Telephoning ESL Role-Plays, Activities, Worksheets and Games
Here are two enjoyable telephoning games to help students practice phrases to end informal phone calls. First, in pairs, students race to arrange sentence beginning cards in order and then match them to other cards to form sentences ending a phone call. The first pair to do this correctly wins. Next, students play a game in which they take turns picking up a card and reading out the situation on the card to their partner, who has 30 seconds to form a suitable sentence ending the call. If a student uses a sentence from the cards on the table, they score one point. If a student forms their own answer, they score two points. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.
In this free telephone language game, students race to match common telephone phrases with appropriate responses. The aim of the game is to race to find the students who have matching replies to common telephone phrases. One student begins the game by reading a card to one of the other students, e.g. 'Who's calling, please?' That student then looks for a matching reply on their cards. If the student has a matching response, they read it aloud to the group, e.g. 'My name is Elliot Lewis.' If everyone agrees the cards go together, the group member gives the card to the student who wins the matching pair. If the student doesn't have a matching response, the first student waits until their next turn before saying the telephone phrase to another student. The second student then reads a card to one of the other students, and so on. The first student to get four matching pairs of cards wins the game.
In this engaging telephoning activity, students learn telephone phrases and practice taking and leaving messages over the phone. First, in pairs, students put a telephone conversation in the correct order by reading sentences to their partner and numbering them from 1 to 16. Next, students write the phrases from the telephone dialogue in a table according to their functions, writing one more phrase of their own for each function. Finally, pairs role-play three telephone scenarios using the phrases, taking turns to be the caller and the receiver.
Here is a productive telephoning activity to help students practice confirming instructions and checking understanding during phone conversations. Students begin by unscrambling common questions used to confirm understanding over the phone. Students then use the confirmation questions to complete a telephone dialogue. Next, in pairs, students role-play two telephone dialogues where they take turns giving instructions or information to their partner, pausing at several points to confirm understanding using the questions. Once their partner responds appropriately, the conversation continues. Afterwards, pairs role-play their dialogues in front of the class.
Here is a communicative arranging deliveries role-play to help students practice arranging delivery times over the phone. First, students complete an arranging a delivery dialogue between a shop assistant and a customer using words from a box. In groups of six, students then take part in a role-play where three students are customers, and three are shop assistants responsible for arranging deliveries. Each customer has recently purchased an item from each shop, so the shop assistants call the customers to arrange a time for the item on their role card to be delivered. The shop assistant asks for confirmation of their name and order number, as well as their address, mobile number, and any details the driver needs to know about. When a pair agrees on a delivery day and time, they write it down on their role cards. Once all three pairs have arranged a delivery time, the shop assistants move on to the next customer to arrange the delivery of the next item. When all deliveries have been arranged, students swap roles so everyone gets a chance to be both a customer and a shop assistant.
In this free telephoning worksheet, students practice polite telephone phrases and requests by rewriting a telephone dialogue. First, students rewrite a telephone dialogue to make it more polite and appropriate. Afterwards, students compare what they have written with a partner, editing any telephone phrases or requests as necessary. Pairs then share their ideas by role-playing their dialogues in front of the class. Afterwards, go through the phone conversation with the class and review the telephone language and polite requests.
Here is a comprehensive telephone bookings worksheet to help students practice vocabulary and phrases for booking tickets over the phone. Students begin by completing a telephone conversation between a customer and a ticket agent using a list of related phrases. Students then match keywords in bold from the conversation to their definitions. Next, students complete sentences using the words. After that, students unscramble words to form common phrases used when booking tickets over the phone. Lastly, in pairs, students use the vocabulary and phrases from the worksheet to role-play two telephone conversations between a customer and a ticket agent.
In this handy clarifying and confirming worksheet and role-play, students learn and practice ten phrases for clarifying and confirming information over the phone. Students begin by completing a telephone dialogue with ten clarifying and confirming phrases. Next, in pairs, students conduct two telephone role-plays to practice the clarifying and confirming language from the worksheet. In the first role-play, Student A takes on the role of the caller and finds out, clarifies and confirms information about a party with their partner. In the second role-play, Student B calls their partner to find out, clarify and confirm information about a weekend beach trip.
In this insightful rescheduling appointments worksheet and role-play, students learn and practice expressions for calling and rescheduling an appointment over the phone. Students start by reading a telephone conversation about a caller who would like to reschedule an appointment. Students then identify the language used in the phone conversation by answering questions. Next, students match telephone expressions that have the same meaning and complete a telephone conversation using the phone expressions. After that, in pairs, students choose one of the situations on the worksheet and use the language they have learnt to write a telephone dialogue between a receptionist and a caller where an appointment is rescheduled. Finally, pairs practice their telephone dialogue and present it in front of the class.
In this communicative telephone role-play activity, students practice taking and leaving messages, making and changing arrangements, and confirming information over the phone by role-playing four telephone calls. Students begin by reading the prompts on the 'Call 1' cards. Students then role-play making and receiving a phone call according to the prompts on their cards. When the students have finished the first role-play, they move on to the second phone call. This continues until all four calls have been completed. Afterwards, students role-play their phone conversations in front of the class.
In this communicative telephone messages role-play, students practice taking and leaving messages over the phone. In pairs, students take turns being a receptionist and a caller, and role-play taking and leaving telephone messages. During each call, the caller asks to speak to someone, gives their name, contact information, reason for calling, and a short message that the receptionist writes down on a message card. When the phone call and message card have been completed, the students swap roles and continue with the next pair of cards. This continues until all four messages have been taken. Afterwards, students check the accuracy of their messages by comparing them with the caller cards.
This fun telephone phrasal verbs game helps students to learn telephone phrasal verbs and common telephone expressions. In pairs, students use cards to make sentences connected with telephone language. Each sentence or pair of sentences consists of four cards and contains one or two telephone phrasal verbs. When the students successfully put four cards together, they lay them out in order and write the sentence or sentences on a piece of paper. The first pair to complete all the sentences correctly wins the game. As an extension, pairs write and then role-play a telephone dialogue using the phrasal verbs.
This detailed telephoning worksheet helps students review common telephone expressions and phrasal verbs used over the phone. Students start by matching sentence halves together to form common telephone expressions. Next, students sort the sentences into telephone expressions used by a 'caller' and telephone expressions used by a 'receiver'. Students then choose the correct prepositions to complete telephone phrasal verbs in sentences. After that, students complete telephone dialogues with words from a box. Lastly, students role-play telephone dialogues with a partner, taking turns to be the caller and the receiver.
Here are two enjoyable telephone phrasal verb games to help students practice telephone phrasal verbs and common telephone expressions. First, students play a pelmanism game where they connect sentence halves by matching verbs to prepositions to form telephone phrasal verbs. In pairs, students take turns turning over one card from each set. If the verb matches the preposition to form a telephone phrasal verb and the sentence makes sense, the student keeps the two cards and has another turn. The student with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins. Next, students play a game where they take turns picking up a card and reading a scenario to their partner, who forms an appropriate response using a telephone phrasal verb. If the answer uses the phrasal verb in bold on the card and is similar to the example answer, the student wins and keeps the card. If not, the card is placed at the bottom of the pile to be used again later. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins.
