Requests and offers in restaurants activities
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Functional language for making and responding to offers and requests speaking, with restaurant vocabulary and situations.
Lesson Plan Content:
Requests and offers in restaurants activities
with food and drink vocabulary, and requests and offers coin games
With a partner, take turns making and responding to offers and requests that you might hear in a restaurant like those in the table on the next page below, making sure that you include a mix of requests and offers, and a mix of positive and negative answers.
|
Positive answers to offers/ requests |
Negative answers to offers/ requests |
|
Certainly. (Here you are). Of course. (Please go ahead/ Please do/ Please help yourself). Sure. (No problem). (Here you go). Yes, please. That would be a great help./ That would be lovely. |
Actually,… I’d love to help, but… I’m afraid/ I’m sorry but/ Unfortunately… No, thanks. I… Thanks (for the offer), but I just had one/ but I think I can manage/ but…. |
|
|
Responses to negative answers |
|
|
Okay. No problem. Let me know if… Oh, okay. In that case,… |
When your teacher stops you, share one thing you gave a positive response to and see if other groups would give the same response.
Ask about any sentence starters, verbs and then vocabulary which you don’t understand or don’t know how to use, working together to make suitable requests or offers and responses for each.
Requests and offers in restaurants games
Do the same responding to requests and offers speaking activity, but this time flipping a coin to see if you should make a request (= heads) or make an offer (= tails, the side with the number on it).
Do the same, but flipping a coin each time to decide if your response will be positive (= heads) or negative (= tails), making sure that you give a reason for any negative responses.
Try to give good negative responses to all the requests and offers that your partner makes, using a different reason each time.
Before you make offers and requests to your partner, secretly write down if you think their response will be positive (in which case you should write “+”) or negative (“-”).
Secretly flip a coin to decide if you should get a positive response from your partner (= heads) or you should try to get a negative response (= tails).
Roleplay whole conversations with a mix of requests and offers, including offering different options.
Mixed requests and offers phrases |
Actions |
|
|
|
|
Sorry, can I Can I Can I help you Can we (Excuse me,) can you Can you do me a favour and Can you help me Could I Could I possibly (Waiter,) could you Could you possibly I would appreciate it if I could I would be grateful if I could I’d be grateful if you could I’ll… (if you like) If you like, I can Please Shall I Would you like me to Would you like to
|
add ask about ask for avoid borrow bring check choose clean cover customise cut (up)/ carve dip drink empty explain fill/ refill find out finish get give have (re)heat help myself to help yourself to leave light look at mash melt mix move open order pass pay (for) |
peel pick up prepare propose put put in recommend remove replace roll (up) save see serve share show sit smell smoke spit out split spread sprinkle squeeze start take take away take off taste tell try turn off – turn on turn over turn up – turn down use wipe wrap (up) – unwrap write (down) |
(me) (you) |
a an some the your my a new the old this that these those more another |
Things in restaurants to make requests and offers about |
|
|
||
|
air conditioner/ fan ashtray baked/ roasted… barbecued/ grilled… basket of… bill/ check boiled/ steamed… bowl (of…) bucket of… business card butter candle carafe/ jug/ pitcher of catch of the day chair/ child seat/ stool chili/ tabasco sauce (disposable) chopsticks clean… cold… condiments cream cup (of…) dessert/ pudding discount dish doggy bag dried/ smoked… drink empty… entrée extra… fermented/ pickled fixed menu fizzy/ sparkling… flame fork/ spork fresh… |
(deep/ stir)fried… glass (of…) gluten free… grated… halal/ kosher… hot… hot towel how to eat/ make/… ice (cube) iced… imported… ingredients (tomato) ketchup (steak/ fish) knife (extra) large leaflet/ pamphlet lemon light/ lighter/ match lunch menu/ set menu main course map meal medium (drinks/ dessert) menu milk mixer music mustard napkin/ serviette near(er) the window on the rocks organic… outside parmesan (black) pepper a photo of… plain… plate |
price raw… recipe sachet of… salad salt (shaker) sauce saucer seeds/ pips/ stones side dish a slice of… small soft drink something exotic something filling something healthy something spicy something… something… (free) (local) speciality specials a speech (table/ tea)spoon starter straw sugar (cube) sweetener table tablecloth tapas three/ four/… courses tip a toast toilet topping(s) tray vegetarian/ vegan… wet wipe |
(or) (with) |
…(?) |
Offers and requests presentation
First of all without looking above, brainstorm suitable phrases into the boxes above. Other answers not above are also possible.
|
Requests
|
Offers |
|
Positive answers to requests
|
Positive answers to offers |
|
Negative answers to requests
|
Negative answers to offers |
Mixed answers
Use the mixed answers below to help with the task above. Some can go in more than one place, but “Please…” only has one of the functions.
- Actually,…
- Can I…?
- Can I help you…?
- Can we…?
- Can you…?
- Can you do me a favour and…?
- Can you help me…?
- (Here you are).
- Could I…?
- Could I possibly…?
- Could you…?
- Could you possibly…?
- I would appreciate it if I could…
- I would be grateful if I could…
- I’d be grateful if you could…
- I’d love to help, but…
- I’ll… (if you like)
- I’m afraid/ I’m sorry but/ Unfortunately…
- If you like, I can…
- No, thanks. I…
- Of course. (Please go ahead/ do/ help yourself).
- Please…
- Shall I…?
- Sorry, can I
- (No problem). (Here you go).
- Thanks (for the offer), but I just had one/ but I think I can manage/ but….
- Would you like me to…?
- Would you like to…?
- Yes, please. That would be a great help./ That would be lovely
Look at the original worksheets to start checking your answers, but note that requests and offers are mixed up there. Then brainstorm more.
Check as a class.
Test each other by:
- reading out a phrase for your partner to classify
- reading out the name of a section and helping your partner make suitable phrases
- reading out a phrase for your partner to respond to
- reading out a phrase, listening to your partner’s response, then roleplaying the rest of the conversation together
Terms of Use
Lesson plans & worksheets can be used by teachers without any fee in the classroom; however, please ensure you keep all copyright information and references to UsingEnglish.com in place.
You will need Adobe Reader to view these files.
