How to teach future simple for decisions made when speaking

betty boo · Post by **betty boo** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:43 am

I am stumped as to how to teach a class of 11-12 year olds the future simple tense (will) for making decisions at the time of speaking, e.g. The phone's rining. I'll answer it."

I can do MPF, but actually introducing and contextualising the grammar topic is proving difficult, as is how to do a good and fun less controlled oral practice of the target language to end the lesson.

Any ideas on how to do this would be greatly appreciated. Just for information, my classes are only 35 minutes long.

Many thanks for your help in advance.

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 3:46 pm

First of all, don't be surprised if people tell you "will" is not a future tense, but that's a topic in another place! If you want students to practice, "I'll do it." Why not ask for volunteers to do different things in the classroom? Who wants to make a "B" on the blackboard? I'll do it. or something like that.

sbourque · Post by **sbourque** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 9:14 pm

I used an exercise from (I think) the Rewards Pre-Intermediate activity book. It´s called a "mill drill" and the idea is that students are going on a long trip, and are asking and answering questions. They have cards with a question on one side, for example "Are you going to send me a postcard?" On the other side are two choices: "phone you when I get there/ send an email." Students walk around, holding their cards so that they ask the question and the other student answers with "No, I think I´ll..."

Some of the other phrases:
stay in the city - go out to the beach/ take a tour in the country
take a big suitcase - carry a backpack/ take a small bag
take foreign currency - change money when I get there/take credit cards
rent a car - take public transportation/ borrow a car from friends