Youth Forum - A Resource of the Asia Society

Sample Youth Forum Lesson: Catalog Order

May I Take Your Order Please?

(adapted from: Nebraska K-12 Foreign Language Frameworks:
http://www.nde.state.ne.us/FORLG/Frameworks/Frameworks.pdf p. 111 3/6/2004)

Activity summary: Students place phone orders from a J.C. Penney catalog in the target language.

Intended level: Expanding

Length of activity: One 45-minute period

Reflects standards: Cultures 2.2 Connections 3.2 Comparisons 4.2

Materials needed: Catalog in the target language, order forms, toy telephones

How students work: Pairs

Steps for Planning and Implementation:

  1. Students check the catalog for items not usually seen in a U.S. catalog; for example, first communion dresses, fifteenth-year party dress. Discuss cultural differences.
     
  2. Each student selects three items from the catalog.
     
  3. Students divide into pairs to role-play a caller and an operator.
     
  4. The caller uses the toy telephone to call and asks to place an order. The operator asks for size, colors, prices, page numbers, etc. The operator gives delivery dates and cost.
     
  5. To add interest, the caller may occasionally get a wrong number, items may be out of stock, or may be put on hold.
     
  6. The pairs reverse roles and repeat step #4.
     

Youth Forum Extension

Note: You can use online catalogs, e.g., http://www.uwajimaya.com/ (Eng) http://www.uwajimaya.com/jp/ (Japanese) for this project.

Set up

  1. Sign up for the [Forum] Catalog Orders project.
  2. Divide the class up into callers and operators. Each operator is responsible for one item that can be purchased from the catalog (such as kimono or nori).
  3. Now begin the exchange on Youth Forum.

How it works

  • Have operators set up a new starting message for their items.
  • Callers place their orders via a forum message, describing the item they want to purchase.
  • Operators respond by asking for size, colors, prices, page numbers, etc. and delivery dates and cost.
  • Callers and Operators can go back and forth until the order is complete.

Evaluating the Project

  • Check that students successfully ordered their item.
  • Check that they used appropriate functional language (such as requests), as well as vocabulary.