What better way is there to cheer up a class and spark some lively conversation than to ask your students about their most personal wishes and regrets? It’s the ideal grammar point for personalisation and to help your students get to know each other a bit better. I designed these materials to use as a New Year’s activity for the first day back after Christmas break, but it could be used at any time.
Expressing wishes and regrets can be very useful in both the writing and speaking parts of exams. It’s also a popular grammar point to pop up in a transformations task in the FCE exam. More than anything, it will help your B2 students show that they can use complex grammatical structures well and show off to the examiner. B1 students might enjoy the challenge and C1 students may benefit from the practice too.
Contents
How do we express wishes and regrets?
There are three main structures we use with the verb wish:
- wish + past simple – present/future wish
- I wish I had more time.
- I wish you didn’t have to leave so soon.
- I wish the world were a better place.
- wish + past perfect – regret about the past
- I wish I had said something.
- I wish you hadn’t lent me that money.
- I wish Trump hadn’t been elected.
- wish + would + infinitive – expression of annoyance at another person’s actions
- I wish you would shut up.
- I wish my neighbour’s dog wouldn’t bark at night.
- Wish can be substituted for if only.
- If only I had more time
- If only you hadn’t lent me that money.
- If only my neighbour’s dog wouldn’t bark at night
Notice that we use the past simple to express a present wish and the past perfect to express a past wish. This is because these wishes are unreal situations. It may be helpful at this stage to show your students the similarities to conditional statements.
The Materials
After a bit of controlled practice to make sure your students are expressing wishes and regrets correctly, it’s time to find out their secrets! These materials will get your students to personalise the grammar and use it during a pair work discussion activity.
Students answer questions on their own before working together with their partner to discuss their answers. Don’t worry, there’s nothing too personal.
EXAM PART: Speaking
EXAM SKILLS: Using complex grammatical structures appropriate to the level (B2)
TIME: 20-30 minutes depending how chatty your group is
PREPARATION: One copy of worksheet A and B for each pair of students
