One thing I learned from my CELT course was something another student taught me and not a teacher; She had taught drama as part of community projects for under-privileged kids. Her idea was that you should never shine the spotlight on a student - because it makes them nervous - rather drama should be done in small groups where each person is a character.
She also said it was a great way to get people to think about how other people felt, by casting them in roles they wouldn �t normally try to empathize with, and by making them feel more comfortable than they would be if they were themselves.
There is an excellent role play in old English File Upper-int where the students pretend to be politicians, their policies are written out for them and they are given time to discuss and plan their debate in teams. They �re also given useful phrases. All the policies revise vocabulary and grammar they learned in the chapter. I like this because the students constantly have the support of the group.
You could adapt something like this?
Another role play form the same book came after a chapter on health and medicine, where the students again where given roles (and time to prepare) this time individually. They then worked in pairs taking turns as doctor and patient. The roles were very funny and neither student knew what the other had on their card.
For example something like: A. "Your patient is a hypochondriac and visits you every day. He keeps calling you by your first name and it drives you crazy."
B. You have a good relationship with your doctor and are good friends, you are on first name terms with her. You have a terrible rash on your arm and you �re worried it might be serious. You would like to go for specialist tests in the local hospital."
(a lot more details are given than this, this is just an example of the type of thing.)
Another one we did on my teaching course was "national stereotypes" where you pretended to be from a certain country (without speaking) and the other person had to guess which one. It´s a good way to revise the names of countries at any level. Do be sure to mention how silly stereotypes are.. to avoid arguments and tears!
Those role-plays usually take 10 to 15 minutes to prepare, and another 10 to 15 to act out. The number of students doesn´t matter. (if you have an uneven number, just have "a team of doctors" or "Siamese-twins"
Personally I feel if the role-play does not recycle the grammar and/or vocabulary you have learned it is somewhat useless, except maybe at very high levels like CAE and CPE.
When it comes to "drama" as in preforming parts in front of other people, i have no experience - One thing I would say for that is: Make sure it �s an optional class!
