He can't have gone far
Speculating about the past
Dev shuts the shop early every Thursday and won't say where he goes. The other three build theories.
- Level
- B2
- Length
- 60 min
- Exercises
- 5
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About this lesson
A 60-minute B2 lesson on modals of deduction in the past, for Polish adults who can guess but cannot yet say how sure they are. Every Thursday Dev shuts his corner shop at five and will not say where he goes. The other three build theories from a lowered blind, a handwritten card in the door, two sealed boxes and a bicycle.
Students speculate from the picture first. The reference sheet separates can't have (it did not happen) from needn't have (it happened, and there was no need), with a scale of certainty from bound to down to doubt. Ten short rewrites follow. In threes, students build one shared theory instead of three rival ones, and a twelve-sentence error correction ends by saying where Dev actually goes. Afterwards they can speculate about the past and grade each guess.
Speculate about a situation you do not have the facts for, and grade how certain you are.
- Grammar
- Modals of deduction and speculation, full range; can't have, needn't have.
- Function
- Speculating; encouraging and inviting another speaker to continue.
- Words (16)
- bound tounlikelyconceivablypresumablyneedn't havemight wellfor all we knowjump to conclusionsread too much intokeep to yourselfup to somethingturn upcheck in onfair to saydoubtplausible
Why Polish speakers get this wrong
Polish marks far more verbs as reflexive than English does. Ukrywać się, zapisać się, spotkać się, okazać się, dziać się: the się belongs to the verb, so learners carry it across as a pronoun. The result is He hid himself, She signed herself up or It turned out itself, where English simply says He hid, She signed up, It turned out.
A lesson full of hiding, meeting and things turning out is the place to deal with it. The rewrites print these verbs without a pronoun, and the teacher notes say to correct the pattern once, not verb by verb. The final error correction plants the extra pronoun in six sentences, such as The Nowaks moved themselves here, and sets a trap in a correct one with hides, where Polish makes hides himself feel obligatory.
Free guide: He hid, not “He hid himself”: reflexive pronouns and Polish się →
60 min · 5 exercises
- 1The card in the doorPicture description · Lead-in8 min
- 2Did he, or didn't he?Grammar cheatsheet · Presentation8 min
- 3Say how sure you areSentence transformation · Controlled practice12 min
- 4One theory, between the three of youDiscussion questions · Freer practice16 min
- 5What they got wrong, and where he actually goesError correction · Review12 min
Say how sure you are
Rewrite each sentence so it means the same, using the word in capitals unchanged. Eight words or fewer for the whole new sentence, not just the part you change.
- Marta is certain Dev was not hiding from anybody. CANNOT
- Dev did pull the blind down, though as it turned out, nobody looked in. NEED NOT
- Nothing argues against it, and it holds together: there is somebody Dev meets. PLAUSIBLE
- Tomek did explain his theory twice, though nobody was going to sign up to it. NEED NOT
- Isla leans against it but would not rule it out: Dev is up to something. UNLIKELY
As printed on the student sheet. Answers are in the teacher pack.
- 1Student pack7 pages · A4 PDF
- 2Teacher pack: plan, notes, answer key16 pages · A4 PDF
Questions about this lesson
Does the lesson say where Dev goes?
Yes, in the last sentence of the final exercise and nowhere earlier. The teacher notes suggest reading that sentence out yourself, asking what evidence anybody had for it, and finishing with two minutes in pairs on what they would say to Dev in the shop on Friday.
How is the group organised?
In the picture task each learner speaks alone for two minutes while a partner listens and times. The discussion runs in threes. The rewrites and the error correction are written tasks. There are no role cards and no recording, so the student pack is 7 pages.
What is in the teacher notes?
For each exercise: setup, what to listen for and what will go wrong. There is a rubric for the picture task with a maximum of 9 points, and the keys to the rewrites and the error correction explain why each answer is right and which alternatives to accept. The teacher pack is 16 pages.