John Park & Peiyao Zhou

03/03/2017

CONTEXT
Level: Advanced
Skill: Grammar & Speaking
Function: make inferences or guesses about the past

RATIONALE
International students need to command ways to make inferences or guesses about the past. It

is a common and daily-used expression. By learning it, students can be more skillful in

communication.

OBJECTIVES
1. Students will be able to recognize eight patterns showing different certainty of inferences

or guesses about the past.

2. Students will be able to use modals to infer or guess the past with 90% accuracy.

TARGET EXPRESSIONS OR MAIN TEACHING POINTS

1. Couldnt have 2. Could have

3. Must (not) have 4. May (not) have

5. Might (not) have

SOURCES

Blass. L. & Lannuzzi. S., (2013), Grammar and Beyond 3 Cambridge

ODell. K., (2012), Grammar and Beyond 3 Workbook, Cambridge

 MATERIALS

1. Handouts of Using Past Modals to Make Guesses or Inference

2. Handouts of Practice 1 & 2 with answer keys

3. 15 green slips with one situation on each, 15 blue slips with one guess on each

4. Whiteboard

5. Marker
 Lesson Plan Phases:

Warm Up [Peiyao Zhou] (3 mins)

[John is not here.]

T: I am going to ask you a grammar question. I believe everyone here has learned

modals. [WOB: modal] Can anybody give me some modals that you know?

Ss brainstorm. T WOB students ideas. [be sure that there is could, must, may,

might, will, can. Negative form is not necessary. could, must, may, might had better be

written in this order on the right:

could

must

may/ might]

T points out that some can indicate present:

Sam must be sleeping now, so dont call him.

She cant be here now; she is grounded by her mum.

T points out that some can indicate future:

I will go to Hawaii this summer.

I can learn more about English next year because I will study in the United

States.

T tells Ss that today they are going to talk about using modal to indicate past and

then T puts could, must, may, might into a rectangle. After that, T tells Ss that people

usually use these four modals to make inferences or guesses about the past.
 (10 mins)
Presentation

[Peiyao Zhou]

T says, Okay, now I will hand it over to my partner, John. John? Where are

you John?

John walks into the classroom apologizing that he is late.

T asks, What happen to you? Why are you late?

John shrugs. T says that they are going to make some guesses about why John

is late.

T provides some guesses like:

He must have got stuck in traffic!

He could have fallen asleep!

He may have thought Matt was not going to teach the class, so he did not care

about the time.

Well, I don't know about that, the only thing I know is that he couldnt have

forgotten this class because we just talked about this lesson this morning.

I made so many guesses about what happened to John. Did you notice how I

made guesses by using modals? T passes out Handout 1.

If we want to make guesses or inferences about the past, we usually use this

structure:

[WOB] modal (not) + HAVE + pp.

 T can point out the modals can be the four from the brainstorm part. With not

following behind, it can be negative form. So could become couldnt, must/may/might

become must/may/might (not), then add could in the same line as may/might [WOB]

and T tells Ss that she will explain the reason (adding could with may/might) just in a

minute

T explains that using the modals plus have and pp. can show your inference about

the past. T emphasizes always use have after any modals, and use pp. After have.

T explains that when you are inferring or guessing about the past, there should be

some certainty in your guessing. Are you 100% sure about that? Or are you just not

sure about that, it is just a guess based on nothing, it does not mean it must be like

that. So by using different modals, you can show your certainty in different degree. So

that is why I put could here.

T and Ss move onto the next part in Handout 1, and T WOB with Ss help [as

could, must, may, might have been written on board already, so T only needs to write

down percentage directly]:

99% couldnt + have + pp.

95% must (not) + have +pp.

<50% may (not) / might (not) / could + have + pp.

[John Park]

T use PowerPoint to guide Ss recognize the structure of using past modals to

guess or infer by underlining modal, circling have and put rectangle around p.p.
This are sentences that are going to show on ppt:

He must have got stuck in traffic! Certainty:

He could have fallen asleep! Certainty:

He may have thought Matt was not going to teach the class, so he did not care

about the time. Certainty:

Well, I don't know about that, the only thing I know is that he couldnt have

forgotten this class because we just talked about this lesson this morning. Certainty:

When finish, T explains the pronunciation: When speaking, you would not hear

people say must// have separately and clearly. Generally, you would hear them

saying must-a, could-a, couldnt-a, might-a [WOB] and negative form pronouncing

as must/might/may not-a [WOB]. You need to be familiar with how native speakers

say that, then when you hear, you will know, they are using the structure and making

guesses about the past.

T reads the four sentences quickly, stress at the modal+have.

Ss follow T saying spoken pronunciation several times.

Ss do exercise 1, then check the answers with their partner. T suggests Ss should

finish without looking at previous content. When Ss are doing exercises, T can pass

out slips for next activity. When Ss finish, T can call on Ss to read sentences to the

class and correct pronunciation if necessary.

 Practice:
(8min)

T gives directions: each of you have a green slip and a blue slip. The green one is

the situation, and the blue one is the guess or inference. Now look at your

situation and later you are going to read it to others in order to find the suitable

guess or inference from others. Once you find the suitable guess, you should take the

guess slip, which is the blue slip. Similarly, if others situation matches the guess you

have in your hand, you need to give your blue slip to them. To make it clear, the green

slip is yours, keep it; try to find other blue slip that you think is the perfect guess of

your situation and take it.

T models: T also has a green and a blue slip, T reads her green one to a S (who is

given a match blue slip on purpose, the S checks his/her blue slip, match, the T takes

the blue one, T asks the S to read his/her green one, the T looks at her blue slip, it

doesnt match, the S cannot get the Ts slip.

T gives the S a new blue slip.

Comprehension questions:

Which sentence should you speak to others? [Ss: sentence on the green slip.]

Which slip should you always keep with you? [Ss: the green one]

Ask Ss to stand up and start to talk and find and go back to their seats when

finished.

After Ss go back to their seats, the T asks them to read their slips to the class.
 Production

T: Now lets do something interesting. Around the classroom, you can see there

are some pictures sticking on the wall. I want you to stand up with your partners and

do a gallery walk. You know in gallery, you would walk around [T moves around],

and stop in front of a picture [T stops in front of a picture] and look at it [T turns

around to the picture and look at it]? Thats what we call gallery walk. I will divide

you in to groups [T divided Ss into groups of three], each group choose one picture to

start, then you have two minutes to talk about itwhat do you think of the picture?

What guesses or inference can you make out of it? For example, [turn on the screen to

show the picture], if I look at this picture, I can see there is a green light in the middle

of the river, it looks like an explosion. There are some men with armour and torch

behind the wall, they look like an army. I would make some guesses like this: This

army must have launched something like a missile to the ships in the sea. Their enemy

on the ships must have gone through a disaster, some may have been killed, some

may have jumped into the sea and drowned. No one couldnt have survived in this

explosion! See? You can make many guesses by observing or imagining. After two

minutes, you will hear my bell, then you need to move clockwise to the next one. And

do the same thing.

T asks whether there are any questions.

Comprehension question:

How many minutes do you have when you talk about one picture? [Ss: 2min]
 You should move to which direction? [Ss: clockwise]

T asks Ss to stand up and each group choose one picture to start. And remind Ss

to use what they learned today to make inference.

T rings a bell every two minutes. It is not necessary for Ss to finish all the picture

on the wall.

When there are three minutes left in this class, T asks Ss to go back to their seats.

Wrap Up
(4min)

Review what the eight patterns are which show possibility of the past.

Review the certainty of the four patterns.

Calls on 3-5 Ss to share a few sentences that they created from the gallery walk.

[It does not necessary to choose Ss to share on different pictures.]

Solve the mystery: what happened to John? Ask Ss to give some of their ideas,

then T asks John, What happened to you? John takes out a Yogurtland bowl. T asks

Ss how certain they are now and what modal they should use. Then T guides Ss to say

He must have gone to Yogurtland!

[Handout 1]

Using Past Modals to Make Guesses or Inferences

modal (not) + HAVE + pp.
Certainty:

Most certain (99%) couldnt + have + pp.

Certain (95%) must (not) + have +pp.

Least certain (less than 50%) may (not) / might (not) / could + have + pp.
[Exercise 1]

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the correct modals indicating the certainty.

1. --- The ground is wet!

--- It ____________ _____________ _____________ (rain) last night.

[95%]

2. --- It is very warm outside.

--- It ___________ not _____________ ____________ (rain) last night,

[<50%]

or it couldnt be this warm.

3. --- I have searched everywhere for my phone, but I still cant find it.

--- You ___________ not ___________ ____________ (lose) it again!

[99%]

4. --- Ann looks excited. Why?

--- She ___________ _____________ _________________ (find out)

[<50%]

that her parents are going to take her to Disneyland this weekend for

her birthday. But Im not sure; it may be something else.

5. --- Uncle Bobs car has a big dent on the hood and one headlight is broken.

--- He ___________ ______________ ____________ (hit) a tree or

[95%]

something.
[slips]
On the green slip is situation:

1. Oh, no! The dog threw up on the living room carpet.

2. Theres an ambulance across the street.

3. My alarm didnt go off, and there are no lights on in my house.

4. Linda asked me how I felt about her new haircut, and I just told the truth: it

was terrible. It made her head look bigger than ever.

5. Were out of milk again!

6. Almost everyone fell asleep in that boring lecture, but Lisa didnt. Amazing!

7. I fell off my bike and broke my arm.

8. I received a phone call last night, but no one spoke. Was it your roommate?

9. Kevin got directions off the Internet, but hes not here yet.

10. Do you know in ancient China, women were not allowed to get an education?

11. Ive called Howard ten times, Im sure. But he doesnt answer his cell phone.

12. Look! There are lights on in the Smiths house. Didnt they go away on

vacation?

13. Rosie is crying because someone told her that her visa has expired and she has

to go home. Did the director tell her that?

14. John missed the meeting. Did he forget about it again?

15. Did you hear? Kevin was expelled from school!

On the blue slip is guesses and interferences:

1. She may have eaten something that upset her stomach.

2. Somebody may have gotten injured.

3. The power must have gone off.

4. Oh my! She must have been furious! What did she say?

5. Jane must have forgotten to get some at the store.

6. She must have drunk a lot of coffee this morning! Haha!

7. Oh! That must have hurt so much! How are you feeling now?

8. No, he couldnt have called you. He went to bed very early last night.

9. He must not have followed them correctly.

10. Some women might not have had a happy and wealthy life without getting any

education!

11. He must not have remembered that you were going to call him. Hes a little

forgetful, you know. Ill bet he forgot to turn his phone on.

12. They may not have left yet, or they may have left the automatic timer on to

deter burglars.

13. It couldnt have been the director. Shes not even here today.

14. What? He couldnt have forgotten about the meeting. I reminded him in the

morning!

15. He must have done something extremely terrible like having a fight with

others or skipping classes many many times!

 Answer Keys
[PowerPoint]

1. He could have fallen asleep! <50%

2. He may have forgotten something at home so she may have gone home to get it.

<50%

3. He may have thought Matt was not going to teach the class, so he did not care

about the time. <50%

4. Well, I don't know about that, the only thing I know is that he couldnt have

forgotten this class because we just talked about this lesson this morning. 99%

5. [Practice 2]

1. must have rained

2. may/might, have rained

3. could, have lost

4. may/might/could have found out

must have hit