Shopping for Clothes (Intermediate)

Practice on Your Own

• Practice words for different items of clothing such as skirt, blouse, sweater, pants, shorts, shirt, tie, raincoat, dress, jacket, scarf, hat, and shawl. Also include words for shoes, slippers and boots.
• Practice words for colors.
• Review your vocabulary on money and currencies, and bargaining phrases if appropriate.
• Listen to audio recordings on these topics and read the materials available to you.
• Imagine you are in a country where the language you are learning is spoken and you want to go and buy some clothes. Plan ahead for the things you want to buy.
  • Make a shopping list of the clothes and shoes you want to buy as well as their colors.
  • Figure out what types of stores and markets you will need to go to for the different items of clothing. If you are not sure of the markets and stores to visit, prepare questions for your conversation partner about the best place(s) to get each of the things you want to purchase.
  • Think of how you will greet the storekeepers and sellers at the market. How will you indicate what you want? Think of the questions they might ask you. Are the prices fixed or is there room for bargaining? Practice phrases for bargaining if appropriate.

Practice in Conversation Session

• Be prepared to tell your conversation partner and fellow students what you are buying, the stores and markets you will be visiting to buy your clothes, the colors of the things you will be buying and your possible expenditures. They may ask you questions about your favorite colors and the types of clothing you like most.
• Ask your conversation partner about the best place to buy your clothes and how things are sold there. Ask questions about bargaining and the right way to do it.
• Be prepared to role play situations in which your conversation partner plays the role of the seller or shopkeeper and you interact with the person. Greet the person in a culturally appropriate way, ask for what you need and say the colors of the items you want. Role play the conversation and bargain if necessary. Switch roles if time allows and repeat the conversation.
• After the role plays, ask your conversation partner and fellow students to say the types of clothes and shoes they like to wear and where they like to buy them. In the language you are learning, see how well you can talk and ask questions. Additionally, let your fellow students tell if they have had such an experience in a host country.