Learning Culture and Communication: Garage Sale

An English Lesson for Enterprising Teachers and Students

What is a garage sale? It is a sale of used household items, taking place in someone’s garage or front yard. Items are usually sold at a drastically reduced rate compared to items sold at a store. Synonyms for garage sale include yard sale and rummage sale.

I grew up going to garage sales with my mom. She is a bargain hunter, and was usually able to clothe our whole family with her finds at garage sales. Once a summer, we would also hold a garage sale, selling all the clothes we had grown out of, decorations mom no longer liked, and toys we were done playing with.

Several years ago, when I was teaching summer ESL courses, a colleague of mine had the idea to hold a garage sale at her house and let our ESL students be the “workers” at the sale. This would give them a valuable lesson in American culture and authentic communication with native speakers. The mission of our garage sale activity would be two-fold:

First – Put students in position to interact with local English speakers.

This would be a real-life way that our students could use their conversation skills to interact with native English speakers that they had never met before. Sometimes it’s really difficult for students on a college campus to find their way out into the community, so this garage sale would provide that opportunity.

Second – Introduce students to this very American summertime activity.

Even though garage sales (or yard sales, as they call them in Kentucky) are practiced in a few other countries, none of our students had ever heard of the concept before. Our students were amazed at the concept that someone would open up their garage to let strangers in to look at their possessions.

We would teach them about the cultural phenomenon that is a garage sale, as well as prepare them for the conversations they would have. Many of our students came from cultures where bargaining is commonplace, so they had the advantage of that experience when it came to working a garage sale. All they needed was some role-play practice before the big day, as well as the confidence to speak to native-English speakers.

On the day of the garage sales, the other teacher and I made sure to let the students do the majority of the speaking with customers. We let the students greet customers, answer questions, collect money, and record purchases.

It was a huge success! Our students were forced to break out of their shells and interact with people they normally wouldn’t. Everyone manned a “zone” of the sale, so they were responsible for answering any questions that customers would have. We saw some of our normally timid students bravely interact in a way they normally wouldn’t in class. Our future MBA students loved the opportunity to put their sales knowledge to the test. Plus, at the end of the day, we bought pizza for all the students and celebrated our accomplishments.

I would definitely do this activity again. In fact, summer is coming up, and I have a lot of items that I need to get rid of. Sounds like it might be time for another ESL garage sale!

If you are a teacher considering throwing a garage sale, here are a few English conversation questions to get you started with your class:

What are some synonyms for garage sale?

What kinds of things are sold at garage sales?

Do you have garage sales in your country?

Have you ever stopped at a garage sale before? Did you buy anything?

What are some reasons that people have garage sales?

How would you bargain with someone if you wanted to purchase something for a cheaper price?

What season are most garage sales? Why?

How are items at garage sales arranged?