Politeness is discussed as an integral part of human conversational interaction. Awareness of politeness is important to understanding proper language usage. Several sentences may perform the same function but vary in tone from a command to an extremely polite request. Foreign language instruction should expose learners to politeness and the varying forms of expressing requests. Handling politeness in the teaching-learning process is discussed in general, and the specific treatment of politeness in three EFL (English as a foreign language) textbooks is discussed. Volume 3 of the "Yazigi English Program" of the Centro de Linguistica Aplicada of the Instituto de Idiomas Yazigi in Sao Paulo shows teachers how to present a "Think and Choose an Opening" section on polite English dialogue. The exercises make the student select most polite, next polite and least polite dialogue sentences to use in specific situations. Two sample questions and the description of the technique given in the teacher's manual are provided here. (CHK)