Ah, the ESL shopping unit. It’s a classic on in many beginner and intermediate ESL/EFL textbooks but it can be a little bit dry. Spice things up a bit with these ESL shopping activities, games, worksheets and lesson plans.
Shopping games and activities for ESL
ESL Shopping Activities and Games
Let’s get to the best ESL shopping games and activities to try out with your students. Keep on reading for our top picks!
#1: ESL Shopping Surveys
I LOVE to use surveys with my students! They are a versatile, 4-skills ESL activity that gets students up and out of their seats talking to everyone. If that’s not some ESL teaching gold then I’m not sure what is. Plus, surveys lend themselves particularly well to the shopping unit because there are a ton of questions and follow-up questions related to this.
Do you want to find out how to make your own surveys? Check this out: ESL Surveys.
#2: Shopping Expressions and Idioms
#3: A to Z Alphabet Game
A quick warm-up activity that you can do for the shopping unit is this A-Z alphabet game. The way it works is that students write down the alphabet on a piece of paper. Then, in pairs or threes, students have to try to think of some category of things that you might shop for, one for each letter. For example:
C = Clothes
F = Food
S = Sports equipment
T = Television
V = Vehicles
The team with the most words at the end of the allotted time is the winner. Does it sound like a fun shopping warmer that you might want to try out? You can find out more about it right here: ESL Alphabet Warmer Activity.
#4: Word Association
A quick vocabulary activity that lends itself well to shopping is this word association one. The way it works is that you can have the students help you make a mind-map related to shopping. It’s useful for thinking of the bigger categories of things that people often buy like food, electronics, sports equipment, etc.
I generally use this activity as a quick warm-up to help student activate their prior knowledge they have about this topic. Does it sound like exactly the activity for your students? Learn more about it here: ESL Word Association Activity.
#5: Concentration Vocabulary Activity
If you’re talking about shopping and in particular, categories of things like electronics or food, then a game you might want to try out is concentration. Make up some cards with either a picture and the category word, or the category vocab item plus examples. Then, prepare one set of cards for each group of 4 students.
Students have to place the cards facedown and then it becomes basically a matching memory game. You can find out more about it here: Concentration ESL Vocabulary Activity.
#6: ESL Clothing Activities
Two topics that are often combined are shopping and clothing. If you’re looking for some of the best ideas related to clothes, then you’ll want to check out these ideas right here:
ESL Clothing Games and Activities.
Want to explore the other side of the coin? Check this out: Buy Nothing Day Activities.
#7: Comparative and Superlative Activities and Games
Shopping is often taught alongside these kinds of adjectives. For example:
- That TV is bigger than my old one.
- That t-shirt is the most colourful.
For some of our best ideas for teaching this grammatical point, check out the following: ESL Comparative and Superlative Adjectives.
#8: Shopping Videos
The good news for English teachers. is that there’s a video for just about any topic, grammar point or vocabulary set, including shopping. Take a look on YouTube or English Central for all the good stuff.
But, don’t just hit play and think that your job is done. There are a ton of things you can do, both before, and after watching the video so that your students get the best value out of it. You can find out more right here: Using Videos to Teach English.
#9: Conversation Starters
Maybe you’ve had this experience too. You’ve told your students to talk about something and then been met with total silence when students should have been talking! It’s usually not their fault though! It’s the teachers because they didn’t give enough structure of explanation for the activity.
A way to avoid this problem and help your students out is to give them a bunch of conversation starter questions. Students can use them, but encourage follow-up questions to make the conversation more interesting.
Some of the best conversation starters are ones that involve giving an opinion about something. Hopefully the students will have different ones and this will give them something interesting to talk about!
Activities and games for shopping ESL
#10: ESL Number and Money Activities
Shopping and money are often two things that are taught together in ESL/EFL textbooks. It makes sense, right? If you want some ideas for how to teach your students about money and numbers, here are some of our top picks:
ESL Number Activities and Games.
#11: Quantifier Activities and Games
In ESL/EFL textbooks, quantifiers like many, much, a few, a lot of, etc. are often combined with shopping and clothing. There are a ton of possibilities. For example:
- Do you have any blue shirts?
- There are so many nice things here.
- It’s a little bit too small.
For some of our top recommendations for teaching about quantifiers, you’ll want to check this out: Quantifiers Activities.
#12: ESL Possessives Activities
Possessive adjectives and pronouns are often taught along with the clothing unit because there are just so many sentences you can make. For example:
- Whose shirt is that? It’s mine. It’s his.
- My pants are green, but his are blue.
Do you want to see some of our top picks for working on this important English grammar point? You can check them out here:
#13: ESL Article Games and Activities
A common grammatical point that’s taught alongside clothes and shopping is articles. For example:
- I’ll take THE blue shirt.
- Is there a pink shirt here?
- There’s an orange shirt as well as a blue one.
If you want to see some of the best recommendations for how to teach this important concept in English grammar, you’ll want to check this out:
#14: Singular and Plural Nouns
If you want to teach your students about singular or plural nouns, clothes and shopping makes a nice topic choices. In particular, things like pants and shorts that are plural but are actually only one item can be a nice thing to point out to your students.
Do you want some more details? Be sure to take a look at this: Singular and Plural Noun Activities for ESL.
#15: ESL Discussion Starters
#16: Eliciting for an ESL Shopping Lesson
Unless your students are true beginners, it’s likely that they already know lots of vocabulary related to shopping. If this is the case, it can be quite a useful exercise to elicit some of this from them. There are two main reasons why I like to do this.
The first reason is that I like to find out what my students already know so that I can tailor my lessons more precisely to what the students don’t know. Secondly, helping students activate this prior knowledge can make the new things easier to remember. Find out more about this:
Elicit Vocabulary in TEFL Classes.
#17: Dictogloss Shopping Activity for Students
A challenging activity for more advanced learners is dictogloss. It lends itself nicely to just about any grammar point, topic or vocabulary set, including shopping. Find or write a passage about someone talking about going shopping. Include a number of the key vocabulary words you’ve taught the students. It’s also possible to recycle things like grammatical structures from previous lessons as well.
Read it out more quickly than you normally would. Students can take notes about what they hear. Then, they can compare what they have with a partner and try to recreate what they heard. Repeat the process again and then finally, each pair can compare what they have with the original. Check it out here if you want to give it a go with your students:
#18: Shopping ESL Dictation
These days the communicative approach to language teaching is all the rage. This means that things like dictation have fallen out of favour a little bit. However, it’s still quite a useful exercise and can be a nice review for an ESL shopping lesson. Plus, it’s perfect for the more introverted students who may appreciate a bit of quiet time during usually busy and noisy language classes!
For beginners, simply say the vocabulary word and students can write it down in their notebooks. For more advanced learners, say a sentence and the students can write it down using correct punctuation.
#19: Listening Lesson Plan for Shopping
It’s easier than you might think to plan your own lesson! Find, or write a passage talking about shopping. Include a bunch of the target vocabulary of the lesson and then follow these simple steps.
#20: Idiom Shopping Activity for Students
There are a number of English idioms related to shopping. Here are just a few examples:
- Put all your eggs in one basket
- Buy a lemon
- Buy the farm
- Pay through the nose
- Shop around
- Shop till you drop
- Etc.
To make these idioms very memorable, try out this fun activity. Your students will love it and they’ll probably never forget these shopping idioms:
#21: ESL Speaking Lesson about Shopping
It’s easier than you might think to plan your own lesson about almost anything, including this topic. Have a look here for all the details:
#22: Odd One Out
A fun review activity at the end of your class on shopping is odd one out. The way it works is that you write groups of words on the boards and 1 of them doesn’t match. Students have to say which one it is and why. For example:
t-shirt, TV, sweater, socks
Answer: TV because it’s not clothing.
Find out more details right here: Odd One Out ESL Vocabulary Review.
ESL Shopping Worksheets
Are you looking for some worksheets related to shopping that you can just print and go? Then you’ll want to check out our recommended resources right here:
Shopping ESL activities
ESL Shopping Lesson Plans
If you want some ready made lesson plans for ESL shopping, then check out some of our favourites:
Shopping Vocabulary for ESL
Here are some of the most common shopping vocabulary words for English learners:
- Bag
- Card
- Cash
- Cashier
- Change
- Customer
- Dressing room
- Money
- Purse
- Receipt
- Sale
- Shelves
- Shopping cart
- Till
- Wallet
FAQs
There are a number of common questions that people have about teaching this unit. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.
What is a shopping mall?
A shopping mall is a large building with many stores and shops where people can go to buy various items.
What is the difference between a boutique and a department store?
A boutique is a small shop that sells fashionable and often unique clothing or accessories, while a department store is a large retail establishment that offers a wide range of products across different departments.
What is a fitting room?
A fitting room is a private area in a store where customers can try on clothes before making a purchase to ensure they fit properly.
What does “on sale” mean?
When an item is “on sale,” it means that its price has been reduced temporarily, usually for a limited time or as part of a promotional offer.
What is a cashier?
A cashier is a person who operates the cash register and handles the payment transactions in a store.
What is a receipt?
A receipt is a document that serves as proof of purchase. It contains details such as the items purchased, their prices, and the total amount paid.
What does “cash only” mean?
“Cash only” means that the store or establishment accepts payment only in the form of physical currency (cash), rather than credit cards or other electronic payment methods.
Did you Like these ESL Shopping Games and Activities?
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Bolen, Jackie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 187 Pages - 03/09/2016 (Publication Date)
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Have your Say about these ESL Shopping Activities, Games, Worksheets and Lesson Plans
What do think of these games and activities for shopping? Did you try out an activity from this list, or do you have another one that you’d like to recommend to us? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.
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Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
