Level: strong elementary to advanced.

Scope: teens to adults.

Type: board game.
Skills: speaking and listening (student conversations).
Language focus: going to and will future forms; and and all future forms revision.

Materials: if you use the board as a board game, you will need copies of the board
game, one per group of 4 or 5 students; a coin or die per group of 4 or 5 students (coins
are generally work better here, as the activity will last longer); counters or bits of coloured
paper, one per student.
Otherwise you will need just one copy of the board game (for yourself, or to cut up) and
some blu-tack if youre going to stick the sentence stems around your classroom walls.
Preparation: depending on which activity you use (see below), you may need to prepare
5 sentences about you before class, or cut up the board and paste the different sentence
stems around your classroom.
Note: this game usually works best as a free practice activity, either after your
students have been introduced to uses of going to and will when talking
about the future and perhaps had some controlled practice of these forms, or as
a more general future forms revision activity.
Procedures:
There are many ways you could use this board game here are four ideas:
1. As a dictation activity

Before the lesson, choose five sentence stems from the board and use them to write
five sentences about you, either all true or a mixture of true and false.

In class, dictate the sentences a couple of times at normal speed and ask your
students to write them down (or draw the symbols for play, stop and rewind on
the board, elicit their names from your class, explain that you are going to be like an
MP3 player and let your class control the dictation time by calling out play, stop,
etc as you speak. If you do this, make sure your class realises the importance of
saying stop and rewind, because otherwise you wont stop speaking and they
wont have time to write your sentences!).

In pairs, students check your sentences. Elicit what they have and ask your students
if theyd like you to board them.

Elicit the sentences are about you. Ask your students to decide if they are true or
false, and why they think that tell them to have a guess if theyre not sure!

Go through the sentences, nominating different students to tell you if they think its
true or not, and why. As you go along, tell them if theyre right or wrong. Elicit some
further questions from your class if theyre quite confident working together and
answer these; otherwise, ask your class to think of some more questions theyd like to
ask you about each sentence and to note these down. After youve been through the
sentences, ask your students to work in pairs, combining questions and thinking of
some more to ask you; then answer them for the whole class, eliciting further
questions if the students are interested.

Elicit the form of the sentence stems (theyre all time adverbials, talking about
the future) and elicit more examples. Focus on the going to and will forms youve
used (and any other constructions youve used to talk about the future) and elicit why
they are used.

Ask your students to write five or six sentences of their own about their futures. Ask
them to use the future forms youve focussed on at least one time each, as well as a
different time adverbial in each sentence. Explain that their sentences can either be
all true, or a mixture of true and false sentences.

Put your students in pairs if they are not very comfortable working in larger groups
or, if there is a strong class bond, put them in groups of four or five. Ask them in turn
to read out their sentences. After each sentence has been read out, listeners can say
if they think the sentence is true or false, and find out the answer. Listeners should
also ask questions to get more information from the speaker. You can monitor and
note down some good sentences you hear, as well as errors, for subsequent work or
feedback.

Acknowledgement: this idea comes from Scott Thornburys excellent

book, Grammar (Oxford Resource Books for Teachers). The play, stop, rewind
idea comes from Humanising Your Coursebook, by Mario Rinvolucri.
2. To focus on future question forms

As above, before class, choose 5 sentence stems from the board game and use
them to write sentences which are true about you.

In class, dictate these sentences and ask your students to write them down.

Ask your students to check their sentences in pairs, then elicit these from different
students and board them. Go through any grammar or vocabulary (or listening) errors
as a class and make any corrections to the boarded sentences.

Explain that these sentences are about your future hopes, dreams and plans. If time,
ask your students in pairs to think of any questions they want to ask you about your
sentences. Set a time limit for this (e.g., 4 minutes), then answer (some of) your
students questions.

Tell your students that these are your answers to questions but what were the
questions? If your class seem comfortable speaking out in front of everybody, elicit
possible questions for the five sentences from them all collectively, or nominate
different students to have a go. Otherwise, ask your students to think of and write
down the questions in pairs. Board the questions and elicit corrections for any
grammar or vocabulary errors they contain.

Put your students into small groups and ask them to work together to write down
more questions about the future they can ask each other and you. Set a time limit for
this (I suggest no more than 10 minutes, nor less than 5). Explain that they can use
the boarded questions to help them. Monitor to make sure your students are engaged
with this task, but dont correct any mistakes they make yet.

Rub out all work on your board, then divide it into vertical columns, one per group of
students.

Nominate one student per group to come to the board, without their written
questions. Assign each student a column to write in and elicit that their writing should
be both legible and large enough for everyone to read. Elicit from the other students
that they should tell the student from their group at the board what questions to write.
Agree a time limit with your class in which to write their questions perhaps 3 or 4
minutes.

After the boarding stage, ask the writing students to return to their seats. I normally
ask the listening students to give the writers a clap for their efforts, as it helps bond

the class together and makes the writers feel better about having to do more work
than the others!

Ask each group to look at another groups written questions. Give them some time
(perhaps 3 or 4 minutes) to read these and discuss together any grammar or
vocabulary mistakes they see.

Elicit corrections from the different groups and add any of your own.

From the class, recall your original sentences, which you dictated to your students.
Tell your students that you will now ask them to work in pairs (or small groups if you
prefer) to ask each other the boarded questions. Elicit that they can ask each other
questions from any groups work on the board, and that they can ask any other
questions they like to get more information. Elicit they will be practising talking about
the future in informal conversations. Agree a time limit for this activity perhaps 10 or
15 minutes.

Put your students in new pairs, or new groups of 3, 4 or 5. Start the activity and
unobtrusively monitor your students output for subsequent language work
(remembering to note down some good language or useful expressions you hear as
well).
Acknowledgement: this idea was inspired by one from my friend and a
fantastic teacher, Jackie Jays.

3. As a board game

After a controlled practice activity on the future forms to be revised, put your students
into groups of 3, 4 or 5 and hand out the board game.

Hold up the coin or the die (I recommend using the coin if youve time, as the activity
will last longer and your students will therefore get more free practice of the target
language). If its a coin, elicit the names of the two sides (heads and tails) and the
verb to toss (a coin). Elicit the rules of the game: Ss take turns to toss the coin (or
roll the die); heads = go forward two spaces, tails = go forward one space; they
complete the sentence stem to make a true sentence about themselves (elicit they
should just speak and not write the sentence); other students should ask questions to
help the speaker talk for one minute about his sentence. If the speaker can talk for a
minute, his or her counter can stay where it is otherwise, it has to move back to
where it was before. Nominate one student to time the speaker.

Demonstrate this activity with your class, then let them get on with it. Monitor your
students language for subsequent feedback.

4. As a simple group discussion activity

Before class, cut up a copy of the board game and stick the sentence stems around
your classroom.

In class and probably after some controlled practice using, e.g., going to and will
to talk about the future, put your students into new groups of 3 or 4.

Point out the sentence stems around the classroom. Explain that there are 17 of
these and elicit that youd like your students to walk around the room together, finding
the sentence stems and making sentences which are true about them. Demonstrate
this idea for your class. Elicit questions from them and answer these questions. Elicit
that all students should speak and ask questions to find out more information. If you
have younger teenage learners, you could turn the finding of sentence stems into a
game in itself.

As your students are speaking, monitor their language for subsequent whole-class
feedback.

FUN SPEAKING ACTIVITES FUTURE TENSES

Level: strong elementary to advanced.

Scope: teens to adults.
Type: board game.
Skills: speaking and listening (student conversations).
Language focus: going to and will future forms; and and all future forms revision.

Materials: if you use the board as a board game, you will need copies of the board
game, one per group of 4 or 5 students; a coin or die per group of 4 or 5 students (coins
are generally work better here, as the activity will last longer); counters or bits of coloured
paper, one per student.
Otherwise you will need just one copy of the board game (for yourself, or to cut up) and
some blu-tack if youre going to stick the sentence stems around your classroom walls.
Preparation: depending on which activity you use (see below), you may need to prepare
5 sentences about you before class, or cut up the board and paste the different sentence
stems around your classroom.
Note: this game usually works best as a free practice activity, either after your
students have been introduced to uses of going to and will when talking
about the future and perhaps had some controlled practice of these forms, or as
a more general future forms revision activity.
Procedures:
There are many ways you could use this board game here are four ideas:
1. As a dictation activity

Before the lesson, choose five sentence stems from the board and use them to write
five sentences about you, either all true or a mixture of true and false.

In class, dictate the sentences a couple of times at normal speed and ask your
students to write them down (or draw the symbols for play, stop and rewind on
the board, elicit their names from your class, explain that you are going to be like an

MP3 player and let your class control the dictation time by calling out play, stop,
etc as you speak. If you do this, make sure your class realises the importance of
saying stop and rewind, because otherwise you wont stop speaking and they
wont have time to write your sentences!).

In pairs, students check your sentences. Elicit what they have and ask your students
if theyd like you to board them.

Elicit the sentences are about you. Ask your students to decide if they are true or
false, and why they think that tell them to have a guess if theyre not sure!

Go through the sentences, nominating different students to tell you if they think its
true or not, and why. As you go along, tell them if theyre right or wrong. Elicit some
further questions from your class if theyre quite confident working together and
answer these; otherwise, ask your class to think of some more questions theyd like to
ask you about each sentence and to note these down. After youve been through the
sentences, ask your students to work in pairs, combining questions and thinking of
some more to ask you; then answer them for the whole class, eliciting further
questions if the students are interested.

Elicit the form of the sentence stems (theyre all time adverbials, talking about
the future) and elicit more examples. Focus on the going to and will forms youve
used (and any other constructions youve used to talk about the future) and elicit why
they are used.

Ask your students to write five or six sentences of their own about their futures. Ask
them to use the future forms youve focussed on at least one time each, as well as a
different time adverbial in each sentence. Explain that their sentences can either be
all true, or a mixture of true and false sentences.

Put your students in pairs if they are not very comfortable working in larger groups
or, if there is a strong class bond, put them in groups of four or five. Ask them in turn
to read out their sentences. After each sentence has been read out, listeners can say
if they think the sentence is true or false, and find out the answer. Listeners should
also ask questions to get more information from the speaker. You can monitor and
note down some good sentences you hear, as well as errors, for subsequent work or
feedback.
Acknowledgement: this idea comes from Scott Thornburys excellent
book, Grammar (Oxford Resource Books for Teachers). The play, stop, rewind
idea comes from Humanising Your Coursebook, by Mario Rinvolucri.

2. To focus on future question forms

As above, before class, choose 5 sentence stems from the board game and use
them to write sentences which are true about you.

In class, dictate these sentences and ask your students to write them down.

Ask your students to check their sentences in pairs, then elicit these from different
students and board them. Go through any grammar or vocabulary (or listening) errors
as a class and make any corrections to the boarded sentences.

Explain that these sentences are about your future hopes, dreams and plans. If time,
ask your students in pairs to think of any questions they want to ask you about your
sentences. Set a time limit for this (e.g., 4 minutes), then answer (some of) your
students questions.

Tell your students that these are your answers to questions but what were the
questions? If your class seem comfortable speaking out in front of everybody, elicit
possible questions for the five sentences from them all collectively, or nominate
different students to have a go. Otherwise, ask your students to think of and write
down the questions in pairs. Board the questions and elicit corrections for any
grammar or vocabulary errors they contain.

Put your students into small groups and ask them to work together to write down
more questions about the future they can ask each other and you. Set a time limit for
this (I suggest no more than 10 minutes, nor less than 5). Explain that they can use
the boarded questions to help them. Monitor to make sure your students are engaged
with this task, but dont correct any mistakes they make yet.

Rub out all work on your board, then divide it into vertical columns, one per group of
students.

Nominate one student per group to come to the board, without their written
questions. Assign each student a column to write in and elicit that their writing should
be both legible and large enough for everyone to read. Elicit from the other students
that they should tell the student from their group at the board what questions to write.
Agree a time limit with your class in which to write their questions perhaps 3 or 4
minutes.

After the boarding stage, ask the writing students to return to their seats. I normally
ask the listening students to give the writers a clap for their efforts, as it helps bond
the class together and makes the writers feel better about having to do more work
than the others!

Ask each group to look at another groups written questions. Give them some time
(perhaps 3 or 4 minutes) to read these and discuss together any grammar or
vocabulary mistakes they see.

Elicit corrections from the different groups and add any of your own.

From the class, recall your original sentences, which you dictated to your students.
Tell your students that you will now ask them to work in pairs (or small groups if you
prefer) to ask each other the boarded questions. Elicit that they can ask each other
questions from any groups work on the board, and that they can ask any other
questions they like to get more information. Elicit they will be practising talking about
the future in informal conversations. Agree a time limit for this activity perhaps 10 or
15 minutes.

Put your students in new pairs, or new groups of 3, 4 or 5. Start the activity and
unobtrusively monitor your students output for subsequent language work
(remembering to note down some good language or useful expressions you hear as
well).
Acknowledgement: this idea was inspired by one from my friend and a
fantastic teacher, Jackie Jays.

3. As a board game

After a controlled practice activity on the future forms to be revised, put your students
into groups of 3, 4 or 5 and hand out the board game.

Hold up the coin or the die (I recommend using the coin if youve time, as the activity
will last longer and your students will therefore get more free practice of the target
language). If its a coin, elicit the names of the two sides (heads and tails) and the
verb to toss (a coin). Elicit the rules of the game: Ss take turns to toss the coin (or
roll the die); heads = go forward two spaces, tails = go forward one space; they
complete the sentence stem to make a true sentence about themselves (elicit they
should just speak and not write the sentence); other students should ask questions to
help the speaker talk for one minute about his sentence. If the speaker can talk for a
minute, his or her counter can stay where it is otherwise, it has to move back to
where it was before. Nominate one student to time the speaker.

Demonstrate this activity with your class, then let them get on with it. Monitor your
students language for subsequent feedback.

4. As a simple group discussion activity

Before class, cut up a copy of the board game and stick the sentence stems around
your classroom.

In class and probably after some controlled practice using, e.g., going to and will
to talk about the future, put your students into new groups of 3 or 4.

Point out the sentence stems around the classroom. Explain that there are 17 of
these and elicit that youd like your students to walk around the room together, finding

the sentence stems and making sentences which are true about them. Demonstrate
this idea for your class. Elicit questions from them and answer these questions. Elicit
that all students should speak and ask questions to find out more information. If you
have younger teenage learners, you could turn the finding of sentence stems into a
game in itself.

As your students are speaking, monitor their language for subsequent whole-class
feedback.