The Time Traveler's Wife - Second Conditional

The film The Time Traveler’s Wife is delightfully enjoyable and brimming with ingenuity. The entire concept is highly captivating, and the intriguing outset is truly superb. I used two sequences from the movie to provide students with an opportunity to exercise the second conditional tense in a creative and situationally contextualized manner.

Definition:

Time Travel: the idea of traveling into the past or the future.

I. Work with a friend. Write down your answers to the questions:

1.       Would you like to time travel? Why (not)?

I ______________________ because ______________________.

2.       What would the consequences of time travel be?

If people could time travel, _________________________________.

3.       Would you change anything about your past?

If I could change anything about my past, I __________________.

4.       What about history? Would you change anything? What would you do to change it?

If I could change anything in history, I ____________________.

II. Watch the 1st segment and talk to a friend about the questions that follow.

1. What happened in the segment?

2. Why did he decide to go back in time to talk to himself as a child?

3. What do you think will happen next?

 

III. Watch the 2nd segment now. Then answer the questions. Write down your answers and use the 2nd conditional.

1. If you could go back in time, would you choose the person you wanted to marry and make her love you? Why (not)?

If I ______________________, I ______________________

2. Would you do what he did if you were the main character of the movie? Why (not)?

If I ______________________, I _______________________

3. Would life be better or worse if people could travel in time? Why?

If people __________________, _________________________

IV. Rank the periods that, if you could time travel, you would visit first, second, or never. Justify your answer.

(     ) Prehistoric Age

(     ) 0 BC - Jesus Christ era

(     ) 1800's

(     ) A few years ago

(     ) The 60's

(     ) 20 years in the future

(     ) 100 years in the future.

(     ) 500 years in the future.

V. Choose a time period and prepare a speech to share with the rest of the class. Follow the model below. Make sure you use the 2nd conditional.

If I could travel across time, first I ______________________________ because ____________. Second, I _____________________ beacause ____________, and finally I _____________________ because _____________. However, I _____________ (never) because_______________.