Not Quite Right: Polite Corrections Over the Phone

Purpose:  When making appointments or inquiries over the phone, we’re often asked to supply and confirm personal details. This activity helps to build up confidence with making polite corrections and negotiating understanding on the phone.

Preparation Time:  None

Materials Needed:  None

Procedure:

1. Ask the learner if they sometimes have trouble understanding information over the phone. Explain that it is very common, and tell the learner that you are going to help them practice what to do if someone doesn’t understand them.
2. Ask the learner a question about themselves (e.g. What is your name? or What is your street address?).
3. After they answer, repeat their answer back, making a mistake (e.g. My first name is Mirian. Your first name is MaryAnne?).
4. After the learner says the correct answer, share some polite phrases that they can use to correct mistakes.

Examples:

No, it’s _____, actually.

Not quite. My first name is ____.

Why don’t I spell it for you?

Close, it’s ____.

1. Repeat the initial question and the mistake. Prompt the learner to use one of the polite phrases to correct you.
2. Ask several more questions until the learner is confident using the phrases to correct you.

Expansion: For an additional challenge, after the learner makes a polite correction, continue to make mistakes so that the learner will have to try out additional ways to get their meaning across (spelling, word association “b like boy,” counting “No, it’s one, two, three, FOUR”). Tell the learner in advance that you are going to do this to mitigate frustration.