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Topic 9 of 60

Discussion picture Discussion questions Key words

Picture warm-up

1. What do you see in this picture?
2. Who are these people, and what are they doing?
3. Does this look like your life here, or in your home country? How is it the same or different?

Discussion questions

1. How often do you eat at restaurants?
2. What is your favorite restaurant in your city? What do you order?
3. How do you feel about tipping in the U.S.? How much do you usually tip?
4. Is tipping common in your home country?
5. What do you do if your food is wrong or cold?
6. Do you prefer fast food, casual dining, or fancy restaurants?
7. Do you like ordering food delivery through apps? Why?
8. What is something about American restaurants that surprised you?
9. Do you share dishes with others, or does everyone order their own meal?
10. How do you choose a new restaurant to try?
11. What restaurant from your home country would you like to open here?
12. Is it rude to use your phone during a meal at a restaurant?
13. Who pays when friends eat out together in your culture?
14. What makes great customer service in a restaurant?
15. Have you ever had a bad experience at a restaurant? What happened?

Key words

Say the word, then read the example sentence out loud.

• menu
  Could we see the menu, please?
• order
  I’d like to order the chicken sandwich.
• server
  Our server was very friendly.
• tip
  We left a 20 percent tip.
• check
  Can we have the check, please?
• reservation
  I made a reservation for four people at 7:00.
• appetizer
  We shared an appetizer before our meal.
• entrée
  The entrée comes with a salad.
• dessert
  I’m too full for dessert.
• to go
  Can I get this to go?
• split the bill
  Let’s split the bill between the three of us.
• special
  Today’s special is grilled salmon.
• refill
  Can I get a refill on my coffee?
• takeout
  We ordered takeout from the Thai restaurant.
• complaint
  I made a complaint because the food was cold.

Next topic: 10. Grocery Shopping

Topic chosen by comparing popular ESL conversation resources (see How these topics were chosen). Questions and example sentences are original to this collection. Translations are a guide and should be reviewed by a fluent speaker.