Elevator pitch

Crowded elevator: perfect place to ask for money. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What will you do with five million dollars? Try this conversation activity for English language learners to practice the future tense with the words “will” and “going to,” and to make a persuasive argument.

1. Warm up. Everyone introduces themselves and answers the question “Here’s five dollars- what will you buy?” The participants say what they would do with the money (or a small equivalent amount in your country’s currency).  “My name is Justin and I want to buy a sandwich.” “My name is Lisette and I want to buy a magazine.”

2. Vocabulary generator.  Tell the group: “We have a problem! Your English teacher is broke! What can I do to make the most amount of money in a short amount of time?” In pairs, have the students come up with four or five ideas on your own, and then make a big list as a large group. Discuss the ideas. Which plans were the most popular? Which plans would make the most money? Are any of the plans illegal? Are any of the plans impossible? As you discuss, make sure to review the terms make money, profit how to talk about the future using “will” and “going to,” and, if necessary, how to give advice using the word “should.”

Be persuasive when you make your elevator pitch. (Photo credit: espaitec)

3. Mystery investor. Tell the class “I have good news. Your English teacher is still broke, but the school has a mystery investor who wants to give five million dollars to start a business.” Explain the concept of an elevator pitch: a brief explanation of your potential product or service that is persuasive and can be given in the time it takes for an elevator to get from the first floor to the tenth floor. In different small groups, have the students make a plan, answering the following questions:
What is your product or service?
Where will your business be located?
How many employees will you need?
What technology will you need?
What kind of office, building, or factory will you need?
How will your product make money?
How much profit will you make?
Why should the investor pick you?

After about fifteen minutes, bring the groups together to make their pitches to the class.

4. And the money goes to… Listen to all the pitches. Encourage everyone to ask questions about each group’s plan. Then, as a class, decide which plan everyone liked the best. At the end, don’t forget to give your opinion as a teacher about which group the mystery investor will probably fund.

5. Global feedback. With the class, imagine that all the projects are funded. What will each business look like in five years?

Conversation objectives: talk about the future, make a persuasive argument, build vocabulary through conversation
Ideal group size: At least six players.
Ideal group level: In its simplest form, can be used with beginners who with need to practice future will and going to; can be modified for intermediate and advanced groups.
This post is part of our March Conversation Marathon. We publish a new conversation activity every Tuesday and Thursday during the month of March. To see the complete list of Marathon activities, click here.
For more general conversation topics, click here.  For more conversation games, click here.

The future is now?

What does the future hold?  Flying cars?  Robot servants?  Space tourism?

Today is a special day for fans of the 1985 movie Back to the Future, because the future is now.  Literally.  In the movie, Doc sets the DeLorean (time machine) for a future date.  That date is today.

Is this a scene from the movie Back to the Future?

…or is it?

Turns out that the image above, which has been shared around the internet today, is doctored.  The real future date programmed into the DeLorean is in 2015, which is thirty years after 1985, when Back to the Future is set.  So the Back to the Future future is three years in the future yet.  You have three years to plan.

How will you celebrate that future date?

Do you think the movie’s predictions about the future will come true?

To start preparing, try some of these futuristic conversation games.

Predicting the Future

Cities of the future

Groundhog Day

Sports Championship

Predicting the future: Mansion, apartment, shack or house?

Cookies: they predict the future? Photo by lucianvenutian via Flickr.

What is going to happen tomorrow?  In five years?  In ten years?  People love to talk about, wonder about, or predict the future.  Even if you don’t have a psychic ability that lets you see into the coming years, use these games to practice talking about what’s going to happen.

Here are some activities to practice talking about the future.  You can use will, or going to, or both.

Zoltar predicts the future.

First, ask the Oracle.  Go to this website and ask any yes-or-no question to see what the Oracle predicts.  Am I going to win the lottery?  Will the weather be nice tomorrow?  The Oracle has an answer for everything.  Our favorite question: Is the Oracle always correct?  The Oracle answers: Maybe.

To get a more detailed reading of your future, try this game: MASH, or Mansion Apartment Shack House.  You can play by yourself or with a partner.  Here are the instructions for predicting your partner’s future.

1. On a piece of paper, draw a square with the letters M  A  S  H along the top.

2. Ask your partner “What profession are your going to have in the future?”  Put your partner’s answer, along with some other professions, on one side of the square.  For best results, include some funny professions along with some serious ones.

3. Ask your partner “Who are you going to marry in the future?”  Put your partner’s answer, along with some other potential husbands or wives (especially celebrities!) along the side.

A board for MASH set up to play.

This person will live in an apartment in China with Justin Bieber and their two kids, working as a garbage collector and driving a sports car.

4. Ask your partner, “Where are you going to live?”  Put your partner’s answer, along with some other locations, along the bottom. You can put cities, states, countries, or even other planets. Be creative.

5. Ask your partner, “How many children are you going to have?”  Put your partner’s answer, along with some other numbers, along the side.

6. Ask your partner, “What kind of vehicle are you going to drive?”  Put your partner’s answer, along with other kinds of vehicles– think trains, planes, or boats in addition to automobiles– along the side.

8. The person who created the MASH board now starts to draw tally marks in the middle of the square. The person whose fortune is being told says, “Stop!”  Then they count the number of tallies in the middle of the board. This is the magic number.

9. Start at the top of the square and count off each item in each category, starting with the letters M A S H.  The letters stand for Mansion Apartment Shack House, and answer the question, “What kind of house are you going to have?” When you get to the magic number, for example 8, cross off that item from the square.  

10. Keep going around the board, counting up from one again.  Every time you get to the magic number 8, cross that item off the board. Then keep counting, but skip the items that are crossed out. This way you will cross out a different item each time.

11. When you have crossed off all the items in a category except one, circle that last item.  Eventually, you will cross off every item except one for each category.  For example, if you crossed off M, S, and H, circle the A, because your partner is going to live in an apartment.

10. The circled items tell your partner’s future.  Read them to your partner.  “You are going to live in an apartment in Bermuda.  You are going to be married to Shakira and have 6 children.  You are going to work as a magician and ride a bicycle every day.”

11.  Now, make another MASH board and let your partner predict your future!

Remember, when you talk about the future, you can use “will” like this:

Subject + will + verb.
You will live in Tahiti.

The word “will” can be made into a contraction with the pronoun before it, like this:

You’ll live in Tahiti.

Or, you can use “going to” like this:
Subject + to be + going to + verb.
You         are        going to      have 6 kids.

But often people do not say “going to.”  They say the shortened word, gonna, instead.
You are gonna have six kids.
I’m gonna live in Bermuda.

“Gonna” is okay to use in conversation, but it is not correct in formal written English.  You can say gonna to your friends, but don’t write it in a formal composition, a report, or a job application.

Practice using “will” and ¨going to” to read your partner’s fortune: You will live in an apartment in China. You’ll be married to Justin Bieber and you’re going to have two kids. You’re going to work as a garbage collector and you’re going to drive a sports car.

Now that you know your future, check out this video for the ’80’s classic by The Proclaimers: I’m Gonna Be (500 miles), and sing along!

Conversation objectives: develop fluency through conversation, practice the future tense, build vocabulary through conversation
Ideal group size: At least two players.
For more general conversation topics, click here.  For more conversation games, click here.

Happy Groundhog Day

Do not be fooled by the sunny weather. If it sees its shadow, that means six more weeks of winter. Image via Wikipedia.

It’s Groundhog Day in the United States.  This holiday, celebrated every year on February 2nd, uses a small woodland creature to predict the weather.  According to legend, the groundhog emerges from its burrow on February 2nd.  If the weather is sunny, the groundhog will see its shadow, get scared, and return to its home.  The verdict: six more weeks of winter.  If the weather is cloudy, the groundhog will happily stay outside, meaning that spring is just around the corner.

It is unlikely that the groundhog will be scared this year.  Many places in the United States are suffering from a large blizzard.  If the groundhog cannot leave its home, it won’t see its shadow.  And if the groundhog doesn’t see its shadow, spring will arrive early.

Make your own predictions.

What will you do tomorrow if the weather is nice?

What will you do if the weather is terrible?

What will happen in 2011?  Use “if,” “will,” and “going to” when you talk about the future.

Related Articles

• “Groundhog Day Activities: 5 Ways to Celebrate Punxsutawney Phil” and related posts (blogs.babble.com)

Conversation game: sports championship

This game is good to play just before the World Cup or any other major sporting event.  You can play with one conversation buddy or an entire class.

Paul the Prognosticating Octopus says that Spain will win the 2010 World Cup.

Paul predicts that the players in the World Cup final will wear shoes.

photo by Tilla

What are your predictions?

Conversation game: Sports Championship

In this game we use adjectives and the future tense to talk about upcoming sports championships.  It can be modified to work for any sport, not just soccer.  Our goals are to develop fluency through conversation, practice adjectives and the future tense, and come to a consensus as a group.

1. Warm up:
First, introduce yourselves. What is your name? What is your favorite sport? Why?

2. Group activity: Championship game predictions
In groups, discuss these questions:
Who will win?
Why?
How will each team play?
Who will the star players be?
Who will watch the game? Who will watch at the stadium? Who will watch on TV? Where will they watch?
Will the fans do rituals before the game for luck? What will they do?

3. Group activity: superlatives
Brainstorm some superlative adjectives to describe competitors. For example:
the strongest
the fastest
the bravest
the toughest
the stupidest
the smartest
the wildest
the most creative
the most determined
the most imaginative
etc
Write down as many superlatives as you can.

4. Partner activity: a good competitor
With a partner, talk about the characteristics of a good competitor.
What do you need to be a good soccer player? To be a good coach? To be a good fan? What about the family members of the players? The owner of the team?

5. Partner or Individual activity: design the ultimate team
In small groups or by yourself (depending on the number of people playing), create your own fantasy soccer team. On a piece of paper, write down the names of your eleven players and their positions. Remember to include forwards, midfielders, defenders, and a goalkeeper. You can use famous people or invent your own players. Use superlatives to describe them.

Now, rate the players on your team. You must pick
One excellent player
Three very good players
Three fair players
Four poor players

6. When you are finished, get together with the inventor of another team. Talk about your team. Ask your partner questions about his/her team.

7. Global feedback: picking the best team
As a group, discuss which team is the strongest. Is it better to have very good forwards or very good defenders? Is it better to have an excellent forward or an excellent goalkeeper?

Conversation objectives: develop fluency through conversation, come to a consensus, practice adjectives, practice the future tense, build vocabulary through conversation
Ideal group size: At least four players to make two competing groups of two.
For more general conversation topics, click here.  For more conversation games, click here.

Update: Paul the Octopus has passed away since this article was written. For details, click here: R.I.P. Octo-Paul.