Just a quick note…
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Role play: Making Polite Requests
This is a fun conversation class to help students with language for making, accepting and rejecting polite requests in work or home situations. Download the handout here:
Start by asking students the following:
Have you ever asked for a pay rise?
Have you ever asked for time off?
When was the last time you asked for permission for something? What was it? How did you ask?
First have students brainstorm language of polite requests, then go over the language in the handout.
Making Requests
I was wondering if it would be possible to…….
Is there any chance that I could…….
Would it be alright if I……..
I believe I’m entitled to/I deserve…… (a pay rise/a day off)
Giving Reasons
You see the thing is……………
The problem is that………….
Accepting Requests
Ok, I don’t see why not.
Of course.
No problem at all
Adding Conditions
As long as/provided that/on condition that you……..
Rejecting Requests
I’m afraid that’s just not possible at the moment.
That’s out of the question.
I’m afraid I have to turn your request down.
Once you have gone through the language, put students in pairs and give out the role play cards. Tell students that it is important that they keep their role cards secret as some characters are required to keep certain information secret.
Run the same role play simultaneously and after 4-5 minutes have students report back what happened to the rest of class (a good opportunity to practice reported speech).
Role plays
| A:
You are an employee in a company. Next weekend your best friend is having his/her stag/hen party (despedida de soltero). You have to ask your boss for the Monday and Tuesday after off work. Your boss will probably reject the request if he/she knows you are going to a stag/hen party. |
B:
You are the boss of the company. An employee comes to ask you something. This particular employee has seemed distracted recently and keeps forgetting important things. |
| A:
You are and sales person in a company. You are very stressed and you need a rest, you have decided that you want to take a sabbatical to go and volunteer in an elephant sanctuary in Africa for a year. You need to speak to the boss. You are very hard-working and the company is doing very well because of your hard work. |
B:
You are the boss of a company. One of your employees comes to ask you something. You have heard a rumour that this employee wants to take a sabbatical. He/she is your best sales person and the company really needs him/her. You can offer him/her a pay rise, a promotion and a 1 month holiday. |
| A:
You are a strict parent. Your son/daughter comes to you with a request about the weekend. |
B:
You are a teenager. Your best friend is having a massive party at his/her house this weekend because his/her parents are away, the boy/girl of your dreams is also going to be there. You need to get your parent’s permission to go but they are very strict and will not give you permission if they know it’s going to be a crazy party. |
| A:
You are a teacher. Your best student comes to you with a request. |
B:
You are a student. You are very intelligent and you work very hard. You want to be a journalist. You have been offered a part time job in a national newspaper. If you take the job you will have to work from 9am-12am on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays but you have classes on these days. Speak to your teacher and see if you can find a solution. |