Adapting a Scripted Dialogue for Tired Adults
An in-company evening class of 30 adults (B1) meets for 90 minutes after work. The coursebook unit 'Shopping' opens with a 12-exchange scripted dialogue (10 new items) and a slow studio recording; the workbook page is a gap-fill. The teacher also has a supermarket leaflet, a two-minute authentic video of a fast market transaction, and a monolingual learner's dictionary. Photocopying is unavailable after 6 p.m., the room has no projector, and learners arrive tired and want to be able to complain about a purchase on a forthcoming trip. The coursebook's functional focus is asking for a refund.
1. Choose materials for presenting and practising the refund function and justify each choice against learner needs and the constraints.
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Presentation: use the coursebook dialogue, but cut to six exchanges, because it gives the refund chunks in a familiar format and costs no photocopying. Add the supermarket leaflet for vocabulary and a quick 'find the problem item' task; it is concrete, free, and connects to the trip. Do not use the leaflet as a reading comprehension text - that would overload the stage.
Listening: use the authentic two-minute video for gist only (Who has the problem? What do they want?). It is fast and authentic, which matches the trip, but detailed comprehension would demoralise tired learners. No transcript on the first listen; two target phrases on the second.
Practice: role cards written on the board, not photocopied. Learners rehearse a refund exchange with one problem and one objection.
Dictionary: set as a short homework task (find two collocations for refund), because class time is too short and the dictionary is a self-study resource here.
Reject: the workbook gap-fill as the main practice - it tests written form, not the spoken complaint the learners need.
2. How would you adapt the coursebook dialogue rather than abandon it?
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Adapt, do not replace, because the dialogue already contains the functional chunks and the learners need a model they can imitate.
- Cut from 12 exchanges to 6: greeting, problem statement, request for refund, objection, resolution, closing. Keep the chunks (I'd like to return this, Could I have a refund?, Do you have the receipt?).
- Mark the chunks on the board in a substitution table: I'd like to return this … / It doesn't work / It's the wrong size / It's damaged.
- Add one problem exchange that is not in the coursebook: the assistant offers a credit note instead of a refund. This creates a reason to negotiate, which the scripted dialogue lacks.
- Change the interaction: read the cut dialogue aloud in pairs, then close the books and reconstruct two exchanges from the table.
Why not abandon it: the scripted recording is slow and artificial, but as a model it is clear; the authentic video supplies realistic listening, and the cut dialogue supplies the production frame.
3. Which material is most likely to overload learners, and how would you stage it?
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The authentic video is the highest overload risk. Fast speech, background noise, unknown lexis and no transcript can turn a gist task into a failure, especially for tired adults after work.
Staging:
- Pre-teach only five items from the leaflet, not all ten.
- First listen: one gist question with two options (refund or exchange?). Play once, no pause.
- Second listen: learners listen for two chunks only (Could I have a refund? / Do you have the receipt?). Pause after each.
- Third listen (optional): short transcript on the board for the six target lines only.
Do not ask detailed comprehension questions on the first listen, and do not play the whole video twice without a task change. If the group is very tired, use the cut coursebook dialogue for the first listening and the video for the second, so the authentic material is a challenge, not the entry point.