The Polite Pass

How to use this activity:

Online:

• Assign scenarios: Give each student or pair one or more scenarios from the list.
• Practise refusals: Students choose suitable prompts and create polite refusal sentences with their own realistic reasons.
• Extra step: Encourage students to role-play conversations, politely responding to refusals and asking follow-up questions ("Could you tell me why?").
• Class review: Students share their refusal phrases and discuss ways to make them even more polite or effective. The teacher provides feedback.

Offline:

• Provide scenarios: Print and distribute scenario cards among individuals or pairs.
• Pair or individual practice: Students use prompts to create polite refusal sentences and realistic reasons for each scenario.
• Role-play (optional): Students practise scenarios, with one person refusing politely and another reacting or asking further questions.
• Class feedback: Students present examples to the class, and the teacher offers guidance on improving politeness and clarity.