Lesson One
English for Retail and Customer Service A1+
Start: Monday 31st August 2026
sarah.muhlenbock@folkuniversitetet.se
Hi and welcome to the course! My name is Sarah and I’m the teacher for this course. I live in Lidingö, near Stockholm and I’m an English teacher at Folkuniversitetet in Stockholm.
Lesson 1 – What we did today
- Practical information
- Geting to know each other, practise speaking English in small groups
- Introduce yourself
- Discuss your expectations and wishes for the course.
- Basic vocabulary for retail
- telling the time
Practical information 15-minute break around 10.15 (approx)
- Whiteboard
- Screenshots/photos
- Homework and self-study
- Certificate of attendance – Minimum 9 lessons (active participation) 75% attendance
- Book (homework)
- Breakout Rooms: Small group discussions and role-plays, take turns!
- Microphone and camera
Raising your hand
- Click on “Reactions” (Reagera) in the meeting toolbar at the bottom.
- Select “Raise Hand/Räck upp handen” (hand icon).
- A hand icon will appear next to your name in the participants list.
- To lower your hand, click “Lower Hand” in the same place.
Getting to know each other (In breakout rooms)
- Please introduce yourselves to each other. What is your name?
- What is your job or what job are you looking for?
- Where do you live in Sweden? What is special about your area?
- What do you like to do in your free time?
- How did you learn English? What do you like about English?
- Why are you taking this English course? What do you want to improve?
- Have you studied English with me before? What did you learn?
- How do you use English in your daily/everyday life?
I need to communicate in English
lugn (area) = a calm area, a peaceful area
- What do you want to learn in this course? What do you need to improve?
- Have you done an online English course before? What did you like about it?
- What do you need help with: speaking, grammar, vocabulary, or pronunciation?
- What grammar and vocabulary do you want to improve?
- How can the teacher help you?
- Do you know a good website or app for learning English?
smeknamn = Her name is Georgina, but her NICKname is George.
I can understand, but it’s harder to speak English.
en kryssning – I’m going on a cruise – “crooz”
rea = There is an end-of-season sale on at the moment.
I studied English a long time ago. (för länge sedan)
We live a long way away from each other. (distrance)
We would like:
- everyday phrases and dialogues with customers
- pronunciation practice
- to build vocabulary
- financial vocabulary
- learn new words
- everyday language (words and sentences)
- Everyday phrases and idioms
- General conversation
- communication (writing and speaking)
- Review and refresh grammar
- prepositions, tenses etc
https://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/
BBC Learning English – 6 Minute English.
Cambridge Dictionary | English Dictionary, Translations & Thesaurus
Course aims
- Improve your basic English grammar and vocabulary
- Build your English for work and everyday life.
- Speak English in different work situations in retail, supermarkets and customer service.
- Learn useful words and phrases for shops, supermarkets and customer service.
- Talk to customers in different situations.
- Talk about products, prices, offers and payments.
- Help customers with questions, problems, orders, returns and complaints.
- Speak with colleagues and managers and understand simple instructions.
- Learn words for stock, deliveries, shelves and shop routines.
- Learn simple words about money and payments
Talking about pictures:
We can see…
clothes, three people, two customers, a shop assistant
client (= law, contract)
She is carrying a handbag (US = a purse)
In the UK, I carry cash in a purse
She is being given a shopping bag, a paper shopping bag
See you at 10.30!
What time is it?
- ten thirty
- half past ten
10.15
- It’s quarter past 10
- It’s ten fifteen
10.45
- It’s quarter to eleven
- It’s ten forty-five
10.10
- It’s ten past ten
- It’s ten ten.
10.25
- It’s twenty-five past 10.
- It’s ten twenty-five
10.35
- It’s twenty-five to eleven
- It’s ten thirty-five
09:00 21:00 It’s 9 am, It’s 9 pm
We don’t use the 24-hour clock very often, only for timetables, buses, trains, military
Use the continuous form for what is happening
There’s a woman walking around the shop and choosing what to buy
It’s a self-service CHECKout. The customer is scanning their products/items (their – used for plural and gender neutral)
He’s standing with his arms folded. He’s the supervisor, he’s the section manager, (= body language)
He’s wearing a tie and a red apron (“ayprun”)
department (NK, Åhléns)
the vegetables section “vedg-tabbuls” There are red peppers, asparagus, cauliflowers (collee)
She’s carrying/holding a shopping basket.
She’s pushing a shopping trolley (BrE) / a shopping cart (US)
She’s walking down the frozen aisle (ai-yull), the vegetable aisle, the bread aisle etc
Do you want a window or aisle seat? I prefer a window seat so I can see out of the window.
This is a self-service checkout, a self-scanning checkout
to scan items at the checkout
scan the barcode on each item
card reader, a payment terminal
What is happening? What do you see? Think of as many words and phrases as possible.
a receipt ( ree-seett) don’t pronounce the “p”!
We use a recipe to cook a new dish. (= cooking instructions) RESS-ee-pee
The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics
a bill (restaurant)
plastic bags, carrier bags
an (orange) cloth bag (=tyg)
a white plastic bag