Politeness is not just please and thank you

'Say please!', children are often told, after saying something like 'Give me a biscuit'. If they ask why, they may receive the explanation, 'Because it's polite'. We English teachers sometimes do the same. A student asks, 'Why do English speakers say, Would you mind… when they're not really asking a question?' We say, 'Because it's polite!' I think we could do a lot more than this to increase students' awareness of how politeness works in English. The more they are aware of it, the more they are empowered to use it in a way that works best for them. In this article, we'll look at what politeness is, when it is used and why. Then we'll look at how to make these insights more apparent to students...

(go to download for rest of article). See also the talk on this topic.

English Teaching Professional 2010, issue 70