| Here's an effective way to teach the third | | | | Reinforce once again that this is imagining a |
| conditional to your ESL students. | | | | diffferent past, and ask them how they would |
| 1 First, write a short story (a few paragraphs is | | | | express this idea in a sentence beginning with "If..." |
| fine) about someone who had a bad day. The | | | | You may have a more advanced student who |
| first paragraph could start something like this: | | | | gives you the correct third conditional sentence. If |
| Sarah had to be at the airport for her flight at | | | | not, tell them, and write it on the board under |
| 9am, but her alarm didn't go off and so she | | | | sentence B so that they can see the connection |
| overslept... | | | | with the imaginary situation: |
| With this example you could continue to talk | | | | A Her alarm didn't go off - she overslept. |
| about Sarah's travel problems as the day | | | | B Her alarm went off - she didn't oversleep. |
| progressed. Maybe she forgot her passport and | | | | If her alarm had gone off, she wouldn't have |
| had to rush back home to get it, which made her | | | | overslept. |
| miss her flight, and so on. The key is to create a | | | | Highlight the form: Past Perfect + Would(n't) have |
| problem in each paragraph and describe what | | | | + Past participle. |
| happened as a result. | | | | 5 Go through one or two more examples on the |
| 2 Once you've got your story, cut it up into | | | | board, and then ask students to try the remaining |
| paragraphs and you're ready to go. Pre-teach any | | | | problems themselves. Be sure to get feedback to |
| vocabulary you need to and divide your students | | | | check they are forming the third conditional |
| into pairs or small groups. Then hand out the | | | | correctly. |
| story and ask the students to put the paragraphs | | | | 6 Now it's time for some practice. We often use |
| into the correct order. | | | | the third conditional to express regret, and this |
| 3 When everyone has ordered the story | | | | makes a good context for a communicative |
| correctly, ask your students if Sarah (we'll use | | | | activity. Model it first: Tell the class you are going |
| the example from above) had a good or a bad | | | | to talk about a few regrets you've had in your |
| day. (They should of course say "bad"!) Ask one | | | | life (you can make them up if you want!), and |
| pair to tell you Sarah's first problem and write it | | | | you would like them to note them down. |
| on the board. Then go from pair to pair and elicit | | | | For example: |
| the other problems. When you've got them all on | | | | I regret not studying French. If I'd studied French, |
| the board, ask pairs what the result of each | | | | I would have worked in Paris. |
| problem was, and write these next to their | | | | Ask individual students to report back your |
| corresponding problems. | | | | regrets to you, reconstructing the third conditional |
| So now, on the board, you might have something | | | | sentences correctly. |
| like this: | | | | Now give students a few minutes to think of |
| Her alarm didn't go off - she overslept | | | | some regrets of their own (tell them they can |
| She forgot her passport - she missed her | | | | make them up if they are not comfortable talking |
| flightand so on. Leave some space under each | | | | about their past). Put students into pairs and have |
| one for the next step. | | | | them tell each other their regrets. Make sure you |
| 4 Tell students they are now going to imagine | | | | monitor well here to ensure correct use of the |
| that Sarah had a good day. Ask one pair to tell | | | | third conditional as it comes up. |
| you the opposite of the first problem-result, and | | | | Students then report back to the class about |
| write this underneath it: | | | | their partners' regrets. You can develop some into |
| A Her alarm didn't go off - she overslept. | | | | a discussion if you like, but make sure you don't |
| B Her alarm went off - she didn't oversleep. | | | | have a full-on discussion about any regrets which |
| To clarify that sentence A is the "real" past, ask | | | | could be sensitive for the student concerned. |
| students which sentence really happened in the | | | | And there you have it, an easy way to teach the |
| story, and which we are just imagining. | | | | third conditional to your ESL students. |
| Now draw their attention to sentence B. | | | | |