The teacher is standing unobtrusively near the window, near two of the 'shops'. He is ostensibly looking out of the window, but is actually listening carefully, and making mental notes. The 'shopping' goes on for about ten minutes before the class is reassembled. Examples and comments What do the students say when they are 'shopping'? What is the teacher listening for? Here are some examples. Example 1 SI: Hello, I'd like a pound of apples. S2: Here you are, anything else? SI: No, thank you.

S2: 40p, please. SI: Here you are. S2: Thank you, goodbye. SI: Goodbye. This exchange is correct in every detail, and contains only words and phrases previously learned in class. The teacher need not note anything here. Example 2 S3: Hello, can I help you? S4: I'd like tea. S3: How much tea? S4: A pound.

S3: This tea or this tea? S4: This tea. S3: Here you are. Anything else? S4: A pound of coffee. S3: Here you are … (He hesitates, it seems he has said 'anything else' already. He tries something new .)… and more? S4: No, thank you. How much is that? S3: 3.50. S4: Here you are. Goodbye. S3: Thank you. Goodbye. This exchange is more interesting as the speakers have tried to experiment a bit. The utterance: This tea or this tea? ' and: This tea 'are, from a purely formal grammatical point of view, not strictly correct. The students' gestures were such as to make 'that' the correct determiner in the latter two cases.