Séquence - What if - Méthodologie

What if?
Predictions, Imagination & Regrets
METHODOLOGY
English 6LM1 4h/week
Fanny Geuzaine

2
About the sequence
Group: 6LM1 4h/week (22 students) – Lycée Martin V
Lexical themes: predictions, hopes, regrets
Main grammatical focus: conditionals (0, 1, 2, 3, mixed)
Length: 6 periods (sequence) + 1 period (final task)
Objectives: at the end of the sequence, you will be able to:
- understand the communicative intention beyond the use of
conditional forms in speech and texts
- use the appropriate conditional form when talking about predictions,
hopes and/or regrets
Sources:
- Videos “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZj1Yeb-tVg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dhAnobJjSA
- Video songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKeGLlIVCl4
- Ex. Conditionals:
https://www.englishpage.com/conditional/conditional3.htm
https://www.englishpage.com/conditional/conditional6.htm
https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences/
https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/if.htm
- Games and activities:
https://www.teach-this.com/grammar-activities-worksheets/
https://tefltastic.wordpress.com/worksheets/grammar/conditionals/
- Articles and texts:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/whats-behind-these-common-
superstitions-174203195.html
- Superstitions infographics:
https://www.winkslots.com/superstitions-from-around-the-world/

A. Overview of the sequence
n°
General
unfolding
Skills
Focus
/aim
Activity
Material
Time
I. PREDICTIONS (conditionals 0 & 1)
H1
&
H2
Diary:
- Code: The 0, 1st & 2nd conditionals
- CL/EO: superstitions in the USA/around the world
- CA: music and the 2nd conditional
- EE: What if…?
/
/
/
/
/
1
Introducing
myself
+
Warm
-
up
activity
- Question: If you have a lot of time in the evening, what do you do (usually)? And if
you have a lot of time THIS evening? [!!! Don’t say “what WILL you do”]
- [Elicit the “IF” structure. Some students will probably express themselves
spontaneously with the 0 conditional, others with the 1st]  Write them in both forms
as often as possible  Complete the brainstorming tree.
- Objective: make the students produce sentences in the 0 and 1st conditionals (they
have most certainly encountered them before).
- If the students get stuck: ask them to tell me sentences beginning by “IF”.
- From this brainstorming, deduce the structure and usage of the 0 and 1st conditionals
[very roughly: habits/likelihood].
EO
Warm
-
up
Eliciting 0 and 1st
conditional
structures
Whole
group
Blackboard
1
0
’
2
Grammar
point:
the
0
and
1
st
conditional
-. Now we go into detail. When do you use each type? First in pairs, then we read the
examples together and try to deduce de conditions. All of this should go really quickly:
the 0 and 1st conditionals are not particularly difficult and most of the students will
already master them.
- Before turning to the exercises: write an example of each conditional in the corner of
the blackboard, underline the verbs and do that for each lesson (visual benchmark)
Gram.
The
0
and
1
st
conditional:
formation and
usage
In
pairs
Whole group
Blackboard
10’

n°
General
unfolding
Skills
Focus
/aim
Activity
Material
Time
3
America’s
Top
Superstitions
- Scanning exercise: in less than 2 minutes, go through the article and try to understand
the key ideas.
- Oral questions:
* Is superstition a frequent phenomenon in the US? (yes, about 50%)
* Why are people superstitious? (Because it give them a sense of control in the face of
uncertainty)
* Why do people STAY superstitious? (because if it only happens once, it is enough to
confirm the superstition. + it becomes cultural)
* Without looking, try to remember as many superstitions from the top 10 as possible.
- Are you superstitious? Do you know people who are? What superstitions do you
know?
CL
Scanning
an
article
Discovering a few
American
superstitions
Individual
Whole group
Blackboard
10’
4
Superstitions
around
the
world
a. In pairs, match the “IF clause” and the “MAIN clause” of these superstitions together,
and try to guess the appropriate missing word.
- Collective correction
b. With the whole group, we read and try to reformulate the superstitions of some
countries by using only the 1st conditional. (It not finished: homework)
Ex.
Getting
used
to
the
structure of the 1st
conditional
Discovering
superstitions (final
task)
Rewriting
superstitions using
the 1st conditional
In
pairs
Whole group
Whole group
Blackboard
10’
(Break)
5’
II. IMAGINATION (conditional 2)
5
Mix
tape
(6’48)
- NB: the video is long, but since it is music time goes by very quickly.
- 1st listening: simply listen to the extracts and try to find what they have in common.
- 2nd listening: fill in the gaps. !! There can be one or more words missing for each gap.
 Collective correction
CA
Discovering
t
he
2
nd
conditional in
context
Individual
Whole group
Video
mix
tape
Laptop
Speakers
Screen
20’

n°
General
unfolding
Skills
Focus
/aim
Activity
Material
Time
!!!
We
do
this
as
if
it
were
“just”
a
fill
in
the
gaps
exercise,
we
don’t
talk
about
the
2
nd
conditional nor the structure yet.
6
Grammar
point:
the
2
nd
conditional
- We examine the lyrics and we deduce the structure of the 2nd conditional from there.
We try to see in which contexts we can use it. We write down some examples from the
songs.
!!! Insist on the comparison between the 0, 1st and 2nd conditional in terms of
LIKELIHOOD (0 always, 1st high probability, 2nd possible but not happening)
- Add an example of the 2nd conditional in the corner of the blackboard.
Gram.
Deducing
rules
and
usage from context
(2nd cond.)
Whole
group
Blackboard
10’
7
Back
to
the
mix
tape!
- We discuss parts of the extracts that are interesting (use of other modals, was/were in
the usage,…)
Gram.
Deducing
rules
and
oddities from
context (2nd cond.)
Whole
group
Blackboard
5’
8
What
would
you
do
if…
- Short EE. The students select a them and write about it using the 2nd conditional. I
take the EE back to correct them at home and give them back at the end of the next
lesson.
EE
Expressing
hopes
with the 2nd
conditional
Training for the
final task (EE)
Individual
/
15’
9
Homework:
- Ex: “The 1st and 2nd conditionals: training exercises”
- (Ex. Superstitions around the world if not finished)
/
/
/
/
/
H3
Diary:
- Ex. conditionals 0, 1 & 2
- EO: do we all think the same?
/
/
/
/
/
/
Correction
of
the
homework
NB: be careful to insist particularly on the structures/form/… that were a recurring
problem in the EE (I will give them back at the end of the lesson so that the students
are not distracted now).
Ex.
Making
sure
that
the students
master the 1st & 2nd
conditionals
Whole
group
Blackboard
10’