Procedure:
First the teacher has to elicit what things the students n e e d with them when they
go away, e.g. phone charger, keys, camera, etc. Ask the students to explain why they always
take these items.
Explain that the students are going to play a card game to practice the modal verbs of
necessity ‘need’.
Divide the students into groups of four.
Give each group a set of picture cards. Tell them to shuffle the cards and place them in a pile
face down on the desk.
Explain that on the cards are pictures of everyday objects that people often carry with them.
Write the following structure on the board:
I always carry this/these because I need to...Demonstrate the activity by thinking of an everyday object. Then make a sentence using
the structure on the board, e.g. I always carry this because I need to buy something.
Students then try to guess the object (a wallet/money).
In their groups, students take it in turns to pick up a card and make a sentence using need to.
The first student to guess the object keeps the card.
If the group members are having problems guessing, the student can give more clues using the
structure on the board.
The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.
As an extension, students can write a paragraph about their necessity for the next week using
need to. Students then read out their paragraphs to the class.
Did you need to take that?
ESL EFL Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 35
minutes
In this productive worksheet activity, students practice expressing past necessity by talking
about the need for certain items in different situations. Each student is given a copy of the
worksheet. The students imagine that they went to each place mentioned on the worksheet.
Students look at the items they took and didn't take to each place and think about whether they
needed to take each item with them or not. Students then write a sentence for each item using 'I
needed to take...', 'I didn't need to take...', or 'I needn't have taken...' Afterwards, the students