Could you help me?

Objective & content

This functional language sheet teaches pupils to make polite requests (Can you help me? Could you feed our cat, please? Would you mind giving her some water?), say yes (Of course. No problem. Sure! Not at all.), say no politely and say why (I'm afraid I can't. I've got football at ten.) and thank someone (Thank you! You're welcome.). Pupils read a dialogue in which Yusra and her neighbour ask each other for help, find the missing words and read the useful phrases, given in a box. By the end, they can ask for something politely, say yes or no, and know that Not at all. answers Would you mind...? with a yes.

Pedagogical guide

Page 1 is the dialogue, with a picture of Yusra and of her neighbour: it's Saturday morning, and they meet outside Yusra's house. Yusra's family is going to visit her grandparents next week, in the holidays, so she asks the neighbour to feed their cat in the morning and in the evening and to give her some water; Yusra's mum is going to bring the key on Sunday. Then the neighbour asks Yusra for help: Yusra carries a heavy shopping bag, but she can't post a letter right now because she's got football at ten; she can post it after lunch. Pupils find eight missing words in lines from the dialogue. Page 2 has the useful phrases in a box, with the key words in bold and Would you mind + -ing, five situations to match to a phrase (asking a teacher to say something again, saying yes to Would you mind...?, being busy, a bag on the only free seat on the bus, borrowing a ruler) and six lines with three replies each, where pupils tick the best one. Page 3 has a dialogue in which Rufus, who has forgotten his calculator, asks his friend Pearl for help, to number from 1 to 8, and a dialogue in which Pearl asks her grandad for help with her history homework, to complete with six words in a box. The last task is a role-play with an information gap: pupils cut out cards A and B. A is going away for the weekend and asks the neighbour to do four things (feed the fish twice, take a parcel, water the plants), each on a day and at a time; B looks at the neighbour's weekend and says yes, or I'm afraid I can't and why, and A writes yes or no on the list. Then they swap. Every exercise opens with a worked example.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask a pupil "Could you open the window, please?" and another "Would you mind closing the door?"; teach "Of course." and "Not at all."
2. (10 min) Read the dialogue aloud; pupils find the missing words.
3. (5 min) Read the useful phrases in the box with the class; pupils find them in the dialogue.
4. (10 min) Page 2: pupils match the situations to the phrases, then tick the best replies.
5. (10 min) Page 3: pupils number the lines of Rufus and Pearl's dialogue, then complete Pearl's dialogue with her grandad.
6. (10 min) Role-play: A asks the neighbour for help, B answers from the weekend on the card, A writes yes or no; then pupils swap.
7. (5 min) Check with the answer key on page 4.

Adaptations

[S] Pupils read the dialogue aloud in pairs, one as Yusra and one as the neighbour, before the tasks.

[A] Pupils write three polite requests to people at school: a teacher, a friend and the librarian.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of pages 1 to 3 per pupil, and scissors for the role-play cards. Page 4 is the answer key and teacher notes: keep it. The role-play is free speaking, but B's weekend decides each answer: two requests get a yes and two get a no, and the key gives them. Pupils need have got (I've got football), going to for plans, the days of the week and the time. To take it further, pupils ask each other for real small favours in class for a lesson, always with Could you...? or Would you mind...?