That's English!- module 5 - lesson 3: Life in the future

As you can guess this topic deals with future tenses,especially with WILL and GOING TO. We are studying the difference between them but as you can see in your book, WILL is for undetermined events or predictions while GOING TO is for something planned or arranged. Sometimes you can use both with a similar meaning as it happens with predictions, but if you use "going to" it's due to the fcact there is more clear evidence for the prediction. Let's see both examples:

• Tomorrow it will rain in the north of Spain: there is a possibility of rain. Mañana lloverá en el norte de España.
• Tomorrow it's going to rain: there are many clouds in the sky and the weather is getting worse and worse so it's very likely to rain. Mañana va a llover.

If you think of these sentence,s the difference is similar to the Spanish use but we don't use future simple so often in Spanish. Nevertheless, the diference is not so big and you can use both in the same conversation. Here you have an example: click here

In some other cases, the use of one tense or another has different meanings:

• something it's been arranged; e.g. I'm going to study a new language next term) 
• however, when it's something not planned, just a sudden decision or not very sure we use "going to", especially with if-clauses;e.g. I'll start a new language next term if I have some free time or Don't stand up, I'll open the door

For further explanation and exercises, go to these links:

• a listening comprehension about the future TV; click here  and this one is about education
• these videos explain the future forms: click here and here
• this is a link about grammar with exercises at the bottom: click here

The other point of grammar is about comparative and superlative forms. Here you are a link to see an explanation about this topic: click here or here. Remember that the rules for the spelling for past simple can be applied for -ER or -EST: consonant + vowel + consonant and the stress on the vowel, you should double the last consonant; e.g. big - bigger, sad - sadder, thin - thinner, etc.

ORAL ACTIVITIES

Use these questions as we did in class in pairs but take into account these questions may be used in the individual task of the exam.

• What are your plans for next weekend? What are you going to do?
• How will these things change in the future: education / technology (smartphones, computers, tablets, etc.) / television / housing, etc.
• What changes will you make in your life: a new house, a new car, a new job...?

I strongly recommend using your mobile to record your performance. Remember to makke the question clearer by repeating the idea in a different way, by giving more information and not only a yes/no answer, making an introduction or summarizing or giving further explanation of your opinion...
See you in class!