and if I´m not bored, I won´t eat you!´

TASK: (G) JUST 2 MINUTES

Each person writes a subject on a scrap of paper, folds the paper and puts it into a hat. If you can´t think of a subject, take turns choosing one of the following: My last holiday, My best friend, My favourite film, book, band, My hobby, My country, city, family., etc.

Each person draws a scap of paper and has 2 minutes to talk about it. Easy, except they´re not allowed to repeat, hesitate or deviate. If you do, the Chaffinch will have you for his supper. 

STORY: The Chaffinch is impressed. He has decided to eat all the Ark´s animals and to keep you humans to be his pets. You will live on the island together and spend your lives serving the Chaffinch and his mad whims. Today, he is going to ask you to dance the conga for 10 hours, tomorrow who knows?

THE END?