I wish I could go!

Objective & content

This functional language sheet teaches pupils to say a wish about now (I wish I had more time. I wish I could go. If only the tickets were cheaper!), a regret about the past (I should have bought my ticket. I shouldn't have watched them!) and to answer a friend with sympathy (That's a shame. Poor you! Oh dear! Never mind. Don't worry. Next time...). Pupils read a dialogue in which Marta and Jasper talk about their weekend, find the missing words and read the useful phrases, given in a box. By the end, they can say a wish and a regret about their own life and answer a friend's problem kindly.

Pedagogical guide

Page 1 is the dialogue, with a picture of Marta and of Jasper: it's Monday morning at school. Jasper didn't go to the concert on Saturday because the tickets were sold out; he should have bought his ticket in June, like his friends, and tickets for the band's next concert, in March, are forty pounds. Marta has a history test this afternoon and didn't revise, because she watched films with her cousins all weekend; Jasper offers to revise with her at lunchtime. Pupils find eight missing words in lines from the dialogue. Page 2 has the useful phrases in a box, with the key words in bold, I wish / If only + a past form that means now, and should have / shouldn't have + a past participle; five situations to match to a phrase (friends at the pool, three burgers, no coat in the rain, a stolen bike, a swimming test) and six lines with three replies each, where pupils tick the best one. Page 3 has a dialogue in which Tamika tells Ross about her maths test (six out of twenty), to number from 1 to 8, and a dialogue at a station about a phone left on the train, to complete with six words in a box. The last task is a role-play: pupils cut out cards A and B, each with three small problems (video games until midnight, a class ski trip, money spent on sweets, forgotten football boots, no concert ticket, a jacket left in the park). They take turns: one tells a problem with a wish or a regret, the other answers with sympathy and helps. Every exercise opens with a worked example.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Say "I didn't take my coat, and now it's raining. I should have taken my coat!"; pupils answer "Oh dear! Poor you!"
2. (10 min) Read the dialogue aloud; pupils find the missing words.
3. (5 min) Read the useful phrases in the box with the class; pupils find them in the dialogue.
4. (10 min) Page 2: pupils match the situations to the phrases, then tick the best replies.
5. (10 min) Page 3: pupils number the lines of Tamika and Ross's dialogue, then complete the dialogue at the station.
6. (10 min) Role-play: pupils read their problems, then take turns to say a wish or a regret and answer with sympathy.
7. (5 min) Check with the answer key on page 4.

Adaptations

[S] Pupils read the dialogue aloud in pairs, one as Marta and one as Jasper, before the tasks.

[A] Pupils write three wishes and three regrets of their own, true or invented; a partner answers each one.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of pages 1 to 3 per pupil, and scissors for the role-play cards. Page 4 is the answer key and teacher notes: keep it. The role-play is free speaking, so any answer that uses the phrases and fits the problem is right. Every wish on the sheet is about now and every regret uses should have: there is no third conditional and no past perfect. Pupils need the past simple and the past participles of common verbs (bought, taken, eaten), can / could and the words for school, free time and money. To take it further, make a class "wish wall" for the end of the school year.