The oracle – how to practise First or Second Conditional – teaching grammar creatively (Part 3)
In the last two articles on how to teach grammar creatively, I wrote about using art, literature and finally photos and pictures to practise Present and Past Simple.
This time, I would love to present the idea that I once got in the methodological workshops on creativity in teaching. I did this exercise with my teenage students to practise both First and Second Conditional, and it worked out very well, so I hope it might also be useful for your classes. Here it goes:
Preparation:
Before the class cut out small pieces of paper. Each student should get two pieces. Arrange chairs in a circle and make your students sit down.
Procedure:
Ask your pupils to write one single word (any word in English that comes to their minds) on one piece and the question in the First or Second Conditional (depending on what you want to practise) on the second piece. The exemplary questions might be: What would you do if you visited London?, What will you do tomorrow if it’s rainy?, Where would you go if you had a lot of money? and so on. Ask the students to keep their questions, and collect only the words. Choose the first person to ask his/her question. The student sitting next to this person should draw a piece with a word and try to answer the question using the word. Then, the student who just gave the answer reads out his/her question and again the next pupil should draw a word and answer. The game continued until everyone asked and answered questions.
Comments:
Sometimes while thinking about their replies, students might find it difficult to use the word they have drawn, so prepare to be creative yourself to help your students out if necessary. Of course, some answers can be absurd, some funny, but the most important thing is that you will use grammar actively and creatively.
Follow-up
You can also ask your students to try to remember the funniest questions and answers to write them down later and display in a classroom, it will be a very nice reminder of the game. I wish you good luck and a lot of fun for you and your students!
Joanna Naporowska
Image: Bizior
