Polite English at Work

🙋‍♀️ Polite English at Work: Asking for Permission & Making Requests (Free ESL Worksheet). A practical ESL activity to help students master workplace English with real-life dialogue practice, grammar focus, and polite expression review.

🙋‍♀️ Polite English at Work: Asking for Permission & Making Requests (Free ESL Worksheet)

🙋‍♀️ Polite English at Work: Asking for Permission & Making Requests (Free ESL Worksheet)

NIn any job, knowing how to ask for help or get permission politely is essential. Whether you’re requesting time off, asking to use equipment, or simply needing support from a colleague, your tone and phrasing matter.

That’s why we’ve created this free ESL worksheet, designed to teach intermediate students how to ask for permission and make requests using polite English in workplace settings.

This interactive and dialogue-based activity is perfect for adult learners, business English classes, or any students preparing for work in English-speaking environments.

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🧾 What’s Included in the Free Downloadable PDF?

This fully printable ESL worksheet includes:

• ✅ Two realistic work-related dialogues for gap-fill and speaking practice
• ✅ Grammar review: request and permission structures
• ✅ A matching exercise to reinforce polite responses
• ✅ Sentence-building activities with modals and polite phrases
• ✅ A pairwork task to create and role-play workplace conversations

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🏢 How to Use This in Your ESL Class

1. Warm-Up
   Ask your students: “When was the last time you had to ask your boss for something?” Brainstorm examples of requests and permissions on the board.
2. Dialogue Gap-Fill & Practice
   • Students work in pairs to complete the dialogues using a word bank.
   • Practice reading them aloud to build fluency and pronunciation.
   • Identify which conversation is about asking for permission and which is about making a request.
3. Grammar Focus
   Use the completed dialogues to highlight polite phrases:
   • Would you mind…?
   • Is it OK if…?
   • Could you…?
   • Do you think you could…?
4. Sentence Completion + Matching Task
   Students complete polite requests using workplace verbs like call, take, use, etc., and match them to appropriate responses—some positive, some negative.
5. Pair Conversation Creation
   Finally, students work in pairs to write and act out their own mini-conversation using the target language. Encourage creativity and professionalism!

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💬 Why Teachers Love This Activity

• 🎯 Targets practical workplace communication
• 💼 Builds functional English and modal usage
• 📚 Combines grammar, vocabulary, and speaking fluency
• 🙋‍♂️ Works well in business English, intermediate ESL, or adult ed.
• 🖨️ Easy-to-use, print-and-go worksheet

Whether your students work in offices, customer service, or are preparing for job interviews, this resource helps them gain the confidence to speak up—politely and clearly.

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👩‍🏫 Teaching Tip:

After the activity, challenge students to rewrite informal phrases in a more polite way—for example, turning “Can I borrow your car?” into “Would you mind if I borrowed your car?” It’s a great way to level up their register and tone!

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📥 [Click here to download the Asking Permission & Making Requests ESL Worksheet – Free PDF]
(Ready to print and use immediately!)

DOWNLOAD THE PDF FOR FREE

📩 Want more free ESL grammar lesson? Share this post with other teachers and let us know how it worked in your classroom!

💬 What other grammar topics would you like? Drop your ideas in the comments!

More ESL Classroom Games & Activities

Looking for more fun grammar activities for your English class? Check out these ideas:
✅ ESL Speaking Games to improve fluency
✅ Grammar Board Games for practicing sentence structures
✅ Interactive Writing Activities for ESL learners