barebones ©Thor May 2001 back to barebones index
subject to review, alteration or abandonment in classroom practice.
Anyone is welcome to use this stuff, but copyright remains with
Thor May. Feedback, positive or negative, is very welcome.ESL materials & ideas developed in Korea
Popup English
Service Dialogues - Hotel Dry Cleaning
a) Dialogue: Dry Cleaning
Customer: Hi. Could I leave this jacket and these trousers here please?
Shop Assistant: Yes sir. Could I have your name and room number please?
Customer: Connors, James Connors. Room 518.
Shop Assistant: Thank you sir. They should be ready by this evening.
Customer: Good, good. Be careful with the jacket. I don't think it's colourfast.
Shop Assistant: I'll make a note on the tag. It IS a nice jacket.Hmm. That will come to ... let me see ... eight thousand won altogether
Customer: Right. Put it on my bill.
Shop Assistant: Certainly. Have a nice day.
b) Procedure
a) Introduce the idea of customer service. Elicit examples of good and bad customer service.
b) Point out the shop assistant's compliment, "it IS a nice jacket", and discuss whether it is more or less effective than the hackneyed formula, "have a nice day"
c) Check for unfamiliar vocabulary, then model the dialogue.
d) Bring one of the more gregarious students to the front of the class, and have them shadow-act your performance as you go through it again. A bit of over-acting and humour does no harm.
e) Make the class stand up, separate them into pairs scattered around the room, and have them practice the dialogue. Insist that they look at the other person when speaking, not reading woodenly from a script.
f) Have selected student pairs role play the action for everyone.
g) Bring the whole class to the front standing, and have them shadow act your performance and intonation, right through the script; (standing up dramatizes the action, and involves everyone viscerally).
"Service Dialogue - Hotel Dry Cleaning" copyrighted to Thor May 2001; all rights reservedback to barebones index