Regrets
submitted by Anonymous

Uses: This lesson is good for creating conversations because everybody has regrets and most students seem to like talking about them. The "Why/Why not" portion of the handout refers to the reason why they didn't do as they wanted, not why they wanted to do something. You can use this lesson as a straight conversation lesson or it can be used to practice various sentence patterns depending on the level of your students. For example, students can practice noun clauses such as "I regret that I never studied abroad." It can also be used to practice past perfect as in "I wish I had gone abroad to study." Finally, after a student says one regret another student can give them retroactive advice as in "You should have ignored your parents."

Instructions: I usually give the students five to ten minutes to come up with three regrets. Of course, some will finish earlier than others. As long as everybody has at least two regrets you can proceed. By giving the students time to think you avoid the problem of everybody lacking something to talk about. If you are using this to practice a target sentence pattern you can give several examples before you let them fill in the sheet.

Good luck and have fun. Let me know how this works or if you have any changes or improvements!

"Regrets, I've had a few. But then again,
too few to mention...I did it my way."
Frank Sinatra

Everybody has regrets. It's a natural part of life. Today let's talk about some regrets you have. Use the following example as a model.

Regret: I regret that I never studied abroad.

Why/Why not?: My parents wouldn't allow it.

1. Regret:

Why/Why not?:

2. Regret:

Why/Why not?:

3. Regret: