Conversation at a Restaurant:

A Vocabulary Learning Practice

Presented by Francis Xavier D

© 2018 by Francis Xavier D. Conversation at a restaurant: A vocabulary learning practice. This work
is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy
of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
 Social Media Tool To Explore
• YouTube
• An American video-sharing website headquartered
in San Bruno, California
• allows users to upload, view, rate, share, add to
favorites, report, comment on videos, and subscribe to
other users (Wikipedia)
 Why YouTube?
• A popular social media web tool used in
classrooms
• Lots of videos on different topics for visual
learners
• Easy to understand through visual presentations
 What to Learn Specifically?
• Appropriate words/expressions to use at a restaurant
• Actual words used at a restaurant in reality
• Fluency in communication
• Syllabus: Communicative English
– Methodology: conversation practice for gaining
fluency in oral communication
 Outline of the lesson
• Learned under the Unit: Conversational English for specific contexts
• Activity 1: Warm-up
– Students share their experience at a restaurant about ordering food/payment
of bill etc.
– Teacher gives them list words/phrases used for ordering food, asking for
preference etc.
• Activity 2: Watch
– Students watch twice a YouTube video on vocabulary used in a restaurant @
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd6LshVU8A
– Teacher explains about the related phrases and gives further examples about
how to use them
• Activity 3: Wrap-up
– Students do a role-play of conversation between a waiter and a customer
 The Target Group
• 17 - 19 year old Under Graduate students from rural &
vernacular medium background
• Less exposed to speaking in English
• Learners with a below average level proficiency in English
• Have to learn words and sentence formation and use them in
oral communication in class
 Timeline and Instructions
• Duration: 1 hour
• Objective: Learning of appropriate words/expressions related to ordering
food/paying bill etc.
• Class work: pre-teach, watching a video and doing a role-play
• Homework: preparing role-plays on similar context
• Instruction to students:
– Share your experience of dining at a restaurant.
– Watch the YouTube video on vocabulary used in a restaurant.
– As a pair, do a role-play of conversation between a waiter and a
customer.
– Use the words/expressions learned through the video.
 The Focus on Vocabulary
• Emphasis on both intentional and incidental
vocabulary learning
• Incidental: when students talk about their
experience at a restaurant
• Intentional: when words/expressions used at a
restaurant is learned through video
• Familiarizing with all the aspects of word knowledge
beyond basic meaning for accurate and appropriate use
 Fandom to be explored
• Does it connect to a community of fans? No, it does not.
• At this juncture, there is scope for posting comments only.
• Has to explore ‘fandom’ first.
• Therefore, students work together to practice conversation for gaining
fluency.
 Focus of the lesson: Text and Context

• Dr. Ranalli’s emphasis on learning the context of

vocabulary: Yes, it does.
• Focus is on understanding the ‘text’ in the ‘context’
• Also, learning beyond the text, the usage contexts of
particular words

“For me context is the key - from that comes the understanding of everything.” –
Kenneth Noland
Thank You