Tip of the Month

If you want to give your students an opportunity to practise grammar in a creative way, you can try out the following plan.

It’s high time you ...

 

Level: Intermediate +
Time: 45 minutes
Grammar: Subjunctive
Materials: handouts, one per each student

Procedure:

1. Write the following sentence on the board and ask your students who might have said it and to whom. Ask them to give you words that describe the speaker’s feelings.

It’s high time you tidied up your room.

2. Do the same with the following additional sentences.

It’s about time you learned to do this more carefully.
It’s high time you learned to cook.
It’s about time you got here.

3. Write It’s high time and It’s about time on the board. Give everyone about 20 seconds to look at a range of sentences like the following – on a worksheet. Select your sentences with a view to your students’ age.

You ...
..... learned to drive.
..... did a bit of slimming.
..... stopped making funny remarks.
..... stopped nagging me.
..... learned to listen.
..... behaved yourself.
..... cut down on alcohol.
..... started to do some exercise.
..... told him/her/them your opinion.
..... sold your car.
..... had the washing machine repaired.
..... decorated the living room.
..... bought some new clothes.
..... called ...
..... wrote to ...

4. Tell your students to turn over the worksheets. Ask them to write down as many sentences as possible from memory.
5. Ask several students to read out the sentences they remember, starting each with It’s high time or It’s about time.
6. Have each of your students say which sentence they dislike most and ask them to imagine the situation in which the sentence was used.
7. Get them to try to use the same tone of voice the speaker may have used in the situation in which the sentence was originally said.
8. Write the skeleton text on the board. Ask your students to write their own texts.

 

Skeleton text
It’s high time you ______
it’s high time _______,
it’s high time _______,
______ keep(s) saying.
Thanks for the advice,
but it’s my time
you’re talking about
and I’ll decide
 when to move.

If your students feel like writing their own endings (for the last 5 lines), encourage them to do so.
If you decide to ask students to read their texts out loud, spend some time guiding them in rehearsal. The first lines ought to convey the nagging, the second part ought to be spoken in clear, firm tone.

Example:
It’s high time you helped me with the housework,
It’s high time you tidied up your room,
It’s high time you studied harder,
Mum keeps saying.
Mum, don’t be angry.
 It’s my life.
I’ll do what you want,
but, please, stop nagging.