Talking about hypothetical situations. These kids ages 3 to 11 play"Would You Rather". Listen and see if they have
anything to teach us.
In this video, taken from Jamie Keddie's site, Lessonstream.org, James and Jess decide which would be better: to spend a month in prison or two
years alone on a desert island.
Now, it's your turn to talk. Do you agree or disagree with James and Jess? Give reasons for your answers.
Let's discuss similar questions proposed by Jamie Keddie:
Would you rather be able to speak English like a native English speaker, or speak 12 other languages at elementary level?
Would you rather walk to work naked or eat a sheep’s eye ball?
Would you rather be the world’s best singer or the world’s best dancer?
Would you rather be able to fly or make yourself invisible?
As we have just heard in the video, when talking about hypothetical situations, we can use these expressions below:
I would … / I’d …
I wouldn’t …
Would you … ?
You would have to …
You would be able to … / You could …
Second conditional structures (e.g. If I had enough books, I would choose a desert island.)
Video
transcript
Jamie: Would
you rather spend a month in prison or two years alone on a desert island?
James: Oh, a
month in prison, definitely.
Jess: Why?
James:
Because, a month in prison, you have company for a start. It’s only a month
long and you get adequate care taken of you. A desert island, you’re left
alone. You don’t have that.
Jess: But
that’s kind of fun.
James: Well,
it’s fun if you have, you know, adequate resources.
Jess: If I
had enough books, I would definitely choose a desert island.
James: What
about water and food?
Jess: Well,
yeah. As in like ... hmm ... yeah, I wouldn’t be very good at that.
James: Plus,
you have to think suncream ... you know ... you get books in prison.
Jess: Then
I’ll sit in the shade. I don’t know. Hmm ...
James: What
would be the problem for prison for you?
Jess: It
would just be a bit grim. Like at least if you were on a nice island, it would
be nice and scenic.
James: Yeah.
And you’d feel like a free person.
Jess: It’d
be like ... it’d be like a holiday. But then you wouldn’t see anyone for two
years and probably go crazy.
James: Two
years is quite a long time ...
Jess: Yeah
James:
Whereas one month is ...
Jess: Maybe
I’d pick prison as well.
James: Yeah
Jess: You’d
also get really ripped because you’d probably ...
