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This is a lesson plan to help students put the zero conditional into practice in conversation.
Download it here:
Introduction
Ask students the following: What do you do when you get hiccups?
Show them the following video and tell them to write down as many causes and cures for hiccups as they can.
Mine the video for vocabulary:
Spasm, stuck, breathe, gasp, exhale/inhale, hold your breath, difference between breathe (verb, long vowel sound) and breath (noun, short vowel sound), chug, pull, tongue, drink from, wrong side, take a sip, swallow, tip your head back, plug your nose, a teaspoon of, sprinkle, squeeze your pinky, pressure point, pinch, recite, backwards, think of, bald, cure/get rid of hiccups.
Ask them which methods from the video they use.
Model a few sentences on the board:
When/whenever I get hiccups, I ask a friend to scare me.
Tell students that this is called the zero conditional. Give out the first page of the handout and go over it quickly.
We use the zero conditional to talk about general or scientific truths and habits.
If you heat ice, it melts. (General truth)
If I drink coffee after 6pm, I can’t sleep. (Habit)
We also use it to talk about what people should do in certain situations.
If you feel tired, stop for a rest.
If you feel ill, take your medicine.
The formula is:
If/when/whenever + present simple, present simple.
Matching exercise
Match numbers 1-5 with letters a-e to make zero conditional sentences.
| 1. If it rains, | a. The roads are dangerous. |
| 2. If it snows, | b. I try a new flavour of ice-cream |
| 3. Whenever I visit Rome, | c. Tell a security guard. |
| 4. If you see someone stealing | d. It boils. |
| 5. When water reaches 100º C, | e. We play basketball inside. |
Matching Key
1-e, 2-a, 3-b, 4-c, 5-d
Conversation exercise
Cut the following cards up. Students take them one at a time and discuss them in conversation. Encourage the use of: “Me too/neither” or “So/neither do I”
| Whenever I go on holiday… | When I go to the dentist… |
| If I drink too much red wine… | Whenever the sales are on… |
| If I see a beggar in the street… | If I see a tourist with their bag open… |
| When I go to the beach, I always… | When it’s my birthday… |
| If I’m feeling blue… | Whenever I need help at work/school… |
| If I eat too much… | When I watch a sad film at the cinema… |
| When I forget to do something important at home… | If I have free time… |
| Whenever I go to the city centre… | When I visit my relatives… |
| If someone asks me for directions in the street… | If you get hiccups… |
| If you have a hangover… | If you feel ill at work/school… |
| If you need to take a day off… | When I have too much work to do… |
Here are some alternatives for teenage students:
| When I get bored… | If I feel sleepy at school… |
| If I drop my ice-cream on the floor… | If a wasp comes near me… |
| If I can’t sleep… | If my brother/sister annoys me… |
| When I don’t feel like going to school… | When my teacher puts a video on… |
| When I forget to do my homework… | If I get sunburnt… |
Photo credit: http://imgkid.com/too-much-coffee-meme.shtml
Video credit: buzzfeedyellow