First Conditional
Teaching ideas for first conditional
Maja Hadzic, Belgrade, Serbia 1. I usually give some examples of superstitions, e.g. If you break a mirror, you will... (they give the answer, since they already know Future Simple Tense). 2. Then I give some more oral examples for them to finish. 3. After that they make their own examples. 4. Now they write down an example or two. 5. In groups they try to figure out what goes with the IF clause, what with the main clause. They report back to the class. 6. In groups, they make new examples of "silly" superstitions. For homework, they write several sentences asking other students: What happens if you... (they finish). Other students give answers, and then they choose the silliest one. I definitely try to make fun of it, because I think the first conditional is easy to comprehend (it is very similar to the first conditional in their mother tongue), so that they aren't bored.
Liliana, Lima, Peru 1. First I start asking my students what they would like to do. They usually suggest watching a video, learning a new song, playing games, listening to stories, etc. 2. I write their suggestions on the board. 3. Then I mention the conditions in order to get what they have suggested. 4. The sentences written on the board have different colours. I use green for the word "IF", red for the modal verbs "WILL" or "CAN" and blue for the verbs. They immediately notice I am teaching a new structure. 5. Later I ask them to tell the conditions their parents establish at home, like what will your mother do if you behave well? 6. In pairs they talk about it. 7. I help them mention different things their parents have told them about good habits; like what happens if you eat vegetables... brush your teeth... don't smoke... go to bed early, etc.
Andres Hoyos Rivera, Medellín-Colombia
1- After explaining to the students that we use the first conditional to express situations that are likely to happen, I make up a
Maja Hadzic, Belgrade, Serbia 1. I usually give some examples of superstitions, e.g. If you break a mirror, you will... (they give the answer, since they already know Future Simple Tense). 2. Then I give some more oral examples for them to finish. 3. After that they make their own examples. 4. Now they write down an example or two. 5. In groups they try to figure out what goes with the IF clause, what with the main clause. They report back to the class. 6. In groups, they make new examples of "silly" superstitions. For homework, they write several sentences asking other students: What happens if you... (they finish). Other students give answers, and then they choose the silliest one. I definitely try to make fun of it, because I think the first conditional is easy to comprehend (it is very similar to the first conditional in their mother tongue), so that they aren't bored.
Liliana, Lima, Peru 1. First I start asking my students what they would like to do. They usually suggest watching a video, learning a new song, playing games, listening to stories, etc. 2. I write their suggestions on the board. 3. Then I mention the conditions in order to get what they have suggested. 4. The sentences written on the board have different colours. I use green for the word "IF", red for the modal verbs "WILL" or "CAN" and blue for the verbs. They immediately notice I am teaching a new structure. 5. Later I ask them to tell the conditions their parents establish at home, like what will your mother do if you behave well? 6. In pairs they talk about it. 7. I help them mention different things their parents have told them about good habits; like what happens if you eat vegetables... brush your teeth... don't smoke... go to bed early, etc.
Andres Hoyos Rivera, Medellín-Colombia
1- After explaining to the students that we use the first conditional to express situations that are likely to happen, I make up a