Topic: Social skills: Compliments, apologies, requests, and invitations
Mode: Interpersonal
Level: Intermediate
Skill: Listening, Speaking
Competency: I can in a live conversation, request a favor, or accept / turn down a request made to me in a culturally appropriate way
Students will practice requesting a favor and responding by accepting or turning down a request for a favor.
Additional Materials
For each pair:
- Notecards (Set A) – 3 notecards with ‘accept’ written on one side and 3 notecards with ‘turn down’ written on one side.
- Notecards (set B) – set of 6 prompts for requesting a favor from other student
Instructions to the teacher
Before class prepare 2 set of notecards for each group. The Set A notecards consists of 3 notecards with ‘accept’ written on one side and 3 notecards with ‘turn down’ written on one side. Set B consists of 6 prompts. On one side of each card is a request for a favor from the other student.
Example prompts could include:
- Ask to borrow a pencil for taking notes in class
- Ask to borrow some money to buy a coffee before class
- Ask for a ride to the bank after class
- Ask to copy notes from a class that you missed
- Ask to borrow a book to finish the reading for class
- Ask for some aspirin because you have a headache
- Ask for a ride home from the airport after a trip
- Ask for help moving a couch into your apartment
- Ask a friend to take care of your pet while you are out of town for a few days
- Ask to borrow some sugar for a cake that you are baking
Before beginning this example, model it with a volunteer in front of the class. Sit across from the student with the Set A cards facedown in front of you. The volunteer has the Set B cards facedown in front of her. Draw the top card and demonstrate for the students how to make the request in the target language.
e.g. I need to go to the bank after class to set up my bank account, and I wondered if you could give me a ride?
The volunteer student then draws a response card (either Accept or Turn Down) and responds appropriately.
e.g. Yes. I’d be glad to do that. or I’m sorry, but I have a meeting after class and can’t bring you.
Ask the class for other ways that the request could be made. Ask them as well if there are other ways that the student could have accepted or denied the request.
Encourage them to think of a context for the request and the answer.
Have them alternate between making the request and responding to it for as long as you want the exercise to continue.
Instructions to students
You will be working in pairs to practice making a request and responding to it (either accepting it or turning it down) in a culturally relevant way. There are two sets of cards – Each card in Set A has a request for a favor (e.g., “I forgot my pencil, could I borrow one from you for class?”), while each card in Set B has either “Accept” or “Turn Down” written on it. One of you will draw a card from Set A and formulate a request. Your partner will draw a card from Set B and respond accordingly. Try to come up with a plausible context for making the request and the answer. Be creative but try to follow the spirit of the exercise so that you have a good opportunity to practice spontaneous speech. After one of you makes the request and the other answers, switch roles so that you both have practice asking and responding.