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MODAL VERBS 1
Tip: When explaining structural rules of modals, point out that they are auxiliary verbs. They thus
conform to many of the same rules as other auxiliary verbs (like do, have, be), i.e. negative is with
not, inversion for the question etc. This is helpful as it gives you a chance to review those areas
of auxiliary verbs that many students find difficult in English.
Below you will find some great activities for teaching modals.
Different abilities
The use of the modal verb can for ability lends itself well for any kind of personalised
questionnaire about different abilities. Many coursebook materials have a 'mixed bag'
questionnaire of abilities, for instance:
Permission drill
Heres a simple drill to practise the different uses of can/could/would for asking for permission.
Write the following on the board and do it with a student to demonstrate.
As revision of material studied in class. Your statements here would cover things youve
done in class. For example:
I can remember the difference between past simple and present perfect.
I can understand how to make questions in English.
I can now talk about my family in English.
As a diagnostic for future needs/uses of English. Your statements here would not necessarily be
what youve done in English but rather what you think your students need or areas theyve told
you they want to work on. You could give options here, for example:
Very well
Well
I can, but its difficult.
I cant.
Once they have finished, tell them to compare in pairs. This activity is good for building selfesteem. A variation on this would be to ask students to find someone with a higher level of
English and interview them about things they couldnt do in English before but can now.
Modals in discourse
Because modals help convey the speakers or writers impression of an event they are a rich area
to look at in texts. A simple way of doing this is to ask students to take modals out of a text and
compare the new text with the original. For example, take this short text written by President
George Bush to his Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice during a UN meeting:
I think I may need a bathroom break. Is this possible?
Many reporters laughed at this note, because it made him sound like a child. Part of this was
because of the use of the modal verb MAY. By deleting the modal verb, or changing it, the shade
of meaning changes. Students could be encouraged to do this with other texts.
Ill do it - offers
The use of will to make offers is a very common one. This lends itself well to short roleplays. The
roleplay could take place in a restaurant, with the following incidents. Students work in pairs. A is
the customer and B is the waiter. They should go through each situation briefly.
Get students to write different predictions on small pieces of paper (e.g. you will meet a
tall dark stranger) Tell them to fold the predictions. Circulate with a hat, or box, or bag and ask
students to throw their predictions in there. Then get students to pull out new predictions and read
them out loud.
Have students roleplay a conversation in pairs. One person is the fortune teller and the
other plays himself/herself.
A variation on the above would be to assign different students the roles of fortune teller
and tell them to choose their method of fortune telling (palm reading, tea leaves etc). They set up
shop at the front of the class. Other students take turns going and visiting the different fortune
tellers. At the end do some feedback who was the best fortune teller?
MODAL VERBS 2
Noticing
If modal verbs are an area you havent thought much about, start looking out for them yourself in
different English texts. Examining modality can give a lot of background information about the
speaker or writers impression of the event. For example, what impression does the previous
sentence give if you replace the word can with will? What does it give if you delete the can
altogether?
With your students, this could simply mean underlining different modal verbs in a text and
discussing their meaning. More advanced students could also rewrite a text using different modal
verbs (in order to sound more confident, or less confident).
Reformulating
Many students tend to avoid modals, especially if they dont have them in their own language.
When monitoring speaking activities, you could choose to focus only on modal verbs. Listen out
for examples of English that could be better replaced by a modal verb, e.g.
It is possible that he went to the dentist.
Write these on the board at the end of the activity and ask students to reformulate them using a
modal verb.
You could also do this with samples of students writing.
Find some original letters and their answers on the Internet. You can do this by entering
agony aunt or dear abby on a search engine. Select some questions and the answers given
(better if they are short). Mix up the questions and the answers and distribute them to the
students, who have to match them. When they have finished, ask them to go through and find
any modal verbs in the text. As a follow up, ask students to write their own advice to those
people.
2.
Ask students to each write about a problem they have (real or imaginary) that they would
like advice on. They should write these on a slip of paper, but not write their name. Collect all the
slips of paper and put the students into groups of four. Give each group four problems at
random. Tell them to select two and give advice to the writer about their problem (including modal
verbs such as should, ought to, shouldnt etc). When groups have finished, ask them to read out
the problem and the advice.
Activity: regrets
To practise should have you could ask students to think about regrets theyve had in the past. To
get them started, give a few examples of your own, e.g.
I should have
I shouldnt have
I really should have
Ask students to complete the sentences for themselves. Tell them that these should be regrets
that they dont mind sharing with others. When they have finished, ask them to work in pairs and
POSSIBLE
IMPOSSIBLE
CERTAIN
Say different phrases and show how the sentence changes depending on if its possible,
impossible or certain, e.g.
We go out. (point to CERTAIN) Well go out.
We stay at home. (point to IMPOSSIBLE) We cant stay at home.
We go to the cinema. (point to POSSIBLE) We might go to the cinema.
Continue, giving other cues. These cues could be spoken, or written on cards, which you can
show the students, e.g.
I have a drink. (CERTAIN)
I have coffee. (IMPOSSIBLE)
I have tea. (POSSIBLE)
We work tonight. (POSSIBLE)
You work tonight. (IMPOSSIBLE)
I work tonight. (CERTAIN)
Prepare six to twelve more examples.
Ask students to work in groups. Give each group the name of a place (e.g. library,
swimming pool, jail, school, bus, amusement park) and ask them to write rules for this place
(using must, mustnt, have to and dont have to). When they finish, groups read out their rules and
the others guess the place.
2.
Ask students to work in small groups or pairs. Ask them to imagine that they are in
charge of designing the rules for a perfect language school. They should include what the
students and teacher should do, mustnt do and can do. At the end of the activity, ask different
groups to read out their rules (or post them on the wall). Who has the best school?
3.
Prepare a series of sentences about typical rules in society (see below for examples) and
ask students to complete them with a modal verb so that they are true for their country, e.g.
You ____________ vote in elections.
You ____________ drink alcohol at the age of 18.
You ____________ get married at the age of 15.
You ____________ drive a car at the age of 14.
You ____________ do military service when you are 18.