ESL Lesson Plan: Shopping: Asking for Sizes and Prices

The complete lesson plan

Teach it as written, or use it as a starting point and adapt it to your group.

Why this lesson works

This lesson uses a TBLT framework anchored in Sociocultural Theory, making it well-suited for A2 adults who bring rich real-world shopping experience to the classroom. The pre-task stage activates prior knowledge through collaborative dialogue (Vygotsky's zone of proximal development), while the central role-play task mirrors an authentic store interaction, meeting the andragogical need for immediate relevance. Meaning is negotiated through pair and group interaction before language form is explicitly analyzed in the language-focus stage, respecting TBLT's meaning-before-form principle. Vocabulary is kept at or below A2 (common words such as "size," "pay," and "cheap") so learners can focus cognitive effort on the communicative task rather than decoding unfamiliar words. The real-world observation homework extends the task cycle beyond the classroom without requiring significant study time, which reflects adults' limited availability for out-of-class study.

Learning objectives

Communicative

Students can ask for sizes and prices and decide what to buy in a shop.

Grammatical

Students can form requests using "How much is/are...?", "Do you have this in...?", and "I'll take it," and report what happened using the past simple.

Lexical

Students can use shopping vocabulary (size, price, pay, cheap, expensive, color, fit) in context.

Target language

Key vocabulary

• sizeA1/saɪz/Do you have this in a smaller size?
• priceA1/praɪs/What is the price of this jacket?
• cheapA2/tʃiːp/This shirt is very cheap: only five dollars!
• expensiveA2/ɪkˈspɛn.sɪv/These shoes are too expensive for me.
• fitA2/fɪt/Does this jacket fit you?
• colorA1/ˈkʌl.ər/Do you have this in a different color?
• payA1/peɪ/Can I pay with a card?
• try onA2/traɪ ɑːn/Can I try this on, please?
• largeA1/lɑːrdʒ/I need a large, not a medium.
• smallA1/smɔːl/This is too small for me.

Target structures

• How much is this / are these?
• Do you have this in a [size/color]?
• Can I try this on, please?
• I'll take it. / Not today, thanks.
• It's too [big / small / expensive].

Stage by stage

1. 1. Activate and Explore

   12 min · Whole class, then pairs

   Teacher: 1. Draw a simple store layout on the board: a rack of clothes and a price tag. Write '$45' on the tag and a label 'Size M'. Ask: 'You want to buy this jacket. What questions do you ask the store worker?' Write student ideas on the board without correcting yet. 2. Introduce the ten vocabulary items. Hold up (or draw) a jacket and model each word in context: 'The price is forty-five dollars. Is it cheap or expensive? Do you have this in a large size? Does it fit?' Write each word on the board with a short example phrase. 3. Point to the key structures written on the board. Read each one aloud once (no repetition drill); students will meet them again in the task. 4. Ask students to turn to a partner and answer: 'When you go shopping for clothes in real life, what questions do you ask?' Give pairs 2 minutes to talk, then take brief feedback (2-3 responses).

   Students: Students call out questions they think a shopper asks; they listen to the model structures; in pairs, they briefly discuss their real shopping habits in English.

2. 2. Clothes Store Role-Play

   20 min · Pairs

   Teacher: 1. Explain the task: 'You are going to have a real conversation in a clothes store. One person is the shopper, one person is the store worker.' Write SHOPPER and WORKER on the board with their goals: SHOPPER: find something to buy in the right size and a good price. WORKER: help the customer and make a sale. 2. Set up simple 'store items': write five items on the board with prices and available sizes (e.g., 'Blue jacket: $55, sizes S, M, L'; 'Black pants: $30, sizes M, L'; 'Red dress: $80, size M only'; 'White shirt: $20, sizes S, M, L'; 'Gray sweater: $45, sizes M, L'). 3. Model the task BRIEFLY with one student: point to 'Blue jacket, $55' and model 2 exchanges only, then stop and say 'Now you continue.' Do not give them a full script. 4. Students do the role-play in pairs (5 minutes). Then they switch roles for another 5 minutes. 5. After both rounds, ask two or three pairs to perform their conversation in front of the class (each pair takes about 1-2 minutes). Do not interrupt to correct; take notes on errors for the language focus stage.

   Students: Students take turns playing shopper and store worker. The shopper asks about sizes, prices, and tries to make a decision. The worker answers using the board information. After both turns, selected pairs perform their conversations for the class.

3. 3. What Did You Buy?

   8 min · Pairs, then whole class

   Teacher: 1. Ask all pairs to spend 2 minutes talking together: 'What did your shopper decide to buy? What was the price? Was it cheap or expensive? Did the size fit?' Write these four questions on the board as a guide. 2. Take whole-class feedback. Point to each question on the board and ask 3-4 different pairs to answer. Encourage brief full sentences: 'She bought the black pants. They cost thirty dollars. They were cheap. They fit!' 3. Write on the board any interesting or useful phrases you heard during the task. Do NOT explicitly correct errors yet; save that for the language focus stage. Praise communicative success: 'You kept the conversation going. Great!'

   Students: Students discuss what happened in their role-play using the four guide questions on the board. They report briefly to the class in simple sentences.

4. 4. How Do We Say It?

   12 min · Whole class, then pairs

   Teacher: 1. Return to errors you noted during the task. Write 3 or 4 anonymized examples on the board (no names), one correct and one incorrect version of each. Example: 'How much cost this?' vs. 'How much is this?' Ask: 'Which is correct? Why?' Elicit the two correct patterns: 'How much is/are + noun?' and 'How much does/do + noun + cost?' Show that 'How much cost this?' and 'How much costs this?' need either 'is' or 'does ... cost'. 2. Focus on the five key structures on the board. Drill them using a 'chain drill': you say a cue ('jacket / $55'), a student forms the question ('How much is the jacket?'), the next student answers ('It's fifty-five dollars.'), and so on around the room. Keep it quick and game-like (about 4 minutes). 3. Ask pairs to write 3 short sentences about what they did in the role-play using past simple: 'I asked for a large. The jacket cost fifty-five dollars. I said it was too expensive.' Give 3 minutes for writing, then ask 2-3 students to read their sentences aloud. Give brief feedback on accuracy.

   Students: Students identify the correct form from board examples, participate in a chain drill forming questions and answers, and write three past-simple sentences about their role-play.

5. 5. Review and Real-World Task

   8 min · Whole class

   Teacher: 1. Ask the class 3 quick review questions using the board: 'How do you ask for the price? How do you ask for a different size? What do you say when you decide to buy something?' Elicit responses from the whole class. Write correct answers on the board. 2. Lead a 2-minute confidence check: ask students to rate themselves from 1 (I need more practice) to 3 (I feel confident) by holding up fingers. Note who needs extra support. 3. Brief the homework: 'Before our next class, go to any real store or look at an online store you know. Find three things you might want to buy. Write down: the name of the item, the price, and the size if it has one. Write one sentence about each item: is it cheap or expensive for you? Do you like the color or size?' Write this task clearly on the board and ask students to copy it. 4. Thank students for their work and close the lesson.

   Students: Students answer three review questions, show their confidence level, and copy the homework task from the board.

What usually goes wrong, and what to do

Students revert to L1 (their native language) during the role-play task when they don't know a word.

Remind students before the task: 'If you don't know a word, point to the board and try a simple word. Say 'the thing for my arm' or 'the blue one.' Communication is the goal, not perfect words.' Have the vocabulary on the board visible throughout.

Students say 'How much costs this?' (incorrect word order), a very common L1-transfer error at A2.

Note this error during the task without interrupting. Address it explicitly in the language focus stage using the board comparison: 'How much costs this?' (cross it out) vs. 'How much IS this?' or 'How much does this cost?' Draw an arrow showing the word order: How much + is + this.

Adult learners feel nervous or embarrassed performing role-plays in front of the class.

Before the report stage, normalize mistakes: 'In a real store, nobody is perfect. We are all learning. I want to hear your ideas, not perfect grammar.' Allow pairs to perform together (not solo) to share the pressure.

Some students finish the role-play quickly and wait with nothing to do, disrupting others.

Have the 'difficult customer' extension task ready on the board. Point fast finishers to it immediately: 'Now the shopper is very hard to please. Try again with this new rule.'

Students use 'big' and 'small' but do not produce 'large', 'expensive', or 'cheap' naturally.

During the chain drill in the language focus stage, specifically cue for target words: 'The jacket is $200 and you only have $50. What do you say?' This forces 'too expensive' in a meaningful context.

How you know it worked

• Students ask for price using 'How much is/are...?' correctly.
• Students ask for a size or color using 'Do you have this in...?'
• Students use 'It's too expensive / small / large' to give a reason for not buying.
• Students make a buying decision using 'I'll take it' or 'Not today, thanks.'
• Students produce at least 5 speaking turns during the role-play without switching to L1.