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Speaking: routines, plans and asking for things
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Explain a routine and make a useful request
- Practise a short routine, a plan and a request that fits the situation. A1 introductions is a useful starting point if a short exchange is still difficult.
- Link ideas when it helps: and, but, so, because, then. Three unrelated sentences do not become a clear message just by adding linkers.
- Hear → say → record → replay → compare. These are model-rehearsal boxes; nothing is scored. Recordings stay in this page and disappear on reload.
Talking about a routine
- Present-simple example: I get up at seven. I have breakfast at eight. I go to school by bus.
- A useful neutral order is I get up at seven. At seven, I get up is also grammatical; the time can come first to set the scene. Avoid inserting it between I and get up in this simple pattern.
- Practice box 1 rehearses the model. Then change the times or transport so the message fits your chosen routine.
Hear the model, then record yourself saying the three sentences.
I get up at seven and At seven, I get up are both grammatical. In the simple pattern here, avoid I at seven get up. A pause between sentences can help clarity.
Check the verb for this subject
- In an affirmative present-simple sentence with he/she/it, most main verbs take an ending: She works in a bank. He watches TV. Compare I work with she works.
- After does or a modal, use the base form: Does she work? She can work. The ending does not belong on every verb near she.
- Practice box 2 rehearses two affirmative sentences. Listen for the required ending rather than assuming all Chinese-speaking learners make the same error.
Now about other people — mind the -s. Record both sentences.
Rehearse she works and he watches here. In Does she work? or She can work, the main verb has the base form.
Talking about a plan
- I'm going to + verb can express a plan: I'm going to visit my grandparents this weekend.
- In informal speech, going to before a base verb can be reduced. Practise a clear form first if it helps, but reduced speech is not automatically careless or a higher-level goal. I'm going to London has a destination, so do not replace it with I'm gonna London.
- Practice box 3 rehearses one plan. Change the activity and time in your own follow-up.
Talk about a plan. Record the sentence.
A clear going to is useful for rehearsal. Informal reductions can be natural; a destination phrase such as going to London has a different structure.
A request is more than please
- Can I have a coffee, please? asks for something. Could you open the window? asks someone to act; could can make the request more tentative.
- The words, your relationship and your delivery work together. Adding please does not make a demand polite in every context.
- Intonation can rise, fall or fall and rise depending on the message. Rehearse a considerate request without imposing one compulsory pitch pattern on the question or please.
Two polite requests. Record both.
Could you can make a request more tentative. Please, intonation, relationship and context all contribute; no single word or pitch pattern guarantees politeness.
Choose the question pattern you need
- To ask someone for an English expression, use How do you say this in English? For a route: How do I get to the station?
- These present-simple questions need do. Other questions use different patterns: Where is the station? Can you help? A question does not always need do.
- How to say … can be a heading or an embedded phrase; it is not the full direct question practised here. Word-order practice gives more examples.
Change the routine, then ask for help
- Practice box 5 supplies someone else's day. Give a few sentences about a real or invented day and one plan, using your own details.
- Then imagine the room is too hot: ask a classmate to open the window. If they say they are busy, respond to that answer rather than repeating the model unchanged.
- Record and replay. Pick one repair, such as a missing verb ending or an unclear requested action; compare the retry rather than assuming less reading means better speaking.
Your day and your plan — swap in YOUR life. Record it twice.
Adapt the model, then compare the content and clarity of both takes. Model rehearsal does not by itself demonstrate independent interaction.
Recap
- Describe a routine in the present simple: I get up at seven. With he/she/it, add the ending: she works.
- Give a plan with I'm going to + verb; ask with Can I …? or Could you …?
- Ask for a word with How do you say this in English? — this question needs do.
Which sentence about a routine is correct?
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With she in an affirmative present-simple sentence, the main verb takes -s: works.
“How do you say this in English?” needs the helper do.
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True. It is a present-simple question with a main verb, so it needs do.
Try it again with a different purpose
- Tomorrow, say a routine before reading. Then change one plan and make a different request, such as asking for a pen.
- Next: B1 stories, opinions and discussions. Return to routines and arrangements listening for listening practice.
- Usage references checked 20 October 2026: British Council: adverbial position, Cambridge: can and could and intonation. These local activities do not certify a CEFR level.