Web International Advanced Salon 13

Advanced Salon 13
Trying to be Polite

Goals of the Lesson

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This lesson allows students to practice using polite compliments, appropriate language for making
others feel comfortable, insisting, interrupting, and directing the conversation, hesitating and

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expressing uncertainty.

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Classroom Activities

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I. Warm-up

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Activity 1: Compliments. [15‟]
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Each student writes the name of a famous person at the top of a piece of paper. All the papers are
collected, shuffled and distributed to different students.
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Now every student writes a compliment under the name of the person. The papers are again
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distributed so that everyone can add a different compliment – perhaps it would be a good idea to pre-
prep them beforehand by brainstorming different compliments (more than just the usual “beautiful”
and “handsome”).
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The teacher then collects all the papers and redistributes them – each student then reads out the name
of the person on their sheet and the compliments for them.
Students discuss the relative merits of each compliment.
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Ask them if they think the comments are:

Fair/ superficial/ supportive/ would this compliment make them feel uncomfortable/ is it „too much?‟
(NB: Reference to the pre-salon student preparation material can be made here as appropriate but
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bear in mind some students might not have done it).

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II. Main Activities

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Activity 2: The Problem with the Telephone. [40‟]

Pair the students and give A and B role play cards to each pair. Ask each student to think about some
phrases they might need to use in the conversation they are likely to have considering the information
they have on the card.
Alternative: After practising each pair have their conversation in „hot seats‟ at the front of the class.
Each student is „supported‟ by the other members of their team. The teacher decides when the other
A‟s and B‟s can enter the conversation and support their key speaker.

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 Web International Advanced Salon 13

III. Wind down

Activity 3: Being Insensitive. [5‟]

Ask the students what would be sensitive and insensitive things to say to the following people:

A girl with a complexion problem.

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A man losing his hair.
A man who has just lost his girlfriend.
A woman who has just failed her driving test for the third time.

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Someone who has just lost a packet on the stock exchange.
Someone who has come second in a singing competition, not first as they had hoped.

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Someone who‟s child has just failed to get into university.
Someone who has just admitted to you that they are an alcoholic.
Someone showing you their poetry. [It‟s not very good]

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Someone who has just been laid off.

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 Web International Advanced Salon 13

Handouts
Advanced Salon 13: Telephone Role Play Slips.

1A
You are Robin
You are in a hurry because you are going out in half an hour and want to wash and dry your hair

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beforehand. Your phone rings.

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1B

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Your are Francis / Frances
You and your boyfriend or girlfriend have just broken up and you desperately need someone to talk to.
You ring up your friend Robin.

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2A
You are Gene / Jean
You are studying for an important exam next week and you are just struggling with a difficult book.
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Just when you think you have just worked out what one chapter means the phone rings. You know that
you have to get back to the book quickly or you will lose the thread
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2B
You are Nick / Nicky
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You have just come home from the most fantastic weekend trip you have ever had. You went to a log
cabin on a lonely lake with some other students. There you did your own cooking, lots of sports and
had a party every night. You are really eager to tell your friend all about it so you ring them up.
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3A
You are Ricky
You are in the kitchen baking a surprise cake for your parents. Your parents will be home soon. The
phone rings.
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3B
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You are Mrs. Fletcher

You are 75 years old and have sprained your ankle. It is very difficult for you to walk. You need
someone to do some shopping for you. And you would really like to tell the young person who lives
on the top floor of the building all about your fall. You ring them up.

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 Web International Advanced Salon 13

4A
You are Leslie.
It is Saturday afternoon and your team is playing in the National Final. They have never been in the
final before and you are just settling down to watch the game on TV when the phone rings.

4B
You are Amy,

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You have been in Vietnam teaching English for the last five months. It‟s very difficult to get a chance
to use the phone to call Europe as the place you are working is a small town with bad communications.
Finally you have been able to get a line out and you want to tell your brother Leslie all about your

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experiences. You can‟t afford to get cut off as reconnecting will be really difficult.

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5A

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You are David,
You are in the middle of tiling your bathroom. You want to surprise your wife when she returns home
by having the job finished. Also you have a bucket of tile adhesive that must be used before it hardens.

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5B
You are Janine,
You have to write a science paper for college about water and electric supply to a normal house. You
know that your uncle David will know all about such things so you need to call him in order to be able
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to finish your project for tomorrow. You have a lot of questions that you need to have answered about
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the normal system and how it works.

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 Web International Advanced Salon 13

Student Salon Preparation Material – Advanced Salon 13

Review this vocabulary。

Complimentary, compliment, uncomplimentary, flattering, gracious, superficial, vague, non-descript,

sensitive, insensitive.

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Think about the following;

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When is it a good / bad to compliment someone?
What should you say when you wish to compliment someone?

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Do some cultures expect more compliments than others?
Is there such a thing as “over-complimenting” someone?
How should you react and what should you say if someone compliments you?

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