Listen to a conversation at a coffee shop. A woman is ordering a drink and something to eat. This free English lesson from Oxford Online English will help you to understand the shop assistant and order what you want at a coffee shop. This lesson is for elementary and pre-intermediate learners.
Listen to the dialogue at normal speed here:
or listen to a slower version here:
Man: Hello. Can I help you?
Woman: Yes, I’d like a latte, please.
Man: Certainly1. We do latte in small, medium or large. What size would you like?
Woman: Um2… medium, please.
Man: Of course1. What kind of milk would you like?
Woman: Just regular, thanks.
Man: No problem1. Can I have your name, please?
Woman: Sure1. It’s Sarah.
Man: OK1, Sarah. Can I get you anything to eat?
Woman: Yes, please. I’d like a chocolate brownie.
Man: Good choice! OK. So that’s a medium latte with regular milk, and a chocolate brownie. Have I got that right?3
Woman: Yep4, spot on5.
Man: Great. Is that to have here or take away6?
Woman: Er2, I’ll have it here, thanks.
Man: OK, great. That comes to a total of four pounds eighty, please.
Woman: Four eighty. OK … here’s five pounds.
Man: That’s great … and twenty pence change. I’ll only be a few minutes.
Woman: Thanks.
The exercises below will teach you some of the language and then test what you have learned. These vocabulary notes include other words that are not in the exercises.
1. When someone responds to an order, like ‘I’d like a latte, please’, you can say a number of things, for example: ‘Certainly’, ‘Of course’, ‘No problem’, ‘Sure’, or ‘OK’.
2. In the script, the words ‘um’ and ‘er’ are sounds that we make when we’re thinking.
3. The question ‘Have I got that right?’ means ‘Is that correct?’.
4. ‘Yep’ is a very informal way of saying ‘yes’.
5. ‘Spot on’ = ‘correct’, or ‘exactly right’.
6. In coffee shops, shop assistants ask if you want to ‘have it here’, which means have your drink or food in the coffee shop, or ‘take it away’.
Ordering at a Coffee Shop – exercise 1
Grammar: word order in polite questions
When you go to a coffee shop, the shop assistant will ask you a lot of questions.
Listen to four questions from the dialogue. Put the words of the question in the order that you hear.
Ordering at a Coffee Shop – exercise 2
Vocabulary: answering questions
When a shop assistant asks you questions, do you know how to answer?
Match questions from the dialogue with the answers that the woman says.
Ordering at a Coffee Shop – exercise 3
Pronunciation: intonation
When we ask questions in English, the voice can rise or fall at the end, but it depends on the type of question. If the answer to the question is ‘yes’ or ‘no’ we use rising intonation; if the question is asking for information or a choice between options, we use falling intonation.
Listen to four questions which the shop assistant asks and identify the intonation that he uses.
Ordering at a Coffee Shop – exercise 4
Listening skill: dictation
Writing the exact words that you hear is an excellent way to practise your listening. It helps your ear recognise the sounds of English.
Listen to four sentences from the dialogue and write one word in each gap.
Ordering at a Coffee Shop – exercise 5
Comprehension: understanding details
Now that you have studied the language in the dialogue, can you answer four questions about what the customer asks for?
Write one letter – a, b, c or d – in each answer space.
