Shopping with confidence

Pre-intermediate: Love it or hate it? 11

1 Speaking
Work with a partner and discuss the following questions.

• How often do you go shopping?

• What’s your favourite shop? Why do you like it?
• Have you ever had any problems speaking to shop assistants? What happened?
• Are salespeople in your country helpful?
• How does this compare to your experience of customer service in other places you have visited?

2 Vocabulary
Work in a group and add shopping vocabulary to the table below.

Things a customer Things a shop assistant

Types of shops
might say might say

e.g. Clothes shop e.g. Can I try it on? e.g. Can I help you?

Compare your ideas with another group and identify any new words or phrases. Highlight the ones
you would like to remember.

3 Listening
Listen to three conversations and note down the shop the people are in and what they buy.

Conversation What shop? What do they buy?

1.

2.

3.

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 Shopping with confidence
Pre-intermediate: Love it or hate it? 11

4 Language
Listen again and note down the language you hear in the table.

Making requests Responding to requests

Add any other phrases you can think of to the table.

5 Pronunciation
Generally speaking, when we want to sound polite, our voice pitch starts higher than normal.
Listen to your teacher and repeat.

1. Excuse me, can you help me? 4. What size do you usually take?

2. What can I do for you? 5. Can I try them on?

3. Would you like to change it for a larger size? 6. Do you have any other colours in size 16?

6 Vocabulary
You are going to prepare a role play in a clothes shop. Work together and add to the lists in the
table below.

Items of clothing Problems Colours/patterns Sizes

e.g. dress e.g. too big e.g. yellow e.g. small

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 Shopping with confidence
Pre-intermediate: Love it or hate it? 11

7 Speaking
Create a shopping conversation with your partner. Use the table for ideas. Practise your
conversation several times and then change roles.

C = customer / A = shop assistant

C: Ask for help

A: Respond

C: Explain your problem

A: Offer to change the item

C: Accept the offer and add another request

A: Ask about size or colour preferences

C: Respond

A: Offer to check and report back

C: Ask to try the item on

A: Explain where the fitting room is

C: Give feedback on the item you tried on

and mention another problem

A: Offer a solution / alternative

C: Accept the Shop Assistant’s suggestion

A: Explain where to find the Customer Service desk

C: Thank the assistant

A: Close the conversation

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