How to practise future tenses in conversation so that it’s fun, but most of all effective and practical?
Read on to check out our 7 ideas for quick and effective activities!
# 1 Arranging a meeting.
This task will help your students practise: Future Continuous, Present Continuous & going to.
Students get a copy of the calendar and 4 (or more) photos of different activities, such as going to the doctor, meeting friends, etc. You can find photos like that in Convo Grammar: Future. Or, instead of photos you can use slips of paper with the activities.
Students enter the names of activities that they have “planned” for specific days of the week. They choose the activities from the photos. Then, in pairs or small groups, they try to make an appointment with each other. They’ll need to negotiate as they’ll have to find a date that suits everyone!
# 2 What the future holds
This task will help your students practise: Future Continuous, Future Perfect and Future Simple.
On the table, spread out a few more or less futuristic looking photos. Students discuss how they think the photos may relate to the future, and ask each other questions about them.
# 3 Fortune-telling
This task will help your students practise: Future Continuous, Future Perfect and Future Simple.
This is a very simple activity that will not only practise future tenses but also bring a smile to your students’ faces. In this task they tell each other’s futures. They work in pairs or small groups. Give each group a few prompts, such as photos, words or even single sentences. They will serve as “inspiration” to fortune-tellers.
# 4 Plan of action
This task will help your students practise: going to and Future Simple.
Students work in small groups. Each group is given a situation, e.g they have to organise a party. They have some time to brainstorm their ideas and think of their plan of action for the situation. When they’re ready, they share their action plans with other groups, using future structures as they present. E.g. “We’re going to use …”
# 5 Discussion
Create a few questions with future tenses and simply let your students have a chat. You can find a whole set of Discussion cards with future tenses in our Convo Grammar: Future pack.
# 6 What’s the future
On the board, write a few categories, such as: home, work, friendships, etc. Students think about different scenarios for the future in these categories. They discuss and reflect on what the future of families, sports, friendships and many other important areas of our lives will look like.
# 7 For lower levels
Students at the lowest levels will benefit from the simplest task of making sentences and questions using prompts. As prompts you can use: photos, expressions or even single words and verbs. Just spread them out in front of the students and ask them to think of as many sentences as they can using future tenses.
Read this article for ideas on revising conditionals without gap-filling.
We hope you now have plenty of ideas for practising future tenses in conversation. But if you need more, or are looking for ready-made materials, check out our Convo Grammar: Future pack.
