Can I marry your daughter?

Age: Teens and Adults
Focus: First Conditionals

The activity proposed here is for the song "RUDE" by Magic. Although the song doesn't have the first conditional, it can be used for that purpose, so you can show students the slide with the lyrics but you don't necessarily need photocopies.

TEENS 

First, students fill in speech bubbles in pictures taped to the wall. Then, they are assigned a role in a group of three.

Student 1: The boyfriend
Student 2: The girlfriend (or the girl's mother)
Student 3: The father

Assuming students have been exposed to the first conditional and practiced for some weeks, in groups of three, they engage in a conversation in which the boyfriend asks his girlfriend's father to marry her. In case the girls in class don't feel comfortable playing the girlfriend, they can play the girl's mother.

The boyfriend is supposed to use the first conditional in the conversation and convince the girl's father (or mother) that their marriage will work out.  IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR PERMISSION, WE WILL… / IF WE DON'T GET MARRIED, WE WILL… etc. (The same with the adults below)

ADULTS

First, male married students share with everyone how they proposed to their wives and female married students share how their husbands proposed to them. Then, they are assigned a role and engage in the same conversation proposed above.

NOTE: For both age groups, teacher monitors students and provides them with vocabulary and feedback.

Activity Downloadable