B1 · Dining Problems and Solutions
Handling a Disrupted Celebration Caused by Serving Order
- CEFR level:
- B1
- Sentences:
- 12
- Duration:
- 1 min
- Speakers:
- Emma & Tom
"Handling a Disrupted Celebration Caused by Serving Order" is a B1-level English conversation about dining problems and solutions, 12 lines long (about 1 minute) between Emma & Tom. Read the full script below with the translation next to each line, then try speaking one of the roles out loud.
Dialogue script
Each entry shows the English sentence first, with the translation on the line below it. To practise speaking, cover the translation and repeat after the audio.
- Line 1Emma 0:00
They served dessert before the birthday main course, and plans broke.
- Line 2Tom 0:05
Was it a kitchen delay, or did our order notes get missed?
- Line 3Emma 0:08
We marked "cake after speeches," but the server seemed new.
- Line 4Tom 0:12
Then we should correct sequence quickly without blaming one person.
- Line 5Emma 0:16
Guests are confused, and one child already started the cake.
- Line 6Tom 0:21
Let's pause and reset the timeline with the floor manager.
- Line 7Emma 0:24
I'll ask them to hold remaining desserts until toasts finish.
- Line 8Tom 0:28
I'll gather guests for speeches now to recover momentum.
- Line 9Emma 0:32
After that, we serve mains together and relight candles.
- Line 10Tom 0:36
Good, and request one extra dessert plate as goodwill.
- Line 11Emma 0:40
If timing slips again, we'll skip games and keep key moments.
- Line 12Tom 0:45
Nice recovery. The celebration can still end warmly.
Native audio, line-by-line recording and pronunciation scoring for this dialogue are in the EngTalk app.
Key vocabulary
Content words from this dialogue, ranked by the CEFR level at which they appear across the whole 500-dialogue library. Function words and proper nouns are excluded.
- missed /mɪst/ past tense verb
failed to hit, catch, attend, or notice
- sequence /ˈsikwəns/ noun
an ordered series of things
- pause /pɔz/ noun; verb
a short stop; to stop briefly
- reset /riˈsɛt/ verb
to set again or restore
- ask /æsk/ verb
to pose a question or request information
- momentum /moʊˈmɛntəm/ noun
force or progress that keeps something moving
- request /rɪˈkwɛst/ noun
an act of asking for something
- goodwill /ˌɡʊdˈwɪl/ noun
friendly and helpful feelings toward others
- timing /ˈtaɪmɪŋ/ noun
the choice or control of when something happens
- skip /skɪp/ verb
to not do or not include something
- moments /ˈmoʊmənts/ plural noun
short periods of time
- recovery /rɪˈkʌvəri/ noun
the process of getting better or getting back