Twenty requests, three seconds each
Round the room. Your teacher calls out a setting and an ask; the next person produces a request at the right level within three seconds.
Twice round. Anybody who hesitates sits down, and the last four standing do it again against each other.
Eight situations. Match each to the level that fits it.
The letter is not the phone call
In the email
I appreciate that this is probably not something you can authorise yourself. If that is the case, I would be grateful if you could pass this on and let me know who is dealing with it.
On the phone
And look, I do understand this is probably not your call to make — I am not expecting you to sort it out on the spot. What would really help is if you could point me at whoever can. Even just a name and a department would do.
Three questions comparing the two.
1. The spoken version adds I am not expecting you to sort it out on the spot. What does that do?
2. Even just a name and a department would do. Why offer a smaller version of the ask?
3. The written version is more formal. Is it more polite?
The sequence
Four counters, in order, and what each tests
| Counter | The ask | What is being tested |
|---|---|---|
| Shop | A refund without a receipt | A low-level opener and a graceful response to no |
| Restaurant | A hedged complaint about the bill | Blame removed, fact kept |
| Hotel | A room change and a late check-out | Level 5 to 7, twice, without repeating a form |
| Doctor’s | An earlier appointment | Apology before the request, and taking no well |
Six moves of one counter exchange, from the customer’s side. Put them in order.
The unit task, in three parts
Task card · Part one · Hand in · 4 minutes
Your clean complaint email goes into your portfolio today.
A final check against five things, then hand it over.
- A subject line under ten words that names the thing and the problem.
- About 220 words in six paragraphs, count at the bottom.
- Every you addresses a helper, never a culprit.
- An exact figure, a basis, and a deadline.
- No adjective of complaint anywhere.
Task card · Part two · The sequence · Recorded · 3 minutes per counter
Four counters in a row with a new partner, swapping sides between each. Record all four.
Twelve minutes of service English in which the level moves with the setting.
- Shop, restaurant, hotel, doctor’s — in that order.
- You may not use the same opener twice across the four.
- The hedged complaint at the restaurant must contain no accusation.
- Whoever is behind the counter refuses in three parts every time.
- Get something concrete at every counter before you leave it.
Listener’s job, and it is assessed too. One page, three columns:
1. Every request, word for word, with a level number 1 to 8.
2. Every accusation, and every modal that gave an order upward.
3. Whether each refusal had all three parts.
Hand the page over at the end, with the recording.
Task card · Part three · The comparison · 5 minutes
You now have a marked email and a listener’s page from four spoken counters.
One sentence about the gap between what you write and what you say.
- Look at the levels in column one. What is your average, and what is your lowest?
- Which of the four counters produced your lowest level? Almost everybody has one.
- Compare it with the email: was there a single accusation in the written piece?
- Write one sentence: In writing I ___ ; at a counter I default to level ___ , which is wrong when ___ .
Closing the unit
Eight lines, one from each lesson. Fix each and name the lesson.
1. Give me the bill, please.
2. Do you mind if I will sit here?
3. You had better to check the date.
4. You sent me a broken one.
5. Would you mind to hold?
6. I don’t suppose you could possibly pass the salt, could you? — to your brother
7. This is completely unacceptable.
8. No. Is not possible.
One final exchange, both sides. Two to six words per gap.
— Sorry to bother you. have a look at a booking for me? It does not seem to be showing. — Of course. one moment. — Right, I cannot find it under that name at all. — I see. the confirmation email here, if that is any use. — That would help. is take the reference and speak to the duty manager. — That is kind. And nothing can be done tonight, telling me now rather than at eight?
What this unit was about
Four questions covering the whole unit.
1. Where does English carry politeness in a request?
2. You’d better call them. What is it?
3. Why remove you from the problem-half of a complaint?
4. Is a higher level always better?
The unit in one line. You were never impolite. Portuguese banks courtesy in the voice and English banks it in the grammar, and nobody tells you the currency changed at the border.
Three openers, learned as single units, cover almost everything: Could I …, please? · Would you mind …-ing? · I was wondering whether … The rest is matching the level to the ask.
Next unit. You have been asking for things that could happen. Next you talk about things that could not — hypotheticals, regrets, and what you would do if.
Keep the sentence you wrote in part three. The gap between what you can write and what you can produce under pressure is the theme of the rest of B1.