Shopping ESL Role-Plays, Activities, Worksheets and Games

ESL Shopping Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Controlled Practice - Group Work In this imaginative shopping board game, students practice asking for items in a shop, giving prices and saying where to buy particular items. In groups, players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. When a player lands on a square containing shopping items, the player asks the student to their right for the items using the shopping language on the game board. For example, if the square contains the words 'an apple' and 'a banana', the player says, 'Can I have an apple and a banana, please?' If the player asks a suitable question, the student to their right refers to a price list, calculates the total cost and says, 'Yes. That's $..., please.' If the player forms the question incorrectly, the student says, 'No sorry, we don't have any left.' When a player lands on a 'Where can I buy...?' square, they answer the question with 'You can buy... at the...' If the player asks a suitable question or gives an appropriate response, they stay on the square. If not, they go back two squares. The first player to reach the finish wins the game. show less

ESL Clothes Shopping Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Categorising, Ordering, Role-Play, Creating and Presenting a Dialogue - Pair Work In this free clothes shopping activity, students categorise and order clothes shop conversations and role-play a clothes shopping dialogue. First, students sort three clothes shop dialogues into conversations one, two and three by reading the customer and shop assistant responses and labelling the lines 1, 2, or 3. Next, students practice the three clothes shop conversations in pairs. Finally, pairs create their own clothes shop dialogue between a shop assistant and a customer and present it to the class. show less

ESL Shopping Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Communicative Practice - Group Work Here is a communicative shopping role-play to help students practice asking and saying how much things cost in a shop. Four students take on the role of shop assistants and four students are shoppers. The aim of the activity is for the shoppers to save the most money possible by finding out the cost of each item on their shopping list in the four shops and buying each item from the cheapest place. The shoppers ask the price of the items on their list to each shop assistant in turn, noting down the prices on their shopping list. Next, the shoppers compare the prices, go to the shops with the cheapest items and buy them. The shoppers then calculate the total amount of money they spent and write it on their list. When the students have finished, they swap roles and repeat the role-play. Finally, the students with the same shopping lists compare their answers to check they have the same totals. show less

ESL Shoe Shop Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Ordering, Creating and Presenting a Dialogue, Controlled and Freer Practice - Pair Work In this free shoe shop role-play activity, students put a shoe shop conversation in order and role-play a shoe shopping dialogue. In pairs, one student takes on the role of a shop assistant, and the other is a customer. Students then put a shoe shop dialogue in the correct order by reading the sentences to each other and numbering them accordingly. Next, students read the conversation in their pairs. After that, pairs write their own shoe shop dialogue between a shop assistant and a customer using the phrases from the conversation. Finally, pairs role-play their dialogues in front of the class. show less

ESL Shopping Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this communicative shopping role-play, students take on the roles of shop assistants and customers and practice phrases for buying and selling items in a shop. In groups, three students take on the role of shop assistants, and the other three are customers. The customers go to each shop and buy the items on their shopping list. When a customer makes a purchase, they write down the cost on their shopping list next to the item. After a customer has completed their shopping list, they write down the total cost of all the items and show you their answer. If the total cost is wrong, the customer goes back to the shops and confirms the prices. Afterwards, students swap roles and repeat the role-play, so everyone has a chance to play the shop assistant and customer. show less

ESL Shopping Game - Speaking: Role-Play, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this fun shopping role-play game, students act as customers and shop assistants and practice buying and selling items in a shop. In groups, students stand a card up on their table to show the name of their shop, e.g. bakery. The aim of the game is to be the first group to buy all the items on their shopping list. Each group then sends out one student (the customer) to buy the first item on their shopping list, while the remaining students take turns acting as shop assistants. The customer visits what they think is the correct shop and starts a conversation, e.g. 'Hi, have you got...?' If the shop assistant has the item, they sell it and give the customer a matching picture card. If the shop assistant doesn't have the item, the customer must find the right shop. When the customer has the shopping item, they return to their group, and the second customer goes off in search of the next item on the list. The first group to buy all the items on their shopping list wins. Afterwards, groups swap their materials and play a second round, and so on. show less

ESL Clothes Shopping Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Ordering - Group Work In this enjoyable clothes shopping game, students build a clothes shop conversation between a shop assistant and a customer by matching sentence halves together. First, students find the 'Hello, can I...' domino and place it face-up on the table. The first player then puts down one of their dominoes on either side of the domino on the table, making sure that the sentence halves match to form an appropriate shopping phrase for a shop assistant or customer, e.g. 'Hello, can I help you?' The other players then take turns matching their dominoes in the same way by putting them down at either end of the domino chain. The first player to get rid of all their dominoes wins the game. The remaining players continue putting down their dominoes until they have all been placed correctly to form a clothes shop conversation. show less

ESL Shopping Role-Plays - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions, Communicative Practice - Pair Work In these two communicative shopping role-plays, students practice phrases for buying and selling items in a newsagent and a clothes shop. In pairs, one student plays a newsagent shop assistant, and the other is a customer. The shop assistant's goal is to sell as much as possible and suggest alternatives if they don't have what the customer wants. The customer's task is to buy the items on a shopping list and stay within budget, finding suitable alternatives if an item is unavailable or too expensive. Students then role-play the shopping interaction. When the students have finished, they swap roles and move on to a second role-play scenario, which takes place in a clothes shop. The roles are the same as above, but this time, the customer has a $200 gift voucher instead of a general budget and must stay within this amount while making their purchases. show less

ESL Containers Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill This handy containers worksheet helps students practice container words for everyday shopping items. First, students complete shopping items with container words from a box. Students can use the container words more than once, and several items have more than one correct answer. After that, students write new shopping items to go with the container words. show less

ESL Clothes Shop Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this communicative clothes shopping role-play, students practice phrases for buying and selling items in a clothes shop. The aim of the activity is for the shop assistants to sell all the items on their card and for the customers to buy all the items on their shopping list while staying within budget. The customers walk around, visiting different shops and asking about the clothes they want. When a customer buys an item, the shop assistant ticks the item to show it has been sold, and the customer writes down the price paid and any money saved. If an item is over budget, the customer goes to the next item on their shopping list or uses a saving from a previous purchase to buy the item. If the customer can't find what they want, they ask for another item or visit another shop. Afterwards, students swap roles and repeat the activity so that everyone has a chance to play the shop assistant and customer. show less

ESL Bargaining Activities - Reading and Vocabulary Exercises: Ordering, Matching - Speaking Activity: Role-Play, Negotiating, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this engaging bargaining language activity, students learn vocabulary and phrases related to bargaining and take part in a market role-play where they practice negotiating prices. First, students put a bargaining dialogue in the correct order. Students then match words from the dialogue to their definitions. Next, students answer comprehension questions about the bargaining dialogue. After that, in groups, students take part in a market role-play, where students act as sellers and customers. The aim is to practice bargaining for items, with sellers trying to get the best price and customers attempting to negotiate discounts. At each stall, the customer starts by asking the seller how much an item costs. The seller replies with their asking price and then the customer attempts to negotiate a lower price by stating a discount reason. In response, the seller explains why their item is good value. The customer and seller then negotiate and agree on a final price. The customer then moves on to the next stall and repeats the process until they have visited all the sellers. Afterwards, students swap roles so that everyone has a chance to act as both a seller and a customer. Finally, students compare results to see who was the most effective negotiator. show less

ESL Shopping Vocabulary Activity - Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Group and Pair Work In this free shopping vocabulary activity, students practice vocabulary related to shopping by forming, asking and answering shopping conversation questions. First, in two groups, students use shopping vocabulary from a box to complete conversation questions. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group. Students then take turns asking the shopping conversation questions to their partner, noting down their answers and asking follow-up questions to gain more information. When everyone has finished, students give feedback to the class on their partner's shopping habits. show less

ESL Shopping Vocabulary Game - Vocabulary: Quiz, Writing Answers In this useful shopping vocabulary game, students take part in a quiz where they read definitions and write down the appropriate shopping vocabulary. Working alone, students read definitions and write the appropriate shopping words in the spaces provided with the correct spelling. Next, read each definition and elicit the correct shopping vocabulary and spelling from the students. Students score one point for each correct answer and one point for each correct spelling. The student with the most points at the end wins the quiz. show less

ESL Shopping Vocabulary Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Sentence Completion, Writing Sentences, Guessing In this insightful shopping vocabulary worksheet, students learn about different types of shops and the products they sell. First, students match shops with their products. Students then complete sentences with the correct type of shop. Next, students complete sentences by adding a reason why someone would go to each shop. After that, students choose a type of shop from the worksheet and write a short description, including what it sells, what it is like inside and why people go there. Finally, students write sentences describing a shop without saying its name and then read their sentences to the class, who guess the name of the shop. show less

ESL Shopping Vocabulary Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Gap-fill, Unscrambling, Writing a Dialogue - Speaking Activity: Role-Play - Pair Work Here is a comprehensive shopping worksheet to help students practice vocabulary and phrases for describing product requirements in a shop. First, students complete two shopping dialogues between a customer and a sales assistant with descriptive words from a box. Students then complete a table about the item each customer asked for along with their specific requirements. Next, students read a shopping conversation about a product requirement, unscramble sentences and put them in the dialogue. After that, in pairs, students write down an item they would like to buy along with three specific requirements. Students then move on to write a shopping conversation between a sales assistant and a customer based on the item and requirements. Lastly, students role-play their dialogues in front of the class. show less

ESL Shopping Crossword - Vocabulary and Speaking Activity: Writing and Giving Clues, Defining, Guessing - Group and Pair Work In this shopping vocabulary crossword activity, students complete a crossword by defining and guessing shopping-related words. In two groups, students invent and write down clues for the shopping words written on their crossword. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking their partner for a clue to one of their missing shopping words. Their partner reads out the clue for that word, and the other student tries to guess what it is. If the student guesses the shopping word successfully, they write it on their crossword. If not, their partner continues to give more clues until the student is able to guess the word. Afterwards, students check their spelling by comparing crosswords. show less

ESL Clothes Shopping Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Ordering, Matching, Gap-fill, Identifying, Writing a Dialogue - Speaking Activity: Role-Play - Pair Work Here is a productive clothes shopping worksheet to help students practice vocabulary and phrases that are commonly used when shopping for clothes. Students start by putting a clothes shop conversation between a salesperson and a customer in the correct order. Students then match vocabulary from the dialogue with definitions. Next, students complete the second part of the clothes shop conversation with words and phrases from a box. Afterwards, students decide whether a salesperson, a customer or both would say a list of words and phrases. Lastly, students use the shopping words and phrases to write and then role-play a clothes shop dialogue between a salesperson and a customer. show less

ESL Shopping Phrasal Verbs Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Identifying, Matching, Gap-fill, Writing Sentences - Speaking Activity - Pair Work In this useful shopping phrasal verbs worksheet, students learn and practice phrasal verbs related to shopping. First, students underline shopping phrasal verbs in sentences and match the sentences that go together. Students then circle six more shopping phrasal verbs in a dialogue and match them to definitions. Next, students complete shopping questions with the phrasal verbs and then discuss them with a partner. After that, students complete phrasal verbs in a shopping dialogue with verbs from a box in their correct form. Lastly, students write true sentences about themselves and shopping using the phrasal verbs. As an extension, in pairs, students write and then role-play a shopping dialogue between a customer and a salesperson using the phrasal verbs. Students score one point for each phrasal verb that is appropriately used. The pair with the most points wins. show less

ESL Shopping Role-Plays - Speaking Activity: Categorising, Communicative Practice - Pair Work In this communicative shopping role-play activity, students match shopping phrases to two situations and then use the language in role-plays. First, students read extracts from two shopping conversations and decide which extract belongs to which conversation. Next, in pairs, students read scenarios and prepare and role-play two shopping conversations using the phrases from the box, taking turns to be the customer and shop assistant or customer service representative. Finally, students present their role-plays to the class. show less