Used To vs. Would ESL Games, Activities & Worksheets

ESL Used To vs. Would Game - Grammar: Guessing, Forming Sentences, Freer Practice - Pair Work In this fun 'used to' vs. 'would' game, students guess typical past routine actions with 'would' based on past experiences described with 'used to'. In pairs, one student begins by picking up a card and reading out the 'used to' sentence on the card to their partner, e.g. 'I used to have a dog.' Their partner then has 60 seconds to guess three typical routine actions connected to the sentence using 'would', e.g. 'You would take the dog for a walk.' For each 'would' sentence that matches one of the actions on the card or is a reasonable synonym, the guesser scores one point. The guessing student continues to form 'would' sentences until they correctly guess all three routine actions or the time runs out. Afterwards, the student with the card reveals any actions that were not guessed, and the card is removed from the game. The other student then picks up the next card, and so on. The game continues until all the cards have been used. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Used To vs. Would Game - Grammar: Bingo, Identifying, Labelling - Group Work In this enjoyable 'would' game, students play bingo to distinguish between three different grammatical functions of 'would' (past routines, reported speech, and unreal situations) using context clues. To begin the game, the bingo caller reads out a sentence at random from the caller's sheet. Each player then listens for the 'would' verb collocation and checks if it is on their bingo card. If they have it, they label the function on the line under that collocation using PR for past routines, RS for reported speech or US for unreal situations. The game continues until a player has labelled four 'would' verb collocations in a row. When this happens, the player shouts 'Bingo!' and reads out the four 'would' verb collocations and their functions. The bingo caller then checks the four functions using the caller's sheet. If all four functions are correct, that player wins the round. If any function is incorrect, the player is out of the round, and the game continues. After a winner has been confirmed, the group continues onto a second round to see who can label all 16 'would' verb collocations first. Groups play several rounds, with students taking turns to be the bingo caller. show less