Teacher Guide
Explain that we use the Second Conditional for:
- things in the future that are probably not going to happen. For example something you're imagining or dreaming of such as "If I had my own space ship, I would fly to Mars"
- something in the present which is not true. For example "If I was taller, I could reach that" (We can also say "If I were taller..." more formally).
Use the questions on the worksheets to have a discussion about possible answers. Let the students enjoy imagining these situations then help them to construct sentences to describe their ideas using the structure:
If + past simple, .... would/could + infinitive
05mins - Conversation: Imagine you were born in a different country. What country would you live in? How would your life be different than the one you live in Italy? What language would you speak? What food would you eat?
10mins - Pre-teach: 3nd conditional. The third conditional is used to talk about an action that, if it had happened, would have had a consequence. We use the third conditional to talk about unreal things that could have happened and would have created a consequence. (If + past perfect 'had+past participle' + would + present perfect 'have + past participle'.) Ex: If I had been born in Italy, I would have spoken Italian. Have the students brainstorm third conditional statements and questions.
10mins - Activity: Rewrite history: Split the students into groups of two. Each group must think of one historical event, real or imagined, and use the third conditional to describe how things could have happened if the events had been different. Have the pairs write one paragraph re-writing the event. When the students are finished, have them read their paragraphs out loud to the class.
20mins - Worksheet: 04 Third conditional - Rewrite the sentences using the third conditional
15mins - Test: 04 reading practice - part 1
05mins - Warm down: Goodbye, see you next time.
00mins - Homework: Complete the next section of the online homework.
Possible solutions:
- If I won the lottery I would buy a car.
- If I had a free plane ticket I would go to Japan.
- If I had one wish, I would meet Harry Potter because I would like to see him do some magic.
- If I were thirty years old, I would drive a BMW.
- If I had the qualifications, I would become an astronaut.