Table of Contents
Third Conditional Lesson Plan
This lesson plan is designed to introduce and practice the form and use of the third conditional. Using a student-centered, discovery-based approach, this lesson guides learners through various stages to fully grasp the third conditional’s structure and application. The stages include:
- Warm-up
- Lead-in
- Consciousness-Raising
- Hypothesizing
- Practicing
- Production
- Expansion (Personalization)
Level
- This lesson is intended for upper-intermediate students.
Timing
- The lesson is planned to take approximately 55 minutes.
Lesson Procedure
1. Warm-Up (2-3 minutes)
Begin the lesson with a brief warm-up activity to engage the students. This could be a command drill, tongue twister, chant, riddle, quote, or even a piece of news. The goal is to create an energetic and focused atmosphere.
2. Lead-In (5 minutes)
To prepare the learners for the third conditional, review the past simple and past participle forms of regular and irregular verbs. This will activate prior knowledge and ensure that students are ready to understand the new grammar structure.
Example Review Table:
| Simple Oresent | Simple Past | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| Play | ||
| Watch | ||
| began | ||
| Got/gotten | ||
| had | ||
| met | ||
| Do | ||
| Written |
3. Consciousness-Raising (10 minutes)
A. Read the following text and complete the table below:
John’s Decision
I am John. I am the owner of a very famous language-teaching school in London. I think my biggest decision was to move back to the UK from Russia. I worked there for ten years as an English teacher and saved a lot of money. The Russian school offered me work for two more years, but I decided to return to England. I think it was a really good decision. I enjoyed working in Russia very much and had a really great time. I made loads of friends and loved the culture. But I also missed home, and I think ten years was a long time to be away.
If I hadn’t moved back to the UK, I would have stayed in Russia for a few more years, but then I wouldn’t have started my own business. I wouldn’t have begun a new successful career. I also wouldn’t have met my lovely wife, we wouldn’t have got married and we wouldn’t have had our beautiful baby!
B. Complete the following table with information from the text (in groups)
| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| What decision did John make? | … |
| Why was it a good decision? | … |
| What would have happened if he hadn’t made that decision? | … |
Form of the Third Conditional
C. Study this sentence and complete the diagram (in groups):
- If I hadn’t moved back to the UK, I wouldn’t have begun a new successful career.
| If | + | … | + | … |
Use of the third conditional
D. Say whether these statements are true or false (in groups):
- The third conditional is used to talk about the present.
- The third conditional describes a past situation.
- It’s used to describe a situation that didn’t happen and to imagine the result of this situation.
Skill Getting: Practice (15 minutes)
The skill-getting stage is meant to practice the target structure.
A. Match the two parts of the sentences (in groups)
1. If I had known you were in hospital,
2. If we had had a GPS in our car,
3. If you had attended every lesson,
a. you’d have passed that exam easily.
b. I would have visited you.
c. we wouldn’t have got lost.
B. Put the words in the correct order to form sentences in conditional type three (in groups):
| would | have | had worked hard, | passed | the exam. | she | if she |
…
| The train | if we | have | had | missed | we | wouldn’t | arrived | on time |
…
| your birthday | a present | I | would have | bought | you | if | I had known | it was |
…
C.Put the verbs in the correct form – use conditional sentence type III (in groups):
- If the weather (to be) … nice, they (to play) … football.
- If we (to go) … to a good restaurant, we (to have) … a better dinner.
- If John (conduct) … more research, he (to write) … a good report.
D. Rewrite the sentences beginning with the words given (in groups):
- We didn’t buy the carpet because it was very expensive.
- If …
- They made her angry, and that’s why she left.
- If …
- They lost your phone number; that’s why they didn’t call you.
- If …
- Tom didn’t revise his lessons, so he didn’t pass his exam.
- If …
Skill Using: Production (10 Minutes)
In this stage, students are encouraged to use the third conditional in more creative and open-ended scenarios. They work in groups to discuss and form sentences based on the provided situations.
Use the following situations to use conditional type 3 (in groups):
- Garcia has become a famous tennis player thanks to a talent scout who spotted him when he was 12 years old. The talent scout helped him immigrate to the USA where he developed his skills and won many tournaments. Now he is a very rich and happy tennis man.
- Sara had an amazing life. She spent her life traveling and meeting hundreds of interesting people: politicians, TV stars, and famous actors. Now she is 85 years old and is in hospital. Doctors say she is very ill and has only a few weeks to live. There is one thing she regrets. She did not write her biography.
- Karim used to be an excellent student. He had dreams and wanted to become a doctor. But once he started to hang out with bad friends, he became a criminal and went to prison.
- Leila never does any sport. She spends her days and nights chatting with friends on her phone or on her computer. Recently she has been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Her health condition has deteriorated and has become so obese.
Expansion: Personalization (10 Minutes)
To personalize the lesson, students relate the third conditional to their own experiences. They write sentences about things they regret and how different decisions could have changed their outcomes.
Learners write sentences about things they have regretted and the way they could have avoided them.
Example:
- “If I hadn’t missed the bus, I wouldn’t have been late for the meeting.”
Additional Resources
For further practice, students can explore other conditional sentences with these lesson plans: