Fun tasks and the 1st conditional

A bit about conditionals

In student grammar books, conditionals are usually divided into zero, first, second,
third and mixed conditionals. This post is part of a series of posts related to
conditionals. Today, I am going to write about fun activities you can use with your
learners when teaching what is known as the 1st conditional.

1st conditional
As I said earlier, I am focusing on the form of the conditional that is referred to as the
first conditional in most intermediate/ upper intermediate grammar books. Here is the
form:
If clause
,
main
clause
If + s. present/present continuous (or present perfect) , imperative/ modals/ s.
future.

OR
Main clause
Imperative/modals/s. future
present perfect).

if clause
+ if + simple present/present continuous (or

E.g. If you use these ideas, your students will have fun.
* Unless + simple present (affirmative form) can also be used (in the if clause
instead of if + not).
In my opinion, the conditional is a stricture that allows the teacher to use different
activities which can guarantee a fun grammar lesson for the students. Below are some
ideas for tasks you can use with your learners.

Fun 1st conditional task ideas

Things to see in London + using a London Tube map:

Tell your students that they are in London. Get your learners to make a plan of where
they will go, give them the London tube map and a brochure of the 'must see' tourist
attractions in London. Your students must make different plans and talk about which
1

lines they should use and what time they should leave. They should use the first
conditional in order to make the different plans.
E.g. If we leave X at 8, we will arrive at 10 at Y.
If we take the red line, we need to get off at Y. If we get off
at Y, we will
then......

Video Condition:

The teacher shows part of a video and then stops it and asks the students to guess what
will happen next. The students must use the 1st conditional. Video ideas: You can use
Sliding Doors (Gwyneth Paltrow movie) which is about what happens if she gets on
the tube and what happens when she misses the tube. Another movie idea is 500 days
of Summer which has a split screen moment where the hero plays in his head a
scenario of what will happen when he goes to his ex-girlfriends party (expectation vs
reality).

Election game: This is a game where your students have to imagine

they are running for president. Each student gives a speech about what he/she

will do if he/she gets elected. You can then ask your learners to actually vote
and see who gets elected as president : )
E.g. If I am elected president, I will give every citizen a free lap top.

Screen shot taken from here

Consequence chain:

A consequence chain is like writing a chain story but the learners must use the 1st
conditional and write about consequences (for more about this go here). How do you
set this up? Well, get your students to sit in rows. One student from each end of the
room must write a first conditional sentence. Then hand it to the student next to
him/her. That student uses the previous student's main clause to form an if clause and
then adds his/her own main clause and so on.
Student A: If you go out, you will meet someone.
Next student: If you meet someone, you will go on a date.
You can also have a consequence chain talk about global warming where students talk
about the consequence of climate change. So for example, if the temperature rises, the
ice bergs will melt. If the ice melts, ...... (This idea came from a colleague. Thanks Sue
Annan).

Drill marathon:

The teacher gives an if clause and the students have to write as many main clauses as
they can. The teacher gives a time limit. The student who has found the most correct
options is the winner.
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Songs:

Here is a list of songs that can be used when teaching the 1st conditional. How can
you use the songs? Well, many ways. You can give them the lyrics but first delete
some of the words, and before they listen to the song ask them to fill in the missing
lyrics with what they think should go there (pre-listening task).You can also get them
to fill in the gaps whilst listening to the song. Another thing you can do is give them
the lyrics all jumbled up and ask them to put the lyrics in the right order.
Titles of songs:
If you are happy and you know it....
If you leave me now (Chicago)
If you are not mine (David Bedingfield)
If I lose myself tonight (One Republic)
If the feeling is gone (Kyla)

Screen shot taken from here

Of course, there are many other fun activities teachers can use to help their learners
with the 1st conditional. I have mentioned just a few. Feel free to leave some more
ideas in the comments section below. I will follow up with a post about the 2nd and
the 3rd conditional in the following weeks.
Till next time.......
Helpful links and some thanks:
http://edition.tefl.net/ideas/games/first-conditional-practice/
https://www.smore.com/3n5p-first-conditional-fun
I would also like to thank Sue Annan and Sandy Millin who gave me some ideas for
this post.