Once a week I make my students read a chapter (or a short story) for homework. After a brief discussion, in which I make sure that they all understood it, I assign a role to them (with bigger classes they are first divided in groups of 4-5). It is funny that even the most reserved students react well in this situation: they all find it easy to "defend" their role, instantly "merging" with the character they are assigned to impersonate. And this is even more puzzling because it is all about improvising, which makes the whole experience even more unpredictable-and it is what they like the most:-)