- Are you looking for future verb tense activities in your ESL classroom? Here are three activities for using be going to and will that will get your students practicing this verb tense in a communicative and meaningful way.
How do We Use Be Going to and Will for Future?
Be Going to and Will Can Have the Same Meaning
Be going to and will can both express future plans that are not specific or definite:
- I’m going to visit Spain someday. (I don’t know when, exactly.)
- I’m going to have a baby before I am 35. (This is my plan, but I am not pregnant yet.)
- I will go in for a check-up soon. (I don’t have an appointment, but I plan to do it soon.)
Be going to and will can both express predictions, expectations, or guesses:
- – You are going to have fun in Hawaii next month!
- – This is going to be a very boring movie.
- – I think that more people will live longer in the future.
- – It will probably rain tomorrow.
Be Going to and Will Can Have Different Meanings
Be going to is used when a future event is certain to happen because there is evidence for it:
- Example: Look at those clouds! It is going to rain soon. (The clouds are evidence that it is going to rain.)
Be going to is used for intentions – things you hope or intend to do in the future:
- Example: I am healthy. I am going to live to be 100 years old!
Will is used for immediate decisions:
- Example: I have to go. I’ll call you later.
Note: Will is more common in academic writing than be going to. Be going to is more common in speaking.
Future Verb Tense Activities for ESL
1. Wild Weather Forecast
Show some images of extreme weather: a hurricane, a downpour, a blizzard, and a high temperature day. Then show an extreme weather forecast with some extreme weather forecasted over a few days. Next, have students talk with a partner about what the weather will be like and discuss plans for the weekend given the weather forecast using be going to and will in their discussion. Example: “It probably won’t rain on Sunday. I am going to work in the garden.”
2. The Future of a Picture
First, show some photos of situations that could have an interesting future. For example, a crowd of people getting onto a plane or a bus, a smoking volcano, a toddler with cans of paint, or a person about to walk into a manhole. Then have students make predictions about what will happen next using will and be going to. They can write a few sentences per picture or an entire story. You can assign one picture per pair/group and they can write a short story about what will happen next. Option to assign the same photo to pairs/groups and compare stories when they finish.
3. Your Future Life
Have students write a paragraph about what they predict their life will be like in 5, 10, 20, or 30 years using be going to and will. Where will they live? Who will they live with? What will the world be like? Where are they going to work? Option to have them interview a partner about their future dreams, talents, and interests and write about a partner’s future instead.
English learners need to learn how to use will and be going to in order to communicate effectively. Try these future verb tense activities for ESL in your classroom this week!
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