Topic: Requests and Apologies
Mode: Interpretive
Level: Novice
Students will match an apology with a situation
Components of this activity: Sets of situation and apology cards
Instructions to the teacher
Print out and cut the cards up so that the situations and apologies are separated. Distribute the situations alone to the students and have them think of their own apologies for each. Then, hand out the apologies and let students compare with the apologies they thought of.
Alternatively, jumble up the situations and apologies and have students match them.
Instructions to students
Write an apology appropriate to each situation.
| Situation | Apology |
| Someone is speaking to you a language that you don’t understand | I’m sorry. I cannot understand what you are saying. |
| You have eaten your friend’s food from the fridge | I’m very sorry. I didn’t realize it was yours. |
| You accidentally burp loudly in a meeting | Please pardon me. |
| You have arrived late at a business meeting | I am sorry, I’m late. Have you been waiting for too long? |
| You have spilled someone’s coffee | I’m terribly sorry. Let me buy you another one. |
| You have to tell someone that her flight has been canceled | I regret to inform you that your flight has been canceled. |