Infographic lesson plan: Modals, futures & probability

On Sunday night as I was browsing for topics for this week's lessons with my professional adult ESL students here in France, I found the following infographic on the BBC website.


Original can be found here

I absolutely love infographics. I love them even more when they present a topic that I can cover in English class. There are so many possibilities for using the one I've posted here but I'll share my lesson plan with you which reviews modals & futures for talking about probability, likelihood and chance.

I did a 30-second review of modal verbs and the near future/distant future with my groups because these are topics we previously covered. Then I handed out the infographic and a "cheat sheet" introducing some expressions that I wanted them to try to use during the lesson including degree of probability and chance when giving their opinion.

After a few seconds, my adults started laughing a little bit to themselves. After everybody had showed some sign of comprehension, I started asking questions.

"What do you find funnny?"
"What do you find scary?"
"Does anything seem possible/impossible?"
"Do you agree/disagree with ...?"

And then the discussion started.

My advantage here that others might not have is that my students are western, and we work at a web agency. These topics are right up their alleys -- a bit sci-fi, a bit nerdy, some inspiring a dream or provoking an emotional reaction -- it was very easy to get them talking about these subjects. If your students work in a different field, you might try a generic Google search for infographics and try to see if something could fit their interests and needs. This one is just a perfect mix of grammar revision, discussion, and new vocabulary -- I was so pleased to find it!

Here's the "cheat sheet" I handed out to help facilitate the conversation:

Expressions for talking about likelihood and probability:

In general:

It could happen/ It might happen

If it happens, then…

It’s possible that…

There’s a chance…

Most likely (use of adverbs):

It’s extremely likely that…

It’s very possible that…

Least likely (use of adverbs):

It is highly unlikely that…

It’s nearly impossible that…

It will never happen

It could never happen

It should never happen

Future tenses:

1.        The near future : Planned & programmed (Present continuous or “going to”)

a.       I’m going to dance class tomorrow night.

b.      I’m pitching a proposal to a client on Thursday afternoon.

2.       The distant future: Uncertain, unplanned (Will)

a.       Maybe I will go to Spain on vacation this summer, or maybe I won’t.

3.       A snap decision: no time to think (will)

a.       The phone is ringing! Can you help me? – I’ll get it.

b.      I’m going to drop these boxes. Can you give me a hand? – I’ll help you.

Around the World -- Grammar game

Yesterday I posted the rules to my game called "Circle of Death" which is a variation on a drinking game, adapted to a classroom, for a more advanced/confident English speaker. Today I'll post the rules to a modified version that I created to accompany a group of pre-intermediate and intermediate adult ESL learners here in France.

I call this version "Around the World" and it requires the exact same set up as "Circle of Death".
As always, it's a good idea to have plenty of print outs of the rules for the participants and a full deck of cards with jokers.

Around the World Grammar Game

Rules:

Sit in a circle, each player draws a card and completes the corresponding action one at a time.

Evens – Questions on the right

Odds – Questions on the left

Correct answer = +5 points

Incorrect answer = - 5 points

2's : Ask a question to the person on your right using a “do”

3's : Ask a question to the person on your left using “to be” .

4's : Ask a question to the person on your right using “did”.

5's : Ask a question to the person on your left using “was” or “were”.

6's : Ask a question to the person on your right using the future tense.

7's : Ask a question to the person on your left using “if”.

8's : Ask a question of your choice to the person of your choice.

(Now for some fun..)

9's : You are the rule master. You can make any rule for the table to follow. You get 10 points.

10's : Stand up and mime an animal. The first person to guess correctly gets 10 points.

Jacks : “Categories” – Choose a category and each player must say a word in the category. The first player who can't think of a word in the category loses 10 points.

Queens: “7's” : Going in a circle, each player must count by 7 (7..14..21..etc) and the first player to make a mistake loses 10 points.

Kings: “Truth?” Ask the player of your choice a truthful question. (+5 for asking correctly and +5 for answering correctly) 

Aces: The teacher makes a rule for all of the players to follow. (points vary depending on the rule)

Joker: You can choose to add ten points to your score or to subtract ten points from the player of your choice. 

Circle Of Death Grammar Game

A year ago I was brainstorming ideas that I could use with my professional students in our talk sessions. Sometimes it's not easy to get people talking, especially when it's the middle of the day and they are thinking about whatever needs to get done in the afternoon. I like to use as many games as possible as discussion topics are often monotonous and tiresome.

I took the idea for this exercise directly from a drinking game, I admit. I created two versions: the upper-intermediate/advanced version, and the pre-intermediate/intermediate version. The version I'm sharing in this post is my upper-intermediate/advanced version.

To play this game, you need a group (4+) and a traditional deck of 52 cards, jokers included.
The deck is passed from player to player and one at a time, they draw a card. Depending on what they draw, they must complete a task (see list below). They earn and lose points depending on how correct their answers are, and the game can be played indefinitely, as long as you can renew the deck and keep them talking. I use this game during a one-hour long talk session.

There are two types of tasks: grammar-related and amusing tasks. That keeps it light and fun. And as always, students of all ages love competition -- they will really enjoy giving and taking points from each other.

I recommend having enough print-outs of this game for every other student so that they can consult the list when they draw their card.

Without further ado, here are the rules for the Circle of Death Grammar Game for adult learners of ESL, upper-intermediate/advanced level:

Circle of Death Grammar Game

Rules:

Sit in a circle, each player draws a card and completes the corresponding action.

Evens – Questions on the right

Odds – Questions on the left

Correct answer = +5 points

Incorrect answer = - 5 points

2's : Ask a question to the person on your right using a superlative.

3's : Ask a question to the person on your left using “ever” .

4's : Ask a question to the person on your right using a regular past tense verb of your choice.

5's : Ask a question to the person on your left using an irregular past tense verb of your choice.

6's : Ask a question to the person on your right using the future tense.

7's : Ask a question to the person on your left using “would”.

8's : Ask a question of your choice to the person of your choice.

(Now for some fun..)

9's : You become the rule master. You can make any rule for the table to follow. Failure to follow the rule results in the loss of 10 points. 

10's : Stand up and mime an animal. The first person to guess correctly gets 10 points.

Jacks : “Categories” – Choose a category and each player must say a word in the category. The first player who can't think of a word in the category loses 10 points.

Queens: “7's” : Going in a circle, each player must count by 7 (7..14..21..etc) and the first player to make a mistake loses 10 points.

Kings: “Truth?” Ask the player of your choice a truthful question. +5 for asking and +5 for answering.

Aces: The teacher makes a rule for all of the players to follow. Failure to follow the rule results in the loss of 10 points. 

Joker: You can choose to add ten points to your score or to subtract ten points from the player of your choice. 

Upper-intermediate/Advanced Talk Session

At my "real" job in the web world, I host Talk Sessions twice a week during lunch. The Tuesday group is my upper-intermediate/advanced level, and my Thursday group is my pre-intermediate/intermediate group. Both groups do similar exercises but at their own level which I think is particularly cool from a teacher's perspective because it cuts down on planning time. This is something that I always strive to do -- find one central topic that can be expanded or reduced depending on the level. It was the same strategy I used when teaching little kids and it adapted very nicely to adults.

A few weeks ago, I came across some silly riddles on the internet, sort of "Whodunnit?" kind of scenarios. The answers were always the most ridiculous yet obvious scenario imaginable, but before they found the answers/were given the answers, they spent a lot of time talking it out using language for putting forth an idea,  making a suggestion, agreeing and disagreeing, and dispelling each other's ideas based on the facts. I found it to be a constructive lesson because we were able to use a wide range of vocabulary and expressions and in the end everybody was laughing. As I've said before, laughter is a key element and because these are "talk" sessions, they are meant to be fun.

I found them online.. not sure who to credit because variations of them exist everywhere. I'll just make it clear that I didn't invent any of these scenarios, but I did very much enjoy using them.

Without further ado...

1. A man in a lift

A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator to go down to the

ground floor to go to work or to go shopping. When he returns he takes the elevator to the

seventh floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He hates walking

so why does he do it?

02. A man walks into a bar

A man walks into a bar and asks the barman for a glass of water. The barman pulls out a gun and

points it at the man. The man says thank you and leaves. Why?

03. Dead man in a field

A man is lying dead in a field. Next to him there is an unopened package. There aren’t any

animals in the field. How did he die?

04. Anthony and Cleopatra

Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a villa in Egypt. Nearby is a broken

bowl. There is no mark on either of their bodies and they were not poisoned. How did they

die?

05. A carrot, some coal and a scarf

Five pieces of coal, a carrot and a scarf are lying on the lawn. Nobody put them on the

lawn but there is a perfectly logical reason why they are there. What is it?

06. Two sons

A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same

year. But they were not twins. How could this be possible?

07. A woman pushing a car

A woman was pushing her car. She stopped pushing when she reached a hotel and then

realized she was bankrupt. Why?

08. Heaven

A man died and went to Heaven. He saw thousands of people there all naked and young. He saw

a couple and he immediately recognized them as Adam and Eve. How did he know?

09. Friday

A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Friday. Explain.

10. Manhole covers

Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?

11. Sudden realization

A man was walking downstairs in a building when the lights went out. Suddenly he realised that

his wife had just died. How?

12. The blind beggar

A blind beggar had a brother who died. What relation was the blind beggar to the brother who

died? (Brother is not the answer).

13. Another dead body

The dead  body of a man was found in the middle of a burnt forest. He was wearing only

swimming trunks, a snorkel and diving mask. What had happened?

14. Mystery suicide

One stormy night, a person switches on the TV and watches the news. The person leaves the

room in a rush, runs up the stairs and turns on the light. Then the person commits suicide. Why?