1. Find Someone Who Will…
Students walk around the classroom asking questions about their future.
Examples:
Are you going to study abroad?
Will you still be living in Barcelona in ten years?
Are you meeting anyone this weekend?
Will you have learnt to drive by the time you're 20?
Challenge: Students must find five classmates with different future plans and report their findings.
2. The Fortune Teller
In pairs, one student is a fortune teller and the other is a client.
The fortune teller predicts:
Their love life
Their future career
Their financial situation
Their family
Their life in 2050
Example:
A: Will I become famous?
B: Yes, you will! You'll become a famous influencer, but you'll lose all your money!
Students swap roles.
Grammar: will for predictions.
3. Plans That Go Wrong
Students work in pairs.
Student A explains their plans for the weekend using going to and the present continuous.
Student B invents unexpected problems.
Example:
A: I'm going to spend the weekend in Paris.
B: But the airport is closed!
A: Then I'll take the train.
B: All the trains are cancelled!
A: OK, I'll rent a car.
Grammar: going to for intentions, present continuous for arrangements, will for spontaneous decisions.
4. Life in 2050
Divide the class into small groups. Students discuss how the world will change.
Topics:
Schools and education
Artificial intelligence
Jobs
Relationships
Transport
Climate change
Statements to discuss:
Teachers will have been replaced by AI by 2050.
People will be working only three days a week.
Nobody will use cash anymore.
Students must agree or disagree and justify their opinions.
5. Speed Dating: Future Partners
Arrange students in two lines facing each other.
They have two minutes to discover whether they have compatible future plans.
Questions:
Where are you going to live?
How many children will you have?
What will you be doing in ten years?
Will you have travelled around the world by the time you're 30?
After two minutes, one line moves to the next partner.
Challenge: Find the person whose future plans are most compatible with yours.
6. The Future Alibi
Two students are suspects in a crime that will supposedly take place tomorrow at 8 p.m.
They must agree on their future plans and create a convincing alibi.
The detectives question them separately:
What will you be doing at 8 p.m. tomorrow?
Who will you be with?
Where will you be having dinner?
What time are you leaving home?
Detectives compare answers and identify contradictions.
Grammar: Future continuous and present continuous.
7. The Last-Minute Holiday
Students work in groups of three.
They have won a free holiday but must make all their plans immediately.
They discuss:
Where they're going to go
How they're travelling
Where they're staying
What they're doing each day
Suddenly, the teacher announces:
Your flight has been cancelled!
Your hotel is fully booked!
One group member has lost their passport!
Students must react and make spontaneous decisions using will.
8. Four Corners: The Future
Assign four classroom corners:
Definitely will
Probably will
Probably won't
Definitely won't
Read predictions aloud:
People will live on Mars by 2050.
AI will replace most teachers.
University education will become free everywhere.
People will stop using smartphones.
You will get married before you're 30.
Students move to the corner that represents their opinion and defend their choices.
9. By the Time I'm 30…
Students take turns completing the sentence:
By the time I'm 30, I will have…
Examples:
…finished university.
…travelled to at least ten countries.
…found my dream job.
…bought my first house.
Classmates ask follow-up questions.
Extension: Students explain what they will be doing at different stages of their lives.
10. The Prediction Auction
Each group receives an imaginary €1,000.
They bid on predictions they believe are most likely to come true.
Examples:
By 2040, scientists will have found a cure for most cancers.
By 2035, robots will be doing most household chores.
By 2050, humans will have established a permanent base on Mars.
Before bidding, groups must explain their reasoning.
The winner is the group with the most convincing arguments, not necessarily the highest bid.
11. The Reunion in 2045
Tell students:
It's 2045. You're attending your secondary school reunion.
Students walk around the room pretending they haven't seen each other for 20 years.
They explain what has happened in their lives and talk about their future.
Examples:
I've become a famous architect.
Next year, I'm going to move to Australia.
By 2050, I'll have opened my own company.
This time next year, I'll be travelling around Asia.
This combines future forms with past and present tenses in a natural conversation.
12. The Future Chain Reaction
One student makes a future prediction.
The next student must explain what will happen as a consequence.
Example:
A: If AI replaces teachers, students will study at home.
B: If students study at home, schools will close.
C: If schools close, teenagers won't meet their friends.
D: If teenagers don't meet their friends, they'll become lonely.
Continue until someone cannot produce a logical consequence.
Grammar: will and first conditional.
13. Guess My Future Plan
One student thinks of a future plan but doesn't reveal it.
Classmates ask yes/no questions.
Are you going to leave Spain?
Are you travelling with friends?
Are you going to spend a lot of money?
Will you need a passport?
Are you leaving next summer?
The first student to guess the plan wins.
14. Future Continuous: What Will You Be Doing?
Students stand in a circle.
Ask:
What will you be doing at 10 p.m. tonight?
Students answer one by one.
Then change the time:
At 8 a.m. next Sunday
This time next year
At midnight on New Year's Eve
In ten years
On your 30th birthday
Students must avoid repeating previous answers.
15. The Future Press Conference
One student is a famous person announcing an important future project.
They can be:
A scientist planning to travel to Mars
A singer announcing a world tour
A politician promising major changes
An entrepreneur launching a revolutionary invention
A footballer planning to retire
The rest of the class are journalists who ask questions.
Examples:
When are you launching the project?
How much is it going to cost?
Will it change people's lives?
Will you have completed it by 2030?
Summary
Activity | Time | Main grammar |
|---|---|---|
Plans That Go Wrong | 10 min | Going to / will |
Four Corners | 10–15 min | Will / won't |
Speed Dating | 15 min | Mixed future forms |
The Future Alibi | 15–20 min | Future continuous |
The Reunion in 2045 | 15 min | Future perfect / mixed tenses |
More games:
Here are 10 more competitive, communicative games to practise future tenses with 1st Batxillerat (B1–B2). All involve speaking, movement or acting, and require no worksheets or materials.
1. Future Plans: Two Truths and a Lie
10 minutes · Speaking + guessing
Each student makes three statements about their future: two true plans and one invented plan.
Example:
I'm going to study medicine.
I'm meeting my cousins this weekend.
I'm moving to Japan next year.
Classmates ask follow-up questions before guessing the lie.
Competition: One point for each correct guess.
2. The Future Mime Challenge
10 minutes · Acting + guessing
A student silently acts out something they will be doing at a particular future time.
Classmates guess using the future continuous:
You'll be skiing in the Alps!
You'll be taking an exam!
You'll be getting married!
The actor can only answer yes or no.
Competition: The first student to guess correctly gets a point.
3. Convince Me!
10–15 minutes · Persuasion + debate
Students work in pairs. One has to convince the other to change their future plans.
Example:
A: I'm going to stay home this weekend.
B: Come on! We're going to a concert on Saturday.
A: But I'll have to study.
B: I'll help you study on Sunday!
Competition: Students vote for the most persuasive speaker.
4. The Future Disaster
10 minutes · Improvisation + teamwork
Divide students into groups of four.
Announce a dramatic future situation:
A giant asteroid is going to hit Earth tomorrow.
All smartphones will stop working next week.
Your school is going to close for six months.
A robot will replace your headteacher.
Each group has two minutes to agree on an action plan and present it.
Competition: The class votes for the most realistic or creative solution.
5. The Prediction Battle
10 minutes · Quick thinking + speaking
Two students stand facing each other.
Give them a topic, such as education in 2050.
They take turns making predictions:
A: Students will study from home.
B: Teachers will be using robots.
A: Schools will have disappeared by 2050.
B: Students will be learning through virtual reality.
The first student who repeats an idea, makes a serious grammar mistake or takes more than five seconds loses.
6. The Human Timeline
10–15 minutes · Movement + negotiation
Assign one side of the classroom to 2027 and the other to 2050.
Students imagine important personal milestones and physically position themselves along the timeline.
They explain:
I'll have finished university by 2032.
I'll be working abroad in 2035.
I'm going to get my driving licence next year.
Then students negotiate their positions with classmates.
Competition: Challenge teams to produce the most accurate and grammatically varied timeline.
7. The Promise Challenge
10 minutes · Role-play + improvisation
Students work in pairs.
One invents a problem; the other must respond immediately with a promise, offer or spontaneous decision using will.
Example:
A: I've forgotten my wallet!
B: Don't worry. I'll pay for you.
A: I can't understand this exercise.
B: I'll explain it to you.
Competition: The teacher awards points for natural, creative responses.
8. Future Plans Interrogation
15 minutes · Role-play + questioning
One student announces an ambitious plan:
I'm going to travel around the world next summer.
Three classmates become interrogators and try to discover weaknesses in the plan.
How are you going to pay for it?
Where are you staying?
What will you do if you run out of money?
Will you have saved enough by June?
The student must answer convincingly without contradicting themselves.
Competition: One point for every contradiction the interrogators discover.
9. The Future Sentence Relay
10 minutes · Teams + movement
Divide the class into teams standing in lines.
Give a future time expression:
By this time next year…
The first student from each team runs to the front and says a grammatically correct sentence.
By this time next year, I'll have passed my driving test.
They return to their team, and the next student produces a different sentence.
Change the time expression every few rounds:
This time tomorrow…
By the time I'm 25…
Next weekend…
In 2050…
Competition: One point per correct, original sentence.
10. The Future Newsroom
15–20 minutes · Acting + creative speaking
Groups of three prepare a short television news bulletin set in 2040.
Roles:
News presenter
Reporter
Interviewee
They invent three news stories involving technology, celebrities, education or the environment.
Example:
Good evening! Scientists have announced that people will be living on Mars by 2050. By then, engineers will have built the first Martian city.
Groups perform their news bulletins.
Competition: The class votes for the most entertaining and convincing news programme.
Summary:
Future Tenses Speaking Challenge
Prediction Battle — 10 min
Warm-up to activate will and future continuous.
Future Plans Interrogation — 15 min
Practise going to, present continuous and will in questions.
Human Timeline — 10 min
Focus on future continuous and future perfect.
Future Newsroom — 15 min
Final group performance combining all future forms.
