Garbage Man for 2nd and 3rd Conditionals

(TESOL Materials--2nd Conditional, 3rd Conditional)

Google: docs, pub

A garbage man activity for 2nd conditional and 3rd Conditional

I know his number I phone him

Tom reads more he has more time

I go to the park it is not raining

I can drive I buy a car

I am rich I buy a boat.

I remember my raincoat I don’t get wet

I remember to set my alarm I don’t oversleep

I eat breakfast I am not hungry at school

I study harder I pass the test

I don’t eat so much cake I don’t get sick

answers (n.b. in some cases either conditional would make sense)

I know his number I phone him If I knew his number, I would phone him.

Tom reads more he has more time If Tom had more time, he would read more.

I go to the park it is not raining  I would go to the park if it wasn't raining.

I can drive I buy a car If I could drive, I would buy a car.

I am rich I buy a boat. If I were rich, I would buy a boat.

I remember my raincoat I don’t get wet If I had remembered my raincoat, I wouldn’t have gotten wet.

I remember to set my alarm I don’t oversleep If I had remembered to set my alarm, I wouldn’t have overslept.

I eat breakfast I am not hungry at school If I had eaten breakfast, I wouldn’t have been hungry at school.

I study harder I pass the test If I had studied harder, I would have passed the test.

I don’t eat so much cake I don’t get sick If I hadn’t eaten so much cake, I wouldn’t have gotten sick.

Board Race for 2nd and 3rd Conditional

(TESOL Materials--2nd Conditional, 3rd Conditional)

Google: slides, pub

A board race for distinguishing between 2nd and 3rd conditionals.  Using Sentence Skeletons.

Second & Third Conditional (2nd & 3rd Conditional) by Anna_ripo

This is a Kahoot on the 2nd Conditional and 3rd Conditional.  I used it in my class when teaching a lesson contrasting the 2nd and 3rd Conditionals.

2nd and 3rd Conditional: Video and Gapfill Worksheet

Video: If I Were You - Conditionals in English

Worksheet: docs, pub

I used this video from Easy English when setting up the contrast between 2nd Conditional and 3rd Conditional.  The video itself contains a range of conditional tenses, but for this worksheet I focused only on the 2nd Conditional and 3rd Conditional, because those were my lesson aims.

The students first listen to the video for gist.  (example gist task: What is Sally's problem?).  Then I hand out the specific information questions.  Then students listen again for a gapfill, and then, on the last page of the worksheet, they check their understanding of the meaing.

If I Were You - Conditionals in English

https://youtu.be/gxaTP6zF9Vc?si=xuDVsB393FEd2R1K

1. Why was Sally late?

2. What hasSally been eating too much of lately?

3. What has lots of sugar?

4. How many times a week should you exercise in order to be in good shape?

1. Why was Sally late?

2. What hasSally been eating too much of lately?

3. What has lots of sugar?

4. How many times a week should you exercise in order to be in good shape?

1. Why was Sally late?

2. What hasSally been eating too much of lately?

3. What has lots of sugar?

4. How many times a week should you exercise in order to be in good shape?

Write in the missing words

Hello, Sally. You're very late. What happened? 

I'm so sorry. I ______________ on time if the traffic ______________  so bad 

I was so surprised when you called me yesterday and told me you wanted to come to the gym with me. I think that's fantastic.

You know, lately I’ve felt so out of shape, so I want to change my lifestyle. And I want to lose weight, too. If I ______________  so much weight, I ______________  more energetic. I know you are an expert in this, so if you have any advice for me, I'll be happy to listen. 

Well, if you ______________ so many sweets any more, you______________  weight.

You're right. I have been eating too many sweets lately, almost every day. And I know that if you eat too many sweets, you gain weight.

You should also try to avoid junk food. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. you will not get enough vitamins if you don't eat fresh fruit.

If I ______________ packaged juices instead of eating fruits and vegetables, ______________ enough?

I ______________  packaged juice if ______________  you. It has lots of sugar

If you want to be in good shape, exercise at least two times a week. Do you practice any sport?

Not any more. I used to go to the swimming pool a few years ago. If I ______________  out twice a week, that ______________  awesome.

Answers:

Hello, Sally. You're very late. What happened? 

I'm so sorry. I would have been on time if the traffic hadn't been so bad 

I was so surprised when you called me yesterday and told me you wanted to come to the gym with me. I think that's fantastic.

You know, lately I’ve felt so out of shape, so I want to change my lifestyle. And I want to lose weight, too. If I hadn't gained so much weight, I would have been more energetic. I know you are an expert in this, so if you have any advice for me, I'll be happy to listen. 

Well, if you didn't eat so many sweets any more, you would definitely lose weight.

You're right. I have been eating too many sweets lately, almost every day. And I know that if you eat too many sweets, you gain weight.

You should also try to avoid junk food. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. you will not get enough vitamins if you don't eat fresh fruit.

If I drank packaged juices instead of eating fruits and vegetables, would that be enough?

I wouldn't drink packaged juice if I were you. It has lots of sugar

If you want to be in good shape, exercise at least two times a week. Do you practice any sport?

Not any more. I used to go to the swimming pool a few years ago. If I could work out twice a week, that would be awesome.

Write 2nd or 3rd next to the sentences.

2nd	unreal situation
3rd	unreal situation in the past

_____________ I would have been on time if the traffic hadn't been so bad 

_____________ If I hadn't gained so much weight, I would have been more energetic.

_____________ Well, if you didn't eat so many sweets any more, you would definitely lose weight.

_____________ If I drank packaged juices instead of eating fruits and vegetables, would that be enough?

_____________ I wouldn't drink packaged juice if I were you. It has lots of sugar

_____________ If I could work out twice a week, that would be awesome.

If I remembered one day, I would choose to remember my wedding day.

(Grammar Questions I Couldn't Answer)

A co-worker of mine was preparing a lesson on unreal conditionals (i.e. 2nd conditionals).  

For the presentation stage of the lesson, he wanted to build a context around the sentence "If I could remember one day, I would choose to remember my wedding day."  (I believe the intended context was that if he could choose to preserve one day of his life perfectly in his memory, it would be his wedding.)

However, in the course of preparing the lesson, he realized that the textbook (Reflect 4 Listening and Speaking, Unit 4, Grammar p.62: Unreal Conditionals) defined the unreal conditional as:

If + past simple, would + bare infinitive.

He was worried that his example sentence didn't fit the pattern because he was using "If I could remember"--i.e. If + could + bare infinitive."

This sparked a debate among the staffroom as to whether "could+bare infinitive" was the same as the past simple in this context.  I took the position that it was.  (Certainly that's the way I've been teaching the 2nd conditional for years.  And I showed my co-worker worksheets that I had in my archive like this one in which I had used "could fly" as equivalent to the past simple).

But there was also a secondary question: why do we even need "could" in this sentence?  Why can't we just say: "If I remembered one day, I would choose to remember my wedding day" ?

And what was the difference between "If I remembered..." and "If I could remember..."

The whole thing reminded me of a similar grammar question I couldn't answer 4 years ago about the difference between "I wish I played with that dog" and "I wish I could play with that dog".  I wrote about those sentences in this blog post here.  I suspect they are related cases.

Here is a link to a Kahoot on 2nd conditionals: Second Conditional by Jungrai_nan07. 

In my class, I used this to supplement Unit 14 Second Conditional p.94-95 from Business Result: Pre-Intermediate.

Second Conditional Online Lesson

(TESOL Materials--Second Conditional, Online Lesson)
[Note: This is based on previous materials here, here and here which have been reworked to make an online lesson.]
Google Drive Folder HERE
Slideshow: slides, pub
Teacher's script: docs, pub
Fill in the blank: docs, pub
Second Conditional Formation: docs, pub

Sentence Heads Second Conditional

(TESOL Worksheets--Second Conditional, Any Grammar Point)
Google: docs, pub
The specific example linked to above is for the second conditional, but the general activity can be used for any grammar point.
Students are given the beginning of a sentence, which they must complete using the target language in a way that is true for them.  For example:  2nd Conditional “If I had one million dollars…”.  They then compare answers with a partner, and discuss which of their answers are similar, and which are different.

Complete these sentences so that they are true for you.

1. If I had 1 million dollars...

2. If I met a ghost...

3. If I was invisible...

4. If I could fly...

5. If I were President...

6. If I were a giant...

7. If I were famous...

2nd Conditional Slideshow

(Movie slideshow Grammar Sections--2nd Conditional)

Taken from Princess Mononoke --Part 18

Presentation only version: slides, pub



Version with example sentences from Princess Mononoke: slides, pub

If I Were the King of the World... (2nd Conditional)

(TESOL Worksheets-- 2nd Conditional)
Google: docs, pub
This was a worksheet/group project that I made to practice the 2nd conditional.  (In my class, this worksheet was the basis for groups to make a short presentation on what they would do if they were king of the world.)
I used two lead-ins with this worksheet.  The first was the "Jeremiah was a bullfrog..." song (a.ka. "Joy to the World".  The original Three Dog Night version is not appropriate for the classroom, so I used one of the children's versions on the web. 
One such version is HERE.  I played the song, and asked the students to identify the 2nd Conditional sentence: ("If I were the king of the world, tell you what I'd do...")
The second lead-in was a poem entitled: If I Were The King Of The World Poem by Arden Davidson  (Link HERE).  I read this to the students, and asked them to write down all the things that the narrator would do if he were king of the world.
Then, I handed out the worksheet, and had the students make their own sentences in groups.

2nd Conditionals

If Clause			Result Clause
If	Subject	V2 (past simple)	subject	would/ could	V1 (Infinitive)
If	I	were the king of the world
If	I	were the king of the world
If	I	were the king of the world
If	I	were the king of the world
If	I	were the king of the world
If	I	were the king of the world
If	I	were the king of the world

2nd Conditional Doraemon PowerPoint Game

(TESOL Worksheets--2nd Conditional)
Google: drive, slides, pub
[The PowerPoint template is not mine, but was designed by Kyle Ludeke.  My only contribution was to type in the words.
I designed this at the request of my teaching assistant, who was worried about the end of term test.  This follows the format of the test at our school.  The students are given two factual statements in the present simple, and must use the 2nd conditional to make a counter-factual.  In my own classes, I used this to supplement English World 5 Unit 10.]

Second Conditional Karuta

(TESOL Worksheets--2nd Conditional)
Google: drive, docs, pub
[This game is set up to work like the Japanese card game Karuta (W).  The students are divided up into groups of three or four, and each group has a set of cards that are spread out face-up among their desks.  The teacher reads from a list of "if" clauses (the students do not see the list of "if" clauses) and the students have to find the matching result clauses.  The first student in each group to place their hand on the correct result clause card gets to keep that card.  The winner is the student with the most cards at the end.]

1. If vegetables tasted like candy...

2. If tigers were friendly...

3. If giraffes had short necks...

4. If money grew on trees...

5. If chickens could talk...

6.  If tables could talk...

7.  If trees could walk...

8. If my shoe had a hole in it...

9. If monkeys drove cars...

10. If a dog were president...

11. If I ate a Christmas tree...

12. If I could tell time by heart...

13. If I didn't have to eat...

14. If I didn't have to sleep...

15. If my aunt were a man...

16. If school were fun...

17. If my desk could talk...

18. If I had ten arms...

19. If I could fly...

20. If I were a pizza...

I would eat them every day	I would keep a tiger as a pet	they wouldn't be able to reach the leaves on the trees	I wouldn't have to worry about money
people wouldn't eat chicken burgers	I wouldn't tell any secrets at the dinner table	They would  run away from the loggers	I wouldn't wear that shoe to school
There would be a lot of car accidents	He would bark when he gave speeches	I would have Christmas in my stomach	I wouldn't need a watch
I would never have to spend money on food	I could study all night	She would be my uncle	I would want to go to school everyday
Then I could ask my desk for answers during the exam	Then none of my shirts would fit	I would be able to chase birds	I would eat myself