Modals of Obligation and Prohibition ESL Activities, Games and Worksheets

In this light-hearted modals of obligation and prohibition activity, students write an imaginary classroom contract for their teacher. Give each group of three a copy of the worksheet. The students read a student contract on the worksheet. Highlight the use of modal verbs of obligation and prohibition in the contract to the students. The students then write a teacher contract about all the rules and regulations they think you should follow. The contract shouldn't be too serious. Instead, encourage the students to create an amusing or imaginative set of rules. When everyone has finished, each group reads out their teacher contract to the class. After each group has presented, you and the group members sign the contract.

In this modals of obligation activity, students complete sentences expressing obligation for 'How to...' topics and then use the sentences in a guessing game. Give each pair of students six 'How to...' cards, containing modal verbs of obligation, e.g. 'You must...', 'You should...', etc. The students think of six 'How to...' topics and complete six sentences, expressing obligation for each topic. When the students have finished writing, the pairs take it in turns to read out their sentences to another pair. The other pair has to guess the 'How to...' topic from the expressions of obligation. For each correct guess, pairs score one point. The pair with the most points wins the game. Afterwards, each pair reads one set of sentences to the class and they try to guess the 'How to...' topic.

Here is a can and can't activity to help students practice 'can' for permission and 'can't' for prohibition. In the activity, students discuss British laws and guess the ages people can and can't do certain things. Give each pair of students a copy of the worksheet. The pairs discuss the British laws on the worksheet, choose one age for each law, and circle it. When the students have finished, each pair joins with another pair to make a group of four. Each group discusses the British laws and reaches a consensus about the ages people can and can't do the things shown on the worksheet. Afterwards, groups give their answers and the correct age for each law is revealed to the class. The students then discuss which laws surprised them the most. Finally, the groups compare the list of British laws on the worksheet with the laws in their home country.

In this modals of obligation game, students make sentences about what people must do or be if they want to be successful in a particular job. Divide the class into teams of three and write the name of a job on the board, e.g. athlete. The teams have five minutes to write down as many 'You must...' sentences, expressing things people must do or be if they want to be successful in that particular kind of work, e.g. 'You must train every day'. When the time limit has been reached, the teams swap papers for marking. For each grammatically correct and appropriate sentence, teams score a point. Play several rounds with different jobs and other modal verbs and expressions of obligation, e.g. have to, should and ought to. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

In this modal of obligation and prohibition speaking activity, students play a guessing game where they describe places and situations using modal verbs and expressions of obligation and prohibition. Give each pair of students a card. Students describe the place or situation on their card by writing five sentences with modal verbs and expressions of obligation and prohibition, e.g. must, should, have to, etc. When everyone has finished writing, pairs take it in turns to read their sentences to the class. The class then tries to guess the place or situation described by each pair.

In this free have to and must game, students guess jobs from clues that contain expressions of obligation and prohibition with must, mustn't, have to, and don't have to. There are six clues for each job. The first clue is quite difficult and the last clue is very easy. Give each pair of students a set of clue cards, which they shuffle and place face down in a pile on the desk. One student goes first and picks up the top card from the pile. The student then reads out the first clue on the card to their partner. Their partner listens to the clue and guesses what the job could be. If the guess is incorrect, the student reads the next clue and so on. If their partner correctly guesses the job, he or she gets the number of points indicated next to the clue. The two students then swap roles. This continues until all the cards have been used. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. Afterwards, each pair thinks of a job and creates their own clues using expressions of obligation and prohibition. The pairs then read their clues for the class to guess.

In this should and shouldn't activity, students practice asking and answering yes/no questions with 'should'. This activity can be used to practice the modal verbs 'should' and 'shouldn't' for mild obligation and giving opinions. Give each student a copy of the worksheet. Students go through the items on the worksheet and form the yes/no questions they need to ask in order to do the activity, e.g. 'Should people eat meat?' The students then move around the classroom asking yes/no questions and completing their worksheets with yes or no answers, depending on whether the item on the worksheet is affirmative or negative. When a classmate responds appropriately, the student writes their name in the 'Name' column on the worksheet and asks a follow-up question to gain more information, e.g. 'Why do you think people shouldn't eat meat?' When everyone has finished, the students give feedback to the class on what they found out.

In this modals of obligation and prohibition board game, students review how to express past and present obligation, lack of obligation, and prohibition. Give each group of three or four a copy of the game board, a dice and counters. Students take it in turns to roll the dice and move their counter along the board. When a student lands on a square, they make a sentence with the underlined language from the prompt, expressing past or present obligation, lack of obligation or prohibition. For example, if the square read 'Three things you mustn't do in class', the student might say 'You mustn't eat snacks, talk loudly or use your mobile phone in class'. The other group members listen to the student's sentence and judge whether it's correct or not. If the sentence is correct, the student stays on the square. If the sentence is grammatically incorrect or doesn't make sense, the student must go back to their previous square. If students land on the same square, they are not allowed to repeat a previous sentence made by another student. Instead, they should use different answers or reform the sentence. The first student to reach the finish wins the game.

In this free past modals of obligation and prohibition activity, students ask and answer questions about what they were and weren’t allowed to do and had to do when they were a child. This activity can be used to practice permission, obligation and prohibition in the past. Divide the students into groups of up to 12 and give each student a card. The students' task is to find out the answer to the question on their card by speaking to everybody in the group. Each student then prepares the question they need to ask, e.g. 'Were you allowed to watch TV at night when you were a child?' The students then go around their group finding out about what their classmates were and weren’t allowed to do and had to do when they were a child by asking questions with 'Were you allowed to...?' and 'Did you have to...?' Students put a tick or cross on the back of the card each time a classmate answers yes or no. When everyone has finished, the students sit down in their groups and take it in turns to talk about the information they found out. Each student writes about the group's findings. When everyone has finished, the groups take it in turns to report back to the class on what they found out during the activity.

This past obligation activity helps to teach students how to express obligation in the past with 'had to' and 'didn't have to'. In the activity, students ask and answer questions about what they were obligated to do when they were children. Give each student a copy of the worksheet. The students begin by turning each statement on the worksheet into a question, e.g. 'When you were young, did you have to go to school by bus?' Students also create two more questions of their own at the bottom of the worksheet. When the students have finished, they go around the class asking one another their questions. When a student finds someone who answers 'Yes, I did' to a question made from a positive statement, they write that person’s name in the second column. If the question is about a negative statement, the student needs to find someone who answers 'No, I didn't'. When a student writes down someone's name, they ask a follow-up question to gain more information and write the answer in the last column of the worksheet. Afterwards, the students give feedback to the class on what they found out using 'had to' and 'didn't have to'.