Future tense is perhaps the easiest tense for lower-level ESL students to understand and use in making predictions. In this tense, the auxiliary verb “will” is attached to a verb, implying future action. Teachers of ESL demonstrating the use of future tense should clarify to students that the connotation of “will” is strong: the prediction will likely come true, regardless of other circumstances. Thus, it may behoove students to learn how to use future tense in conjunction with “if” and “when” statements; for example, “If it rains tomorrow, he will cancel his trip.”
Many ESL students confuse the differences between future tense and present continuous tense when making predictions and decisions. An advanced lesson on prediction statements should teach students the nuances between these two forms. Specifically, educators should teach students that when a speaker uses a “will” verb in place of a present continuous verb, the speaker is presenting new information or making a new decision. On the other hand, present continuous verbs imply that the prediction has already been made, such as in “It is going to rain.”
Many ESL students have trouble with this form of prediction, as many non-English languages (e.g. Chinese) do not have a similar construct. In the subjunctive mood, a hypothesis is given before a prediction is made. Teachers should explain to students that subjunctive mood is most commonly used in situations in which the prediction is relatively uncertain, such as “If we were to find a new element, it would revolutionize the field of chemistry.”
A lesson on predictions would not be complete without teaching students how to emphasize the degree of certainty related to their predictions. The teacher should provide the students with an adequate amount of adjectives and adverbs to use in making predictions. Words like “likelihood,” “probably” and “doubtful” are especially useful.