| LESSON OVERVIEW
The main objectives of this ESL lesson on customer service are to:
- discuss issues customers face and how professionals respond to them;
- practise phrases for responding to customers politely;
- watch a video on poor and great customer service.
In this lesson, students talk about customer service problems. They work on polite phrases for dealing with customers (e.g. I’m afraid…, I’m not sure, but…, Let me direct you to…), explore rude comments and courteous alternatives, and reply to customers’ messages. Students watch a video about customer service, discuss staff behaviour and talk about common customer issues. They also work with dialogues between customers and customer service professionals.
WARM-UP AND FUNCTIONAL LANGUAGE
This ESL lesson on customer service starts with a warm-up. Students look at photos and discuss questions about customer service problems and reactions. After that, they match impolite customer service rep’s comments (e.g. I am busy now. I will get back to you later) to their polite equivalents (e.g. I will be with you in a few minutes). Moving on, students choose the correct word to complete short dialogues on responding to customer requests. Afterwards, they reply to messages using phrases for offering help and responding politely (e.g. I apologize for the…, I don’t think that’s…, I’m not sure….). Students also add details.
VIDEO AND DISCUSSION
In this part of the ESL lesson on customer service, students watch the first part of a video about poor and great customer service and tick the impolite phrases they hear. They then watch the rest of the video and complete gaps with the words they hear. Next, students discuss questions about customer service behaviour and reactions. After that, they discuss what problems customers might talk about with the customer service professional in different situations (e.g. hotel receptionist, gym receptionist, waiter in a restaurant). Finally, students choose two customer service professionals from the previous task and create dialogues showing interactions with customers. They use phrases for offering help and responding politely (e.g. I’m afraid…, I’m not sure, but…, Let me direct you to…).
HOMEWORK/REVISION
This lesson plan also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students rewrite impolite phrases in a more polite way using words and phrases (e.g. apologize, afraid, sure). The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.
WORKSHEETS
Subscribe to unlock these and many other Standalone lesson with the Premium plan
Subscribe
My student will love this! Even students who don’t work in customer service will find this language useful.
Thanks so much😊 It means a lot to hear that this will be useful for your students!