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Grammar Lesson Plan: "I Wish" and "If Only": Jad Qandour

This document provides a lesson plan for teaching students how to express regrets, wishes, and complaints using "I wish" and "If only". The lesson includes warm-up activities with scenario discussions, practices focusing on regrets, wishes, impossibilities and complaints, and an application activity combining conditionals. Sample sentences are provided and students write their own examples to practice the grammar structures. Pairs then create short dialogues applying what they learned.

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Lamri Bey
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111 views

Grammar Lesson Plan: "I Wish" and "If Only": Jad Qandour

This document provides a lesson plan for teaching students how to express regrets, wishes, and complaints using "I wish" and "If only". The lesson includes warm-up activities with scenario discussions, practices focusing on regrets, wishes, impossibilities and complaints, and an application activity combining conditionals. Sample sentences are provided and students write their own examples to practice the grammar structures. Pairs then create short dialogues applying what they learned.

Uploaded by

Lamri Bey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Grammar lesson plan: “I wish” and “If only”

By Jad Qandour3 min read

This lesson provides activities that help students express regrets, wishes, and
complaints using “I wish,” and “If only”. This is important stuff—proficiency in
this subject is required for students to achieve a B2 level.

Warm-up

Prepare written scenarios on slips of paper and tape these around the
classroom. Assign pairs to each one. Ask them to discuss, and monitor their
responses.

Example:
You are expecting guests over for dinner in an hour.
But your house is a mess and you haven’t gone to the market yet.What do you need to do?
Divide the work between you and your partner.

A: I’ll clean the house if you go to the market.


B: Great. What do you want to eat?
A: Chicken sounds good. I’ll start cleaning the living room.
B: I’ll pick up some wine and dessert. Is chocolate cake alright?

[etc.]

Practice 1: Regrets

Inform pairs that they were only able to complete 50% of their tasks. Ask them
to provide solutions to three – four of their problems.

For example:

A: I didn’t clean the dining room.


B: I didn’t pick up a dessert.

Make sure to monitor and encourage conversation. After a few minutes, have
students take their seats again. Now, on the whiteboard, write down the same
sentences as above and the following:

Regrets use I wish / if only and a past participle verb.

Also write:

1. I wish I had cleaned the dining room.


2. If only I had picked up a dessert.

Have pairs rewrite three – four of their sentences in this same way. Monitor
their work and elicit three students to write one sentence each on the
whiteboard.

Practice 2: Wishes

Write the following on the whiteboard:


I wish &
+simple past + complementORwould / could + base verb + comp.
If only

I wish you took out would


+ OR take out the trash
If only you the trash could
Mini-activity

Have students recall any chores that they wish their roommates/imaginary
roommates would do. Let them write 2 – 3 down on sticky-notes (one sentence
per note) and and put them up on the wall.

Let students walk around the room to read each other’s sentences.
Example: “I wish Tom washed the dishes after dinner.”

Practice 3: Impossibilities and Complaints

Write on the whiteboard:

We express complaints and impossible desires by placing:

would / could before the verb

or

were + -ing or adjective

Such as:

I wish I couldfly.

If only you wouldbe more careful.

And:

I wish I wereyoung again.

If only I weretraveling to the Caribbean.

This is sometimes referred to as the subjunctive mood.

Ask students to write down responses to the following questions using the
previous model. Have them exchange and correct each other’s responses.
Monitor for accuracy.

1. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
2. What is something that you wish your partner or friend would stop doing?
3. Think back to being a teenager. What’s something that you wish you did
differently?
4. What were some things you wish you hadn’t said in a job interview?

Application – C1/C2 level

C1/C2 students should be able to apply this type of grammar in conditional


clauses by combining two ideas (sometimes past and present). Write on the
whiteboard:

I wouldn’tbe hungry right now if only I hadn’t skipped breakfast.

[Would / could (complaint)] + [if only + regret]

If (only) I weren’tso short I would play for the Golden State Warriors.

[If only would / could (complaint)] + [would / could (impossibility)]

Final activity

Pairs compose a script (~150 words) using the grammar that they’ve just
learned. Pick one prompt:

1. Ramona is at a party wearing a silly costume while everyone else is in


formal wear.
2. Fred is at a party wearing formal wear while everyone else is in costume.

The dialogue should include:

 Regret
 Wish
 Impossibility / Complaint
 Mixed conditionals

Example:

Beth: I think I misunderstood the dress code. I wish I had called to confirm.
Cath: No, it’s my fault. If only I had been clearer in the invitation.
Beth: If only I packed a change of clothes, I wouldn’t have to walk around in
this gorilla-suit all night.
Cath: I wish I could offer you a dress, but they’re all at the cleaners.
Beth: I wish I wasn’t the only one in a silly costume.
Cath: Hold on, someone wearing a banana-suit just walked in.
Have pairs swap their dialogues with other students and have them
identify regrets, wishes and complaints. Check and collect their dialogues.

Wrap up: Discuss

Regrets can also be expressed using modals like should. Ask students if they
notice a difference in tone between these two forms. Are there any other ways
to express regret?

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