homework ideas for first conditional

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First Conditional Fun

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First Conditional ESL Games, Worksheets and Activities

First Conditional Story

Esl first conditional worksheet - grammar exercise: gap-fill - pre-intermediate (a2) - 20 minutes.

Christmas Conditionals

Esl first conditional activity - grammar: sentence completion, guessing - group and pair work - intermediate (b1) - 30 minutes.

Conditional Chain Game

Esl first conditionals game - grammar and writing: sentence completion - group work - intermediate (b1) - 20 minutes.

ESL First Conditional Worksheet - Grammar Exercises: Gap-fill, Matching, Sentence Completion, Writing Sentences - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work - Intermediate (B1) - 25 minutes

First Conditional Advice

Esl first conditional worksheet - grammar, reading and writing exercises: gap-fill, changing word forms, unscrambling, identifying, writing a paragraph - intermediate (b1) - 30 minutes.

First Conditional Business

Business english first conditional worksheet - grammar exercises: gap-fill, changing word forms - speaking activity: creating and delivering a dialogue - pair work - intermediate (b1) - 45 minutes.

First Conditional Card Game

Esl first conditional game -grammar and speaking: forming sentences from picture prompts, freer practice - group work - intermediate (b1) - 30 minutes.

First Conditional Chain

Esl first conditional activity - grammar and writing: sentence completion - group work - intermediate (b1) - 25 minutes.

First Conditional Dominoes

Esl first conditional game - grammar: matching - group work - intermediate (b1) - 25 minutes.

Five-in-a-row

Esl first conditional game - speaking: completing sentences from prompts, freer practice - pair work - intermediate (b1) - 30 minutes.

If and When

Esl first conditional game - grammar: sentence completion - group work - intermediate (b1) - 25 minutes.

What did I write?

Esl first conditional game - grammar: sentence completion, asking and answering questions from prompts, guessing, freer practice - pair work - intermediate (b1) - 35 minutes.

What will happen?

Esl first conditional board game - grammar and speaking: forming sentences from prompts, freer practice - group work - intermediate (b1) - 25 minutes.

First Conditional Practice

Esl first conditional activity - grammar: matching, reading and writing sentences, ordering, role-play - pair work - upper-intermediate (b2) - 30 minutes.

ESL First Conditional Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming and Answering Questions from Prompts, Freer Practice - Group Work - Upper-intermediate (B2) - 25 minutes

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ESL Activities

ESL Games, Activities, Lesson Plans, Jobs & More

in Listening · Speaking · Writing

First Conditional Games, Activities, Lesson Plans & Worksheets

If you’re looking for some of the best first conditional games and activities, then you’re definitely in the right place! We have more than 20 of them, along with worksheets, lesson plans, online practice recommendations and more.

First conditional games and activities

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First Conditional Structure

In case you need a primer for what the 1st conditional structure is, here it is! We use it to talk about future situations that we believe are real or possible. Some examples:

The structure is usually:

If + present simple + will + infinitive (if can also be in the middle of the sentence).

It’s also possible to replace “if” with the following:

First Conditional Activities and Games

Let’s get into the best first conditional speaking activities for all ages!

#1: Three in a Row

Make up a worksheet with a bunch of result clauses. Then, put students into pairs and each pair will play against another pair (4 students total) with one of the worksheets. The goal is to get three squares in a row.

One partner says an “if” clause. Their partner can use one of the result clauses on the worksheet. If it makes sense, they mark the square off as theirs and the other teams goes.

#2: Dicto Gloss Activity

This is a challenging listening activity for higher-level students. Find or write a passage with a few first conditional statements. Then, put students into pairs and read it out at a faster than usual pace. Students have to take notes and try to recreate what they just heard. Repeat the process and then students compare their version with the original one. Find out more about it:

ESL Dicto Gloss Activity .

#3: Running Dictation

This is one of my favourite 4-skills ESL activities for all ages! Find, or write a conversation that makes good use of 1st conditional statements (the textbook you’re using may have a good one). Then, students have to work together to dictate the convo and then put it into the correct order. Find out more about it:

Running Dictation, a fun ESL Activity to Try Out Today | ESL 4-skills Dictation Passages Game

#4: Concentration

This is a fun memory game that helps students focus on meanings and 1st conditional statements. Make some sentences and then put each clause on a separate card. For example:

Then, students have to match cards. Check it out:

Concentration Game .

#5: Mixed Up Sentences

This is a nice activity for helping students work on forms. Make a bunch of sentences using the 1st conditional and mix them up in terms of word order. Students have to work with a partner to unscramble them.

#6: The Conditional Chain

Start the game off by saying the first half of a first conditional statement. The next player has to add a clause to complete the statement. The next player takes that new clause and makes a new first half of the statement. Does that make sense? Keep going, adding new clauses. The teacher or other classmates can assist students who can’t come up with something.

#7: Dialogue Substitution

Have you ever noticed that students seem to just kind of blow through dialogues that they have to read with a partner and they don’t really pay attention to what they’re reading? One of the best ways to combat this is to remove some of the key words. They can be things related to grammar or meaning. Find out more about it here:

Dialogue substitution, a Quick ESL reading and speaking activity | For ESL Students #shorts

#8: Is that Sentence Correct?

Conditional statements involve somewhat tricky grammar. The word order can sometimes be confusing which is why I like to do this simple activity. I make a bunch of sentences using the target grammar and in pairs, students have to decide if the sentence is correct. If it’s incorrect, they have to change it. Find out more here:

Is that Sentence Correct Activity?

#9: Pass the Paper

In this activity, students write down four clauses. Two are the first half of a first conditional and two of them are the last half. Then, they pass the paper to a partner who finishes the statements.

#10: Sentence Structure Activities

Conditionals are heavy on the sentence structure! They can get a little bit tricky, particularly if you teach about more than one of them in a single lesson. Students really have to master word order and verb tenses for this one. Have a look here at some of the best ideas for this:

ESL Sentence Structure Activities .

#11: First Conditional Speaking Lesson Plan

It’s easier than you might think to plan a lesson about almost anything. Check out this video for the steps to follow:

How to Plan an ESL Speaking Lesson in less than 10 steps | Lesson Plan Template

#12: Partner Conversation Starters

If you tell students to use the first conditional and talk to their partners, you may be met with silence! It’s entirely the teacher’s fault! The students haven’t really been given enough to work with.

Instead, help students out by giving them some conversation starters or questions. For example,

#13: The Flyswatter Game

To focus on meaning, write the second half of numerous 1st conditional statements on the whiteboard. One student from each team comes up to the board and takes a flyswatter. It works best to have mostly generic kinds of statements that could fit a bunch of different situations.

The teacher says the first half of one of the statements and then the first student to slap something that fits gets a point for their team. Learn more about it:

Flyswatter Game .

#14: Consider Using the Test Teach Test Approach

It’s likely that your students may already be familiar with conditionals. If that’s the case, why not give them a little bit of a test first to see what they know? Then, tailor the lesson to what they don’t. After that, give them another little test to see what they’ve picked up.

This kind of lesson can be a nice way to tailor the lesson specifically to the needs of the students. It’s also a change of pace from the usual presentation-practice-production model. Learn more about it here:

What is the Test Teach Test Approach to Teaching ESL/EFL? | Approach and Method in Language Teaching

#15: First Conditional Movies and TV Clips

If you take a look on YouTube, you’ll see a ton of compilations of clips from popular TV shows and movies that use this grammatical structure. This can make a nice warm-up or review activity or form the basis of an entire lesson. Have a quick look around and you’re sure to find something that’ll work.

#16: Me Too!

Me Too is a simple speaking and listening activity that can help students get some practice with these kinds of statements. Students say a true statement that uses the target grammar. If other students could say the same thing about themselves, they stand up and say, “Me too!”

#17: Error Correction Relay Race

I love this game because it takes something old and boring (error correction) and turns it into something fun. Write a passage with the target grammar, and then make a few mistakes. Make sure you tell students how many mistakes there are.

In teams, students have to work together to find them all. You can find out more about it right here:

Error Correction Relay .

#18: Vocabulary Auction

If you want to have some fun with making sentences in your class, this is the game to play! Find out how to do it:

English Vocabulary Auction: A Fun ESL Vocabulary Game for All Ages

#19: Dictation Practice

Dictation is a nice activity to focus on forms. Dictate some questions that use the target grammar for the students. They have to write them down and then answer the question. Alternatively, you could dictate some statements and they have to make up the questions.

#20: Person on the Street Interview Activity

This is a fun way to make something old (talking with a partner). Students have to chat with someone on the street to get their opinions or ideas about something. In this case, they’d have to use a 1st conditional question. Check it out:

Person on the Street Interview Activity .

More Ideas for Teaching English Grammar

The key to better TEFL classes is a wide variety of student-centred, engaging and interactive games and activities. This is particularly true for teaching grammar concepts like conditionals.

Not to worry though! Pick up a copy of 39 No-Prep, Low-Prep ESL Grammar Activities to help you have more interesting classes, the easy way. You’ll be able to make it through an entire semester in style and your students will keep coming back for more.

Pick up a copy of the book today and get ready for better English lessons tomorrow.

First Conditional Games Online

My students often ask me to recommend some online games to them so that they can practice their English grammar. Here are some of my favourite options for the 1st conditional:

ESL Kids Games

Games to Learn English

Grammar Worksheet First Conditional

Check out these worksheets for additional practice:

Live Worksheets

ISL Collective

Perfect English Grammar

First Conditional Lesson Plans

Save some time and effort by using lesson plans that others have already made! Here are some of the top recommendations:

Off 2 Class

Lingua House

There are a number of common questions that people have. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

What are some first conditional examples?

Some first conditional examples are:

What are the four types of conditionals?

The four types of conditionals are zero, first, second, and third.

How do you teach the first conditional?

To teach the first conditional, be sure to set the context of the lesson. Then, focus on meaning and forms and give students some practice opportunities. Assign some homework and don’t forget review in the next lesson.

First conditional speaking activities and games

First Conditional Activities: Join the Conversation

Do you have any first conditional speaking activities that you’d like to add to the list? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 60 books for English teachers and English learners, including Business English Vocabulary Builder and 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

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First conditional games, worksheets, stories and songs

About 32 Type 1 Conditional PDFs and teaching tips. If you find anything useful here and want more, please support TEFLtastic .

Updated 2 May 2021

Conditionals games/ worksheets main page

Negotiating page

Article on teaching first conditional

Fun first conditional practice

Photocopiable first conditional classroom activities

First conditional and countable/ uncountable sentence completion activities (bluffing, guessing and things in common – more on sentence completion activities here )

Future clauses chain story (more on chain stories/ consequences here )

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie First conditional stories (see stories section below for a link to this classic story online)

First conditional sentence completion guessing game (more on sentence completion activities here )

First conditional consequences (more on chain stories/ consequences here )

Environmental collocations first conditional pelmanism (more on pelmanism here )

Changing a cafe first conditional discussion

Xmas and New Year superstitions First Conditional bluff (more on bluffing games here )

Trends and conditionals discussion and grammar presentation

Business hospitality First conditional discussion

First conditional stories/ First conditional picture books

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie – ( video of someone reading the book and my worksheet )

If You Take a Mouse to School ( animated read through on YouTube )

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies ( read through on YouTube )

If You Give a Pig a Pancake ( read through on YouTube )

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake ( read through on YouTube )

If You Give a Moose a Muffin ( read through by the author on YouTube )

If You Give a Dog a Donut ( read through on YouTube )

First conditional songs

Can’t Buy Me Love by The Beatles ( link to online gapfill task ) – NEW LINK

If You Let Me Stay by Terence Trent D’Arby ( link to lyrics and video on YouTube )

Fix You by Coldplay ( link to lyrics and video on YouTube )

Count on Me by Bruno Mars (link to worksheet on Busy Teacher, but should be easy enough to create your own worksheet)

I’m Your Man by Leonard Cohen ( lyrics and song on YouTube )

It Will Rain by Bruno Mars ( lyrics and official video on YouTube )

Moonshadow by Cat Stevens ( lyrics and animated song on the official YouTube page )

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STUDY, COME, RING, BRING, BUY, ARRIVE, BE, TELL, PASS, RAIN, DO (x2), ANSWER, VISIT, FEEL, GO (x3)

1. If I ____________ to London, I ____________ my aunt. 2. If she ____________ hard, she ____________ her exams. 3. If they ____________ early, ____________ you ____________ them to wait? 4. If he ____________ to the party tonight, ____________he ____________ a friend? 5. If I ____________ enough money, I ____________ that coat! 6. She ____________ angry, if you ____________ that! 7. I ____________ to the doctor tomorrow, if I ____________ worse. 8. If you (not) ____________ your homework, I ____________ your father! 9. ____________ you ____________ the phone if it ____________? 10. If it ____________ tomorrow, we (not) ____________ to the beach.

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FREE First Conditional Worksheets

There are a number of first conditional worksheets available on busy teacher - 176 , to be exact. they are all free and easy to print out for you and your students to use. for pre-intermediate students just starting their study of conditionals consider this 1st conditional worksheet . it is very simple and includes both an explanation of the first conditional structure as well as fill-in-the-blank sentences. this is a great practice activity for the first individual assignment after your introduction and group practice because it starts off with basic fill-in-the-blank sentences. after that there is a word order exercise which is the perfect way to challenges students to write their own first conditional sentences. this example may not be the best match for your students so take some time to read about others and download any that you feel might work in your classes. all the worksheets are free so you may as well take a closer look at several of them before making a decision. read more... ...less.

Writing Prompt ~ First Conditional

Writing Prompt: The first conditional is used to talk or write about real possibilities in the future. Review the rules for using first conditionals . Then pretend you are a parent who wants his or her kids to be behave for their grandparents on the weekend. Write a note to your kids. Offer some bribes for good behaviour.

13 comments

Dear Isabel You are a good Girl, i need you to do a favour, soon is Christmas and i don’t have enough money for gift, so… If you’re a good Girl, you’ll get a Big gift. The Christmas Will be happiest if your grandparents are here. I Will be Happy if i’ll have more money for the gift. And if we’re together it’s because you’ll be there with us.

Dear mateo and dary

be beatiful for travel this weekends. It you are good presents a visited my uncle marco a open the door house. you dont eat the vegetables we are not going to the movies with your uncle daddy is doing preparing a dessert . my grandfather is watching TV with my grandmother let’s sleep have our rooms .

love you brother

Queridos Atena y Mathias, Tienen que ser buenos con sus abuelos esta semana. Si se portan bien los llevaremos de viaje por todo Europa les compraremos regalos, les compraremos muchísima ropa, tienen que hacerle casi a sus abuelos en todo lo que les digan acostarse temprano comer toda su comida lavarse los dientes, bañarse y todo lo que siempre hacen en casa, trataremos de regresar lo más pronto posible, ya los extrañamos llamen si nos necesitan. Los amamos mamá y papá

Dear Sara and John I have to work in the police office tomorrow. Your aunt Pilar will take of you. If you behave good,I will Take you to burger King. You must do homework with her. If you do it very well,I will give a surprise.

Be good with your aunt, she loves very much. Kisses Love dad.

Dear Claudia and Álvaro: If you don’t sleep, you will be tired.If you don’t sleep, you will be tired. If you study, you will know the exam. Be good and don’t bother dad. I’ll see today in a week. I love you Bye

Dear Lucy and Andrés. Be good for your grandparents this weekend. If you are good we will go to cinema. Brush your teeth every day and eat good. If you do this, dady and I Will buy you a set. If it’s Sunny tomorrow your grandparents will go to the park with you. But if you don’t clean your bedroom you won’t do nothing of this. Call us if you need something. LOVE, mom and dady

Hi guys, This weekend I will go to granada with your father and you will stay at your grandmother’s house, please be good, if you are not bad, we will buy a souvenir for each one. On Saturday grandpa will take you to the park if it snow, but if it rains you will get at home and making biscuits. Please send me photos! Dont’t forget to pay attention go grandma in everything, if you don’t listen to her, I will pick you up right away! Well, I hope you will have a great time, Kisses Mom💋

Dear pablo and María Be good with your ankles if you be good with your ankles we buy succhard,unlees you do your homewoork you will have present Dont forget brush your teeth everyday,i talk with your ankles And he is said that he see you if you brush your teeth be good Love dad 🙂

Hi my little boys.Daddy and I like to say you that,if you be good with the grandparents we,ll buy you the new PlayStation 5.If you be good dont forget.

Dear Sammy,

Your mom and I are going to the States this week,so you will stay at your aunt Meli’house. Please be a good boy, keep your bed in order and your room clean, and you will go play with your cousins to the park after school. If you finish all your homework during the week, your aunt will take you all to the beach on Saturday. Eat all your food, and she will buy you ice cream…your preferred one!

If you help her around the house, we will bring you a surprise from Marvel Studios (hint: he is not the strongest avenger! Jajaja)

We are coming back on Monday, and will pick you up after school. We love you with all our heart and hope you have a great week! Have lots of fun! Dad and Mom!

Dear meme, I am going to Vancouver for this weekend, I have big meeting about my work so if I do good presentation,Iwill be in great position. Meme u gonna be with your grandparents. If you take care good of them, you will get nice surprise of them. Don’t forget grandma medication if she doesn’t get it in time, she will be in trouble. Grandpa likes walking for one hour every day if you don’t make it , he will feel very sad. Meme u know I love u so much and I trust u too and I love my parents if I don’t help them, I won’t be happy. Life it’s a circle if you are honest, you will get good things.

Dear Chacho: I want to you to be good for your grandmother this weekend. If you are good,I will buy you some surprises. Don’t be a bad boy. If your grandma notifies me something bad, I will punish you. If you mess up the house, you will clean it. If Laika bothers you, grandma will punish her. If you bother Laika, I won’t give you any treat. If you eat all your meat, grandma will buy you a special food for dinner. If you are good this weekend, we will go to the park with all your friends. I love so much, xoxo With love, Gaby

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Fun 1st Conditional Practice

Stimulating ways of practising “If + Present Simple, Will” sentences in the classroom.

There are so many fun things that you can do with the first conditional that there is a danger of spending far too much time on it, so please read through the list below and select a couple rather than working your way through them!

1. Negotiations

The first conditional is often used in sentences like “If I give you a lift to the station, will you lend me your car for the rest of the day?” This can be made more fun by asking them to make up sentences that they are sure their partner will accept or reject (e.g. depending on the cards they have been given). They could also be given a list of things they want from their partner with points for each thing they can get them to agree to, with the person from each pair who gets the most points at the end of the game being named the best negotiator.

2. Election Question Time

Students prepare their election promises in groups and then stand up and present them with sentences like “If you vote for us, we will cut taxes by 50%.” After they finish, the members of the other parties can ask them tricky questions with the first conditional like “What will you do if that doesn’t give you enough money to keep all the hospitals open?” They then finish with a vote in which they are not allowed to vote for their own party.

3. Chain stories

One student says a future plan, e.g. “I’m going to have a barbecue at the weekend.” Someone else in the class predicts a consequence of that, e.g. “If you have a barbecue this weekend, you will be annoyed by wasps or mosquitoes.” Someone else then continues the story with something like “If you are annoyed by wasps or mosquitoes, you’ll start swatting them with a newspaper.” This continues for a fixed number of stages or until they reach an interesting conclusion.

4. Consequence Chains

You can do something similar to Chain Stories above by writing and passing the pieces of paper around. This is more fun if students can only see the previous sentence or clause due to everyone folding over the rest of the paper when they have written their part. The last person can then open the whole paper and tell the class the opening clause and closing clause, usually something amusing and seemingly unrelated like “I’m going to dye my hair” and “You will leave Hollywood in disgrace.”

5. Did You Think Of This Condition?

One group tries to plan for something, including thinking about every eventuality. For example, if they are planning to set up a language school they can plan “If Chinese suddenly takes over from English, we’ll just change the teachers.” After presenting their plans to the class, the other groups try to think of situations you haven’t thought of, e.g. the local language becoming the new international standard and so no one wanting to study foreign languages.

6. First Conditional Sentence Completion

Students complete sentence stems you give them like “If an ex-girlfriend/boyfriend phones me this evening…” and “If my boss is in a bad mood tomorrow…” with what they imagine to be their true reactions. They then choose one sentence and read out just the part they have written, e.g. “I will change my number” or “I will be very surprised” for the phone call example, and the other students try to guess which sentence stem they wrote that thing in.

7. Video conditions

The teacher stops the video at a point where a character has to make a decision, and the students try to predict the consequences of the possible choices with sentences like “If he asks her out, she will tell her boyfriend and he will beat him up” and “If he doesn’t ask her out, he will regret it and never get another opportunity.” The teacher can tell the class what the possible choices are or let them try to work them out from the context. After watching which choice they take and the real consequences, students can discuss the likelihood of the consequences they predicted for the other choice (perhaps with third conditional if they know that).

Conditional Activities – Easy Ways to Illustrate ESL Conditionals

Conditional games and activites for practising first, second and third conditional forms in a TEFL classroom.

Online Activities for Conditional Sentences

You can find online conditional exercises and activities at our online-focused site LearnHip.com .

First Conditional Activities

Superstitions.

This matching exercise challenges students to identify some common superstitions from around the world. It is useful for introducing the first conditional. After they have completed the activity, ask them to come up with any other superstitions they are aware of.

Murphy’s Law

This is a simple activity for quickly reviewing the first conditional. Give each student a copy of this worksheet . After going through the first couple of examples as a class, have students alone or in pairs come up with ideas for the other situations.

Second Conditional Activities

What would you wear.

This kind of question is good for introducing and practising the form in a very natural manner. Students ask each other questions along the lines of what would you wear if you were going to a wedding?, What would you wear if you worked in an office? etc.

Conversation Questions

A set of conversation questions for practising the second conditional.

Class survey

This is a survey aimed at younger learners. Students must piece together their question and then collect their classmate’s answers. The results can be shared and discussed at the end of the activity.

Complete the sentence

Give each student a copy of the worksheet and ask students to complete some or all of the sentences. Make sure they put their name on the paper. Now, collect the papers and either redistribute them or if the handwriting is not so clear then read out the answers yourself. Students have to guess from the completed sentences whose answers are being read.

Third and Mixed Conditionals

Regrets photoset.

Use this photo slideshow for practising the third conditional in the form I wish I hadn’t …

For each slide try to elicit the feeling of the photographic subject. For example, I wish I hadn’t eaten so much, I wish I had read the instructions .

Split Universe

This is another simple activity to demonstrate the third conditional form.

Tell the students that you are going to roll a dice and if the result is an even number then you will give everyone a sweet (for example).

Roll the dice and if the number is even, then give out the sweets. If it’s odd then shrug your shoulders and take a sweet for yourself.

Elicit from the students what the situation would be if the other result had occurred. For example , if you had rolled a three, we would all have sweets .

Maybe you can develop this activity into other interesting areas, let me know in the comments if you have any ideas.

Alternative Timeline

Draw a line on the board intersected with three or four nodes. Label each node with the life event that took place there.

For each event explain what happened and write a sentence on the board of what might have happened in an alternate timeline if things had gone differently.

For example:

If I hadn’t passed my A levels, I wouldn’t have gone to university in Manchester .

If I hadn’t applied for that job, I would probably still be working in a bank .

If I hadn’t gone to that party, I wouldn’t have met my partner.

Ask students to draw their own timelines and then in small groups ask about each other’s timelines and possible branching events.

5 thoughts on “ Conditional Activities – Easy Ways to Illustrate ESL Conditionals ”

This website is really great. Please keep adding activities to it. Thank you.

These are great ideas, thank you

All these games are so good! I am lucky to find your website

Great and different games! Thanks for sharing these wonderful ideas.

I love the idea of the superstitions game. However, I’d really like to expand on it, and have a list of cultures/places that they come from, along with an answer sheet, and the students can guess where each is from. Do you know where each superstition comes from?

Many thanks, Claudia

Blog de Cristina

Digital tools and ideas to transform education, some nice no-prep activities to practise first conditional.

When we get back from a relaxing holiday (Easter in this case) it is difficult to just drop everything and go back to routine, back to work, back to studying English without feeling a bit down.

Now, I shouldn’t say this but I’m going to say it anyway. I don’t care if you feel down at work, but not in my classes. Listen, dear students, the course is almost finished and I want you in high spirits and highly motivated!!!

You might think learning, let alone studying Conditional sentences is boring. Nothing further from the truth. Trust me! It can be fun, too! Let’s try these activities to get your first conditionals rolling!!

The best about these activities is that they require no preparation, something very much appreciated when we, teachers, are already busy writing exams.

THREE NO-PREP NICE ACTIVITIES

1.SITUATIONS

They’ll need to convince you to lend them your car. You’ll lend the car to only one student, provided he offers something good in return. Be prepared for a big round of promises, of which you’ll need to choose the one you like best.

“Mommy :), if you lend me your car, I’ll do the washing up for two months”.

“Mommy, if you lend me your car, I’ll wash your car every week for a year.”

♥ Situation 2. Tell students they are all 12 ( this time they are roaring with laughter- remember I teach adults) and that you, as their teacher, are really disappointed with their behaviour in class. Tell students you have no other option but to inform their parents. On the other hand, students do not want their parents to get upset, especially because there is a great party this weekend and they don’t want to be grounded. They need to convince you not to phone their parents.

“Teacher, if you do not tell my parents, I will do my homework every day”

“Teacher, if you do not phone my father, I’ll sit still during the rest of the term”

2. MURPHY’S LAW.

Ask students if they have ever heard about Murphy’s Law. Explain that Murphy’s Law states that if something bad can happen, it’ll happen. Elicit an example of Murphy’s Law .

Divide the class into two groups and ask the group to write five sentences using the first conditional in the humorous context of Murphy’s Laws. Allow 5 minutes for this step.

Groups take it in turns to read the beginning of their sentences Ex “If I don’t take an umbrella, ….”. The other group has to guess the words to complete the sentence (they have two opportunities). If they do, they score one point.

You, as a teacher, can also take part in the game reading your own sentences and asking both groups to try to guess the ending and so getting more points for their team .

3. ELECTION TIME

Divide the students in groups of three or four students and ask them to write their election promises using the First Conditional in sentences such as

If I am president, I will

If you vote for my party , we will…

A spokesperson for each of the groups is asked to stand up and read their promises to the rest of the groups. The audience is encouraged to ask questions to the candidates or challenge them by asking questions such as …. Yes , but what will happen if ….?

When all the promises are heard, they will need to vote for a candidate which will be different from their own.

Learn English and Have Fun!

11 thoughts on “ Some Nice No-Prep Activities to Practise First Conditional ”

Thanks sooo much. These are the best, fun activities I’ve come across after spending a long time searching on the Net.

Thanks Tania! I am very pleased! 🙂

Love, love, love those!!! MILLION THANKS.

Thanks for sharing!!!! great ideas 🙂

I am glad you find them useful!

I’ll use them. Thanks

Thanks Nash! I am glad you liked them! Teaching /learning English can be a lot of fun!

I really love these ideas. If I come back to teach english, this by sure will be a sucsess technique. Thanks!

It’s a good idea.I’m writing some examples:

If I work hard, I’ll pass my exams. If I pass my exams, you’ll be happy . If You are happy ,you’ll buy me a motorcycle.

Murphy’s law

If my toast falls to the floor… If I build a circus… If I lose my lottery ticket…

homework ideas for first conditional

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