LLFE-A02 · Can I Help You? — Polite Requests at Work
🤝 Can I Help You?
⏱ 5 minutes · 📚 CELTA-informed · 🎯 Cambridge A2
📖 From the teacher’s desk: Working in luxury hospitality at places like Establishment and Popolo in Sydney, polite requests were the foundation of every interaction. “Could you…?” rather than “Do this!” is the difference between a positive workplace and a stressful one. My adult learners in Brittany were often surprised by how many polite request structures there are in English — and how different they are from French!
🎯 By the end of this lesson, you can: make polite requests and offers in an English-speaking workplace.
🔥 Warm Up (1 min)
Your colleague is busy. You need them to send you an email. How do you ask? In your language — would you say it differently to your boss vs. a friend at work?
📖 Learn It (2 min)
| Structure | Formality | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Can you…? | informal | Can you help me with this? |
| Could you…? | polite | Could you send me the file? |
| Would you mind…? | very polite | Would you mind waiting a moment? |
| I was wondering if… | formal | I was wondering if you could help. |
Offers:
✏️ Try It (2 min)
Make these requests more polite:
- “Print this.” (to your manager) → _______
- “Help me.” (to a colleague) → _______
- “Wait.” (to a customer) → _______
🎭 Role play: You need your colleague to cover your shift on Friday. Write a polite message using 2 different request structures.
🗝️ Answer Key
- “Would you mind printing this for me?” / “Could you print this, please?”
- “Could you help me with this?” / “Can you give me a hand?”
- “Would you mind waiting for a moment?” / “Could you wait, please?”
Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours, 4 written assignments passed at the required standard.
Independent project; not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification.
✉️ Questions? sourovdeb.com
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