The Complaints Department - Indirect Questions

How to Use This Activity

Individual Work
The student reads one complaint card (e.g. “A guest says their room wasn’t cleaned”) and plays the role of a customer service agent. They must ask at least three indirect questions to politely gather details and show understanding. Encourage them to use Useful Starters such as Could you tell me… or I was wondering if… to make their tone sound natural and professional.

Pair or Group Work
Students work in pairs or small groups. One student reads a complaint card and acts as the customer service agent, while the other plays the customer. The agent asks polite indirect questions to identify what went wrong; the “customer” answers freely, adding details or emotion. After 2–3 minutes, they switch roles with a new card.
Groups can add a timer (e.g. 90 seconds per call) or keep score for the most polite, clear, or creative set of questions.

Class Sharing
After several rounds, invite a few pairs or groups to role-play their best call in front of the class. Classmates can listen and rate the agent’s politeness, tone, or question clarity.
Optionally, students can rewrite one of their direct questions into an indirect one on the board to reinforce the grammar focus.
Encourage everyone to use the Useful Starters and adapt them naturally to different contexts — hotels, deliveries, online services, etc.