Job Discussion Forums

[Margot73]

The book has a whole chapter on it. "I had to pay the rent yesterday..." etc. Any ideas for games or other exercises? I have several hours to fill with this.

[dreadnought]

Not really a game as such (more of a task), but introduce the concept of strict/lenient and get the students to do a survey to find out who had the strictest/most lenient parents when they were younger. You know, they can go round the room asking 'did you have to wash up after dinner?' 'did you have to do your homework as soon as you came home?' etc. They can get into groups afterwards, give their decision and explain why ('we think x had the strictest parents because he had to....).

Is this the kind of thing you're looking for? You know, there are quite a lot of books that have decent ideas as well. Try Grammar Practice Activities by Penny Ur.

[jr1965]

I like the idea of talking about childhood, as suggested by the poster above. For practice, you could also do a find-someone-who activity in which students create the sentences they'll use in the activity. For example:

Focus on childhood:

Find someone who�
had to go to summer school.
had to wear braces.
had to take care of a younger sibling growing up.
had to make dinner for the family.
And so on.

Students ask, "Did you have to wear braces as a kid?" Reply: "Yeah, I did." Or "Yes, I had to."

Later on, students can each talk in more detail in pairs or groups about something they had to do when they were growing up.

[Glenski]

Depending on age of students, have them compare what their obligations were in elementary school, junior high, and senior high.

First day on the job (signing forms, meeting certain people, orientation, etc.)

Don't forget to include negatives to practice "didn't have to". Have students do surveys on each other.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

^ Hi


I'd begin by comparing should and must.


Both are modal verbs that describe an obligation;

'should' implies a moral obligation, but we have a choice.

'must' often implies a legal obligation or rule; we have no choice.


Next, explain to the students that must = have to


but ...


'must' has no past tense, no future tense and no infinitive;

we use have to instead of must for the past, future & infinitive.


for the past tense, we use had to

for the future tense, we use will or shall have to

not so important, but for the infinitive, we use to have to


From there you can model a few conversations on the whiteboard

and let the students practice asking & answering questions

using all 3 aspects - present, past and future.



i.e,


Do you have to get up early every day of the week?


Yes, ...

No, ...


Did you have to get up early yesterday?


Yes, ...

No, ...


Will you have to get up early tomorrow?


Yes, ...

No, ...


and so on, with variations.

[teacheringreece]

[rusmeister]

Why on earth do you have several hours to fill with this? Are your students retarded? Two 20-minute sessions ought to cover it (Max one hour total time over 2-3 lessons). Unless your center is micro-managing and doesn't know what it is doing.

[chola]

You could have the s's talk/write whatever about a trip/vacation somewhere, what were the things they had to do before they left, when they got there. Eg. We had to get immunized, we had to renew our passports, we had to pack our suitcases. You could also get them to talk about past work/school experiences. They could even interview each other. The whole class or groups could brainstorm a bunch of questions together first and then they could pair up....I did something like this a few times and it worked pretty well. Can also use it for the negative form ....didn't have to...

[TheLongWayHome]

For god's sake drill the structure to death. If you don't, students will understand when to use it but will come out with, 'I didn't had to go to class yesterday', and other assorted drivel.

If they don't understand the structure of the past simple, you are wasting your time.

[Margot73]

[dmb]

[Justin Trullinger]

[dreadnought]

[TheLongWayHome]

[basiltherat]