US culture: learn about restaurants in English -Today: Tips & tipping!

How often do you go out to restaurants?

Which ones are your favourites?

Do you ever leave a tip – an amount of money for the waiter or waitress?

How much do people usually leave in your country? In the US things are probably a bit different!

In this short video lesson on US culture, you’ll learn about restaurant tips and tipping in America. You’ll also learn some useful words for talking about this topic. After watching the video, try our little quiz below to see how much you can remember. Happy learning!

Level: Pre-Intermediate to Upper Intermediate (A2-B2)

Video: YES!

Before you watch the video, brush up on the relevant vocabulary at the bottom of this page! Also lower down you can find the questions as well as the video script.

Vocabulary

Here are some useful words that appear in the video.

A tip

Two meanings: 1. A useful piece of advice: “She gave me some tips on how to pass the exam; 2. An amount of money you leave for the waiter-waitress after eating in a restaurant: “We left a $10 tip.”

Tipping

This word refers to the action of leaving money for the waiter-waitress after eating in a restaurant: “Tipping is an important part of our culture.”

The check (US English)

A piece of paper that shows how much you have to pay for your restaurant meal. A “bill” in British English: “The waiter brought us the check.”

Minimum wage

The lowest amount of money a company can pay a worker. In many US states it’s around $7: “We’re paid the minimum wage here.”

To make a living

The thing you do to “make a living” is the job you do to earn money. If you “make a good living”, you earn enough money to live quite well: “She made her living by working as a chef.”

A meal

A dish of food you eat at a certain time: lunch, dinner, etc.: “He refused to pay for the meal because it was too cold.”

Video quiz  

You’re going to watch a video with someone talking about tipping in the US. Watch it once and answer the questions below. Remember, the first time, you should watch the video from start to finish without stopping and try to understand as much as possible. After that, watch it again, but this time you can pause or stop it wherever you like. [answers below]

1 What is the speaker’s description of a tip?

2 When should you tip in the US?

3 Why is tipping important for waiters and waitresses?

4 How much does the speaker usually leave?

5 How much would she leave if her meal was $20?

Speaking

Now talk about this topic with a friend or classmate. Make notes and try to use as much of the new language as you can.

Language quiz!

Try our little language quiz to see how much you can remember. [answers below]

1 The action of leaving money for the waiter-waitress after eating in a restaurant =

2 A useful piece of advice =

3 The lowest amount of money a company can pay a worker =

4 A US English word for the piece of paper that shows how much you have to pay for your restaurant meal =

5 The job you do to earn money is the thing you do to earn a… =

6 An amount of money you leave for the waiter-waitress after eating in a restaurant =

7 A dish of food you eat at a certain time: lunch, dinner, etc. =

8 A British English word for the piece of paper that shows how much you have to pay for your restaurant meal =

Video script

US culture – learn about restaurant tipping!

Hi, I’m Melina Calarco and I’m a college student in the United States, and I’m going to give some tips about tipping!

The basics!

Tipping happens after you have your meal at the restaurant, erm, and then the waiter or waitress brings you the check, and you leave a little extra money on top of your total.

Tip every time!

Yes, you have to tip every time. Er, that’s something that you need to do at an American restaurant.

Importance of tipping!

Tipping is important, er, because restaurants normally pay their waiters and waitresses minimum wage, which is only a couple of dollars an hour. Er, so really in order to make a good living they need to have a tip.

Amount!

Yeah, so I usually tip between fifteen percent and twenty percent. So, if my meal was, say, twenty dollars, then I would leave about a four- or five-dollar tip.

End

I’m Melina Calarco, and these are your tips for tipping!

Answers

Video quiz

1 What is the speaker’s description of a tip? As a little extra money you leave for the waiter or waitress

2 When should you tip? Every time you go to a restaurant

3 Why is tipping important for waiters and waitresses? Because they’re normally on minimum wage

4 How much does the speaker usually leave? Between 15% and 20%

5 How much would she leave if her meal was $20? $4 or $5

Language quiz

1 The action of leaving money for the waiter-waitress after eating in a restaurant = tipping

2 A useful piece of advice = a tip

3 The lowest amount of money a company can pay a worker = the minimum wage

4 A US English word for the piece of paper that shows how much you have to pay for your restaurant meal = the check

5 The job you do to earn money is the thing you do to earn a… = living

6 An amount of money you leave for the waiter-waitress after eating in a restaurant = a tip

7 A dish of food you eat at a certain time: lunch, dinner, etc. = a meal

8 A British English word for the piece of paper that shows how much you have to pay for your restaurant meal = a bill

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