"I would like to know what kind of activities or songs I can use to teach theIF-conditionals. Thank you."
Any advice or ideas for Redjane? Do you have any great activities to share? Are there any songs you use when teaching these grammar areas? Any tips, suggestions or comments? Contact us.
This question is from Redjane Andrade, Brazil
Comments
rebecca1
I'm just doing a lesson plan for the first and second conditionals, and I've found the song 'If' by the Divine Comedy, a little known irish group, is particulary useful. Very entertaining lyrics!
Nazif Ozaslan, Turkey
There are a lot of songs that can be used while teaching conditional clauses. The songs as far as I remember:
"If you go away" by Tom Jones, a very nice song. This is for the first Conditional.
"Would you know my name if i saw you in heaven?" by Eric Clapton, this is mainly for the second conditional.
"If I were a rich man" by Elvis Presley ( for Type 2)
"Money, money, money" by ABBA ( for Type 1)
in order to teach the difference between type 1 and type 2 you make the students compare and contrast the situations in "If I were a rich man and "money, money, money". If you can find the book MATTERS Intermediate -Longman, these two songs are used in unit 12 of the book to explain the difference between type 1& 2 and there are also extra activities for these songs in the teacher's book.
I used all these songs in my lessons and the result was great. The students loved the songs and some of them learnt them by heart. (I remember I was having an inspection while teaching type 1 by listening to 'If you go away' and even the inspector loved the song)
Kate Rizk, Lebanon
I've had great success using pictures to illustrate each situation and also to give leads to each sentence. For example, a sketch of a giant and the caption 'If I were a giant, ...'. Students of any age (especially adults) love completing these sentences and usually go on to create others. 'If I were invisible, ..., If I were tiny,... If I had a million dollars,...' They can be used to introduce a new grammar point or as a warm up for the class. Have fun.
Nina, UK
Amazing! I was just wondering about this myself yesterday. One possible song for teaching the second conditional is "If I had $1,000,000" by the Barenaked Ladies, a Canadian group. The song itself is a bit silly, but is based around the idea of 'if I had $1,000,000, I'd buy you a...' The structure is repeated several times. As the things the singer proposes to buy for his girlfriend are pretty ridiculous it highlights that the situation is very unlikely. I haven't tried this yet, but I think it might work.
Sandrine Devin, France
I use a poster from Amnesty International :"What would you take if you had only ten minutes to leave", not very funny but quite efficient ...
Liora Tamir, Israel
When I start teaching the 1st conditional, I usually start by discussing superstitions: I present different superstitions in two columns. The pupils have to match column A with B e.g. "If you see a black cat (column A), you will have a bad luck (column B). This may lead to the discussion of superstitions in different families and ethnic groups. Then I ask pupils to write their own ones. They look at the "model" and make up their own sentences.
Mark Thompson, Brazil
"I'll sail this ship alone" by The Beautiful South suits the first conditional, and is well-paced for English learners. Good luck!
Elisabeth Boeck, Germany
I suggest using The Belamy Brothers' song 'If I said you have a beautiful body…'. It is great for demonstrating the conditionals (+reported speech!) in operation; also for conditionals and their possible exceptions! Good luck!
Andy Wray, Vietnam
Regarding the question about useful songs for teaching IF-conditionals, I have used 'The Painter Song'by Norah Jones in my lessons and found it very effective. It's particularly good for lower levels, as the song is slow and has lyrics which are clear and easy to distinguish. Additionally, it is short and simple, and sung by a contemporary young singer. Try it!
Adrianus (Jos) de Bruijn, Argentina
Usually for the (in my opinion invented problem of) conditionals, I use some songs. Of course there is ´If´ by the group called ´Bread´ or Trini Lopez´s ´If I had a hammer'. These usually work very well, especially if you accompany them with a worksheet, adapted to your goals and teaching situation.
Ingrid Braband, Germany
Hello and greetings from Germany.A nice song to teach conditional clauses is "If I had a million dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies, a Canadian group. It is best suited for the second conditional and quite easy to understand.
Lucy Castro Solache, Mexico
Barney Day, JapanWhat I usually do when I'm teaching conditionals is create a debate within the classroom. I divide the whole group and then I make up some unreal situations for each team. One group imagines they would be able to fly; and the other group to be invisible, so they have to discuss which situation would be better in order to have a better, easier, and funnier life! So this creates a lot of discussion in the classroom, it's fun cause you have to be the judge!
Off the top of my head, "If I were a rich man" (I think it's from "Fiddler on the roof"). It's good because he just kind of mumbles a lot - "If I were a rich man, all day long I'd mumble mumble mumble, if I were a wealthy man" - this would give students a chance to come up with their own ideas to go along with the examples he gives later on. Not tried it yet myself though!