Words of Wisdom

I made this activity because there's a brief period of time where students learn the conditional "if" grammar but haven't learned future tense yet.

I start by writing the words "Words of Wisdom" on the blackboard and checking what the meaning is with the students. After that, I write the following example sentences on the blackboard and check that the students can understand them:

• If you play basketball, buy good shoes.
• If you are sad, talk to your friends.
• If you like seafood, visit Hokkaido.
• If you have a cold, rest at home.

Next I pass out the worksheets and ask the students to come up with the first half of the sentence, the condition. I write a lot of examples up on the board (If you are... have... play... eat... don't like... love...) and make sure that the students write their name on their papers.

After that, I have the students pass their papers around to other students in a pattern that ensures they won't get their own paper. When a student receives a paper, they read the condition and write the second half of the sentence in imperative form. They can give any advice they like, but of course you should keep an eye to see that they don't write anything unkind.

Once the paper has received advice from 10 different students, return it to the original owner. Often somebody will write something funny for at least one of them, so you can check with the students to see if they got any good or amusing advice. I circulated one paper and got the advice "If you love tonkatsu, buy a pig."

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Words of Wisdom.pdf (135 KB)