With this A1–A2 ESL lesson on ordering food, students learn practical restaurant English and build confidence using polite phrases such as “May I take your order?”, “For here or to go?”, and “That’ll be…” while expanding everyday vocabulary such as wrapper, straw, napkin, condiments, and many more! Learners practice real-life conversations around ordering meals, drinks, and takeout, making this lesson ideal for beginner ESL classes and everyday communication.
While designed for A1–A2 learners, it also works well with higher-level students who need a refresher or real-life practice.
lesson overview
This A1–A2 ESL lesson helps learners handle one of the most common real-life situations in English: ordering food in cafés, fast-food restaurants, and takeout places. Students work with essential restaurant vocabulary, short listening tasks, and guided dialogues to build confidence using common phrases like “For here or to go?” and polite ordering language. The lesson ends with structured role-plays where learners act as customers and servers, making it ideal for late A1 to A2 students who want practical, survival English. The user-friendly digital format allows easy navigation in presentation mode with just a click of the spacebar, requiring no additional software.
Target Audience:
- Level: A1-A2 (Elementary – Pre-intermediate)
- Best for: Adults, teens, older kids
Content Breakdown:
- Warm-Up
- Vocabulary Practice: Food, Drinks, and Restaurant Items
- Picture-Based Vocabulary Description
- Video Exploration & Listening Comprehension: Ordering Food at a Fast-Food Restaurant
- Listening for Detail: Answering Questions
- Fill-in-the-Gaps Dialogue Practice
- Categorizing Common Restaurant Phrases (Customer vs Server)
- Completing Dialogues: Ordering Food
- Guided Role-Plays: Café, Drive-Thru, and Restaurant Scenarios
- Speaking Questions: Talking About Food Preferences
HOMEWORK (Extra Language Immersion):
Watch & Reflect
Students watch a funny video showing a food-ordering situation and answer simple comprehension and opinion questions. This task reinforces key phrases and helps learners feel more comfortable ordering food in English.