Visual cues can help convey the three primary uses of the future tense. Calendars are used for plans and schedules. Images containing action can be used for predictions. Teaching with the aid of images can help clarify the future tense for students.
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Future Tense: Plans, Predictions and Schedules
1 Talking about plans with “going to”
“Going to” is the most basic form of the future tense usually taught to students learning the English language. This is a good speaking activity that encourages students to speaking a personal way about the future
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2 Making predictions with “will”
Making predictions is a pretty engaging exercise. And I think this survey-type activity is an excellent way to have a discussion class. Moreover, it can work at fairly low levels.
3 Plans and predictions
The two most basic uses of the future tense are for plans and predictions. This exercise includes some common situations when the future tense might be used: talking about the weather, economics (money), careers and immediate actions. Click on the image or the link to download the printable PDF file.
4 Plans, predictions and schedules
Expanding on the above, this exercise includes another instance when the future tense is used: schedules. The present tense is used for talking about scheduled activities in the future.
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5 Predictions survey
This is a speaking and writing exercise for English language learners to practice using the future tense. Students write 5 questions about the future using the questions at the top of the page as an example. Then they interview 5 students and write a short report about their survey. Click on the image below or the link to download the PDF file.
