Oral Activity 1 (Suzie’s story)

The teacher divides the class into two teams. Then the students in turn make a sentence using a past conditional form.

Example: If Suzie hadn’t wanted to be a musician, her father wouldn’t have given her

a guitar.

Students continue making sentences alternately for the rest of the story.

1. Suzie wanted to be a musician, so her father gave her a bright pink guitar for her fifteenth

birthday.

2. She spent so much time practicing in her bedroom that she didn’t pass any of her exams

at school.

3. Her father was so angry that he took away her guitar and locked it in a cupboard.

4. Suzie was so upset about losing her guitar that she ran away from home.

5. She started living on the street, and was so hungry that she began stealing food from shops.

6. One day a policeman saw her shoplifting, and arrested her.

7. During the arrest Suzie hit the policeman, and was sent to prison for three months.

8. While in prison she shared a cell with two women called Natasha and Jo, who became her

best friends.

9. Natasha and Jo were musicians too, and so they all decided to form a band, which they

called The Convicts.

10. Six months later The Convicts played their first concert. It was a disaster! They were so

nervous they forgot all their songs and the audience laughed at them.

11. Natasha and Jo were so upset after the concert that they left the band.

12. Suzie, however, didn’t give up. She managed to borrow some money and make a record on

her own.

13. The record was a huge success, and Suzie became famous all over the world.

14. One day Suzie’s father turned on the television to watch a football match and saw his

daughter singing her latest song. He couldn’t believe his eyes!

15. He found out that Suzie was playing a concert the following week, and went to buy a ticket.

16. After the concert he went backstage and found his daughter. With tears in his eyes, he

hugged her and gave her a present. It was her bright pink guitar.

Oral activity 2

The students in two teams read the text and in turn make conditionals Type 3.

There was a family who was very poor so they lived in a little

house. One day the children were hungry so the mother went to the market. On the way she crossed a bridge and saw something in the river. She leant over the bridge and her purse fell into the water. It sank to the bottom of the river so she couldn’t reach it. A fish swam by and swallowed it. She had no money so she went home. There was no food in the house so the father went fishing. He caught a big fish so he had something for his wife to cook. She cut the fish open and found her purse inside with the money still in it.

Team A S1: If they hadn’t been poor, they wouldn’t have lived in a little house.

Team B S1: If the children hadn’t been hungry, the mother wouldn’t have gone to the market.