Explaining Future Forms to ESL students

Introduction: the grammar question that stumps new teachers

As a student on a CELTA course, a trainee or newly qualified teacher, you’re going to come up against a lot of “but what’s the difference, teacher” questions. These are the questions that can really stump you when you’ve just started teaching. Things like:

“But what’s the difference between will and be going to, teacher?”

Or

“But what’s the difference between be going to and the present continuous, teacher?”

These kinds of questions can challenge your understanding of English grammar, especially when it comes to verb tenses and grammatical aspects such as the simple future tense, future continuous tense, and present simple tense.

Common Future Form questions from ESL students

As a teacher you have two choices in this situation. The first is to blurt out the grammar book definition and hope your students can apply this to their lives outside the classroom. You could say something like:

“Well, will is for immediate future decisions and be going to is for future plans.”

Or

“Well, be going to is for plans, while present continuous is for arrangements.”

The issue here is that you’re relying on your students understanding the subtle difference between the words plans and arrangements in their second language. To be honest, I’m not sure the average person with English as their first language would be able to rattle off the difference between the two with much ease. All we’ve done here is to give our students something to write down in their notebooks. They’re most likely no better at producing this language correctly or grasping the subtle differences than they were at the beginning of the conversation.

A better way: make grammar real with a story

So what’s the second choice then? The second option is to tell your learners a story and try to make it real for them. Here’s one that I like to tell:

A long time ago, my partner at the time (now, my ex-partner) came home one day with a picture they had bought at a market. They came in and showed me the picture they had bought. Now, unfortunately, I was not a very good partner, and I was playing Xbox so didn’t really pay much attention. My partner asked me to hang the painting on the wall for them.

A few days later they came home, and the painting was still lying against the wall where she’d left it and she was clearly frustrated.

Now at that point I had three things I could say to my partner:

Don’t worry, I’ll hang it tomorrow.

Don’t worry, I’m going to hang it tomorrow.

Don’t worry, I’m hanging it tomorrow.

All three of these are grammatically correct and possible in this situation. However, all of them give my partner a different piece of information. Take a moment now and consider these three questions:

What information does each of these communicate?

Which of these would make my partner happiest?

Which of these do you think I said?

Analysing the grammar: Future Forms in context

Let’s examine them one at a time:

Sentence	Future Form	Used to describe	What does this communicate to my partner?
I’ll hang it tomorrow	Will (modal verb will)	Immediate future decisions	I have not thought about your picture at all since you brought it home. I’m deciding now to hang it tomorrow. I promise to do it but only because you brought it up again.
I’m going to hang it tomorrow	Be going to	Plans	I thought about this before now and decided to hang it tomorrow.
I’ll hang it tomorrow	Present continuous	Arrangements	Not only have I thought about this before now, I am fully organised and prepared to do it tomorrow. I’ve set aside some time. I have even asked our neighbour if I can borrow a drill.

Teaching point: it’s not about right or wrong

Usually when choosing a future form, it’s not about right or wrong. Often, a number of future forms are possible. But each of them will give a different piece of information to the listener. Obviously in this situation, the final option, the present continuous, would make my partner the happiest as they would know it was all organised. And, I can tell you that while this story does not paint me in the best light, it is unfortunately a true story. Which one do you think I said? That’s right, I said “Don’t worry, I’m hanging it tomorrow”. However, if I’m being brutally honest with myself, it would have been truer for me to say “I will hang it tomorrow” as I had completely forgotten about the painting.

Whatever future verb tense you’re using, whether it’s the future perfect tense, future perfect continuous, or future continuous, they all give different information to the listener. Real life stories can help us demonstrate this to our learners, and clarify the differences in our own minds.

Future forms are not about right or wrong; they are about the message you want to communicate to others. Whether it’s the root form, a perfect tense, a continuous tense, or a perfect continuous tense, English grammar is rich with ways to express time.

Final thoughts: from grammar to real communication

So the next time your students ask you what the difference is between two grammar points, take a beat before rattling off the grammar book definition, spare a thought for my ex, and try to make it real for them with a story of your own.

If you’re new to teaching, or thinking about becoming an English teacher, don’t worry, these questions get easier with time and practice. On a CELTA course, you’ll learn how to explain grammar clearly, plan lessons that make sense, and build your confidence in the classroom. If you’re ready to start your journey, take a look at our CELTA training course in London. It’s the perfect first step.