A selection of English ESL requests ppt slides

A request is when somebody asks you to do something – usually politely. Reported requests are one form of reported speech.We usually introduce reported requests with the verb "ask". Because we use the infinitive there is no need to worry about tense.

requests ( indirect speech )

Power Point presentation which describes the use of different modals of possibility and permission.  Includes links to websites for further practice

Modals and police requests

This presentation is about how to report orders, commands and requests in the reported speech form. You can download it and adapt it according to the level you teach.

Reported Speech Commands & Requests

This is a short lesson about giving orders and making requests in which multiple ways to do both actions are presented.  Students are asked to convert orders into requests and vice versa.  

Making Orders and Requests

This is a power point presentation with a short  story to introduce ss to reported commands and requests for the first time. They will have done reported statements and questions previously. Please let me know if you like it. This is my first contribution to the site. 

Helen Alcobia 

ILC - Abrantes, Portugal



Reported commands and requests

A simple powerpoint to show the use of 'can' in different speaking contexts. I used it teaching conversation to some adults who were pre-intermediate level. It was made on a Mac but I have saved as Powerpoint and hope it works ok.

Can-ability/permission/request

A request is when we ask someone for something. Since we are asking someone for help, it is important to be polite.

We must avoid being too direct.

Here are examples of being too direct:

“I want help.”

“Pass me the salt.”

“Can you carry my bag?”



These questions are all correct English but they are too direct. These are not polite requests. They are in fact quite rude. People will be offended because they will think that you are giving them orders.



In this lesson, you will learn several methods to make a polite request. The first few examples are to be used in spoken English. The last example is for written English.



Polite requests in spoken English

This short presentation is simply an example of one format of a formal email requesting information. It is not a beautiful presentation. My apologies. I hope it will prove helpful to someone out there!

Formal Email - Request for Info

Presentation on reported statements, commands and requests. All used examples in direct speech have been taken from the book “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, translated by Irene Testot-Ferry. Hope it's useful.



Reported statements, commands and requests presentation

A slideshow about using simple 'Can I' and 'Can you' questions to ask for permission and make requests e.g. Can I open the window? Can you change the channel? Students match the phrases to the pictures to make questions, then practise answering them. I use a dice to randomize the answers students should give (even numbers = say yes; odd numbers = say no), but of course you can do it any way you want to. Hope it's useful!

Can I...? Can you...? Asking for Permission & Making Requests

This activity is designed for students to learn can and could as modals of ability and modals of (polite) request. First, I use the first 12 slides "repeat after me " practice, my students want me to do that since they are having a hard time remembering the pronunciation of English words. If your students are okay to read aloud this level of vocabulary, skip to the next part.

Second, students sit in a circle and ask those questions in turns.

Next, let students make their own questions (asking ability) using can and could (slide#25), and asking questions in turns, in the same way,

From silde28, it focuses on can and could as modals of request, and we do basically the same thing. Practice, asking questions in turns, and making their own sentence using what they've just learned.

I hope it'll be useful. Thanks!



Circle Activity) Can you? and Could you?-Ability and Request 

Requests - Would, Could, Can, May, and Might is a ready-to-teach ESL lesson plan that focuses on different ways to make requests and ask for permission. Students will practice using the subjects “I” and “you” to complete various matching and gap-fill activities. This lesson also talks about ways to make formal and informal requests using these specific modal verbs.

This is a great lesson plan for pre-intermediate students of all ages, but it would also be a great review activity for your more advanced students, so keep it handy and incorporate it into your warm-up and review activities!

This practical, easy-to-use lesson plan is ready for your next online or in-person class. 

Don't forget to sign up for your FREE Off2Class teacher account,  where you can access the teacher notes that go with this lesson. 

As well, you can assign your students homework so they can review the subject content after class! 

While you’re there, have a look at our ESL Lesson Library!  Here, you’ll find hundreds of ready-to-teach lesson plans for all skill levels and subjects. Leave the hard work to us and spend more time teaching the subject you love!



Modal Verbs - Requests - Would - Could - Can - May and Might - An ESL/ELL Lesson Plan

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

52 Requests English ESL powerpoints