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Future Things in Common

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Personalised speaking practice of a wide range of future verb forms and future time expressions, with students then recalling and analysing the forms they used.

By: Alex Case
Level: All Levels
Theme: Time
Study Area: Future Forms
      Page: /

Lesson Plan Content:


Future things in common

Future forms review/ Future time expressions review

Try to find future things in common with your partner by telling them about your future plans, goals, etc in the short and long term. If you are scoring, you get one point for each time your partner says “Me too” etc, but no points if they say “Really? In my case,…” etc.

Useful language for talking about similarities

“Me too.”/ “So am I.”/ “So will I.”/ “So might I.”/ “So do I.”/ “So would I.”/ “Like you…”

“Me neither.”/ “Neither am I.”/ “Neither will I.”/ “Neither do I.”/ “Neither would I.”

Useful language for asking the other person

“How about you?”/ “What about you?”

“I guess that you are/ do/ will/ would too”

Useful language for talking about differences

“Really? I…”/ “(That’s interesting.) (Actually) In my case,…”/ “Unlike you…”

 

Suggested topics

  • accommodation
  • ambitions/ goals/ targets
  • appearance/ your look (hair, clothes, weight, etc)
  • appointments (doctor, dentist, etc)
  • arrangements (= something already fixed with someone else)
  • arts and media (TV, movies, books, etc)
  • bookings/ reservations/ tickets
  • career
  • celebrations/ festivals
  • clubs/ societies
  • education/ studies (exams, qualifications, lessons, etc)
  • finance/ money (savings, investments, etc)
  • food and drink (cooking, eating out, etc)
  • free time/ leisure
  • health and fitness
  • holidays/ vacations/ travel/ tourism (foreign holidays, business trips, etc)
  • (major) life changes/ life events (marriage, having kids, etc)
  • meetings
  • new experiences
  • New Year’s resolutions
  • predictions (= your imagination of the future)
  • (big) purchases
  • relationships (friends, family, dating, etc)
  • retirement
  • social life/ socialising (parties, etc)
  • technology (social media, etc)
  • to do lists

Do the same, but this time using at least one word from the table on the next page. You can use words from more than one column if you want to, but just one word from one column is okay. Still make sure that you are finding things in common about the future.

Future verb forms

Future actions

Future times (with prepositions)

have arranged to

’m are …ing

have decided to

’m are going to

’m not going to

’m planning to

plan to

’m thinking about

intend to

don’t intend to

’ll be…ing

’ll have + PP

’ll (definitely)

’ll almost certainly

’ll probably

may well/ might well

may/ might

could possibly

probably won’t

(definitely) won’t

’m expecting

’m looking forward to

’m are dreading

want to

don’t want to

would like to

would love to

would

hope

attend

book/ reserve

buy

cancel

carry on

celebrate

change

continue

cook

cut (down)/ decrease

do (more/ less)

enjoy

forget

get rid of

give away

go to

ignore

improve

increase

learn

look for

make

meet

memorise

move

quit

read

retire

save

see

sell

spend money on

spend time on

start

stop

study

suffer from

take up

throw away

try

visit

work

after this class

in an hour

later (today)

this evening

tonight

at… (o’clock) (today)

tomorrow morning

this time tomorrow

tomorrow afternoon

tomorrow evening

tomorrow night

the day after tomorrow

in three days

within five (working) days

on Saturday

on …day

by the end of this week

this time next week

in the middle of next week

on Friday next week

in two weeks

next month

this winter

in December (this year)

next year

this time next year

next summer

the year after next

in the near future

before I retire

until I retire

in 2050

by 2050

in 20…

in 21…

for a long time

someday/ sometime/ one day

 

Share similarities that you found with the class and see if anyone else shares the same thing. Then ask about anything on either page which you don’t understand or couldn’t use, trying to find related things in common each time.


Brainstorming stage

Without looking above, write as many examples as you can in each column:

Future verb forms/ Future tenses

Future times (with prepositions)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compare your answers with the previous page.

What are the differences between the different forms above?

 

Differences between future forms presentation

All the expressions below are at least slightly different from each other. With a partner, try to explain the differences in meaning.

  • am meeting him/ am going to meet him/ will meet him
  • will almost certainly improve/ will probably improve
  • will have changed/ will be changing
  • may well disappear/ may disappear
  • could appear/ could possibly appear
  • am expecting to arrive…/ am looking forward to arriving
  • would like to/ would love to
  • want to/ hope to
  • will/ would
  • will rain/ is going to rain
  • “We need some milk” “Don’t worry, I’ll get some from the supermarket”/ “We need some milk” “Don’t worry, I’m going to get some from the supermarket”
  • on Monday/ by Monday
  • in three days/ within three days
  • in three days/ in the next three days
  • in a couple of weeks/ in a few weeks
  • in a year/ a year later
  • within five days/ within five working days
  • in 2020/ by 2020
  • by 2020/ before 2020
  • by 2020/ until 2020
  • later/ sometime
  • in 2030/ in the 2030s
  • this evening/ tonight

Ask about any which you couldn’t explain or aren’t sure about.

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