In the realm of language learning, the ability to make invitations and requests, as well as to respond to them appropriately, is of utmost importance. These are essential facets of social interaction and everyday communication that transcend cultures and borders. As students become more fluent in English, they will inevitably find themselves in situations where they need to use these skills, whether in personal contexts like inviting a friend to a party, or more formal scenarios such as requesting information at work. Moreover, understanding how to decline invitations or requests with grace and politeness is equally important, helping to navigate social situations without causing misunderstanding or offence.
To facilitate this crucial aspect of language learning, the resources here encompass a range of real-world contexts and engaging formats, designed to cater to varied learning styles.
Learning Materials
Downloadable PDF Exercises: Easy-to-use exercises online and offline that cover all aspects of invitations and requests. From constructing sentences to understanding nuances, these exercises will provide students with ample opportunities for practice and revision.
Listening Exercises: Reinforce comprehension and conversational skills with our listening activities. They mimic real-world interactions, helping students to grasp the tone, language, and etiquette of making, accepting, and refusing invitations and requests.
Video Exercises: Videos are powerful visual tools that can boost language retention. Our video exercises feature diverse scenarios, demonstrating the practical use of invitations and requests in a more engaging and relatable manner.
Speaking Exercises: Speaking activities are designed to promote active learning and boost confidence. They encourage students to use calendars, event schedules, and other real-life tools to make invitations and requests, simulating genuine English-speaking environments.
This is a listening/ speaking skills exercise and worksheet to help English language learners to practice giving invitations, accepting invitations and refusing invitations in a variety of situations. Students try to complete the invitations conversations using the pictures and the useful vocabulary. Or you use the audio and you can have a listening lesson instead/as well.
Short invitation dialogues (PDF)
(see the YouTube version of this exercise)
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Movie invitations are fun. Invitations can be practiced using calendars and event schedules.
This is similar to the exercise above, but with a different context.
Students try to write commonly used requests and short conversations that are appropriate for the situations shown in the pictures. And then listen to the conversations to compare and check their answers.
This is a speaking/listening exercise and worksheet for English language learners to practice deciding whether to give commands, advice or make polite requests in a variety of situations shown in the pictures. This exercise can be done as a listening exercise now that I have added audio.
Requests, advice and commands speaking skills (PDF)
This is an office dialogues exercise to help students learn how to make polite requests in English. The pictures provide contexts so the students can more fully engage with the meanings and uses of the vocabulary.
Office dialogues: making requests (PDF)
(see the YouTube version of this exercise)
8 Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)
5 Reported Speech and Indirect Questions Listening/Speaking Exercises
5 Gerunds and Infinitives Exercises
10 Adjectives Exercises Including Adjectives for People and Things
7 Picture-Based Present Continuous Worksheets (PDF)
8 Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)
5 Future Tense Vocabulary and Speaking Exercises
5 Useful Passive Tense Practice worksheets
6 Present Perfect Language and Speaking Worksheets
11 Incredibly Useful Past Tense Simple Teaching Activities (PDF)
Listening/Speaking Exercises for Conditionals
This is a grammar exercise and worksheet for English language learners to practice making polite requests in the different ways and different scenarios. Students match the expressions on the left to the pictures and write complete requests with the appropriate request phrase.
ESL Listening Activities Guide
5 Elementary Conversational Expressions Exercises
5 First Day Activities for an ESL Class
10 Really! Elementary ESL classroom icebreakers
7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes
3 Great Icebreakers to Start a Class
8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios
This is a speaking skills exercise and worksheet to help English language learners practice making invitations and giving excuses. Students match the excuses to the pictures and then have short conversations using the model on the handout.
Invitations: refusing and making excuses (PDF)
This elementary exercise focuses on common classroom requests.
This is an hotel dialogues exercise focusing on common conversational exchanges between hotel staff and guests.
Hotel dialogues: making requests (PDF)
Good communicative stuff to use with the students to practice natural conversations. Well-chosen and arranged situations wth nice pictures make speaking practice enjoyable
Thanks for the comments. I’ve been working on these for a while and they are getting better as I make improvements. If they are any mistakes or problems, let me know. Or suggestions…
Hello. I would like to share your exercises in a repository for english teachers. Could you give me your permission? Each activity will include the reference of your web page.
Hi Sonia,
Yes, that would be fine. And leaving a reference to my web page or website is perfect.
Regards, Peter Snashall
Great for online students’ practice, thanl U!
thank you for giving this worksheet, there are plenty of exercises, it help us as efl teacher. keep up the good work . Love it
Thanks again. It’s encouraging fo be appreciated.