Nov 25, 2014

Flight Plan: Present and Past Modals for Speculation



I. Watch the movie segment. Then write down three different explanations for what happened in the segment on a piece of paper. Use your imagination.





Ex: The girl is sleeping somewhere on the plane.

1 ___________________________________
2 ___________________________________
3 ___________________________________


II. Teacher collects the sheets and redistributes them among the students. 

III. Students analyze their peers' explanations and write sentences with modal verbs for speculation. Remember that you should vary the modal verb according to what you believe really happened to the boy.

Observe if the sentences refer to the present or to the past. You will have to choose the correct verb form.

(PRESENT IDEA: MIGHT + BARE INFINITIVE)
(PAST IDEA - MIGHT + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE)


Ex: 

The girl might be sleeping somewhere on the plane. (It is possible, but you don't think that is what really happened)

The girl must be sleeping somewhere on the plane. (It is very possible. You probably agree with the idea)

The girl can't be sleeping anywhere on the plane (It is not a plausible explanation. You don't believe it happened at all)


IV. Read the sentences out loud. Explain why you chose those modal verbs. Agree and disagree with your friends' ideas.


V. What is the most plausible explanation decided by the class?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

In this post, you refer to the lost kid as a boy. In fact, it is a girl.

Claudio Azevedo said...

True, thanks for warning me.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I like the activity.