Personalising Possibility: An Idea for a Concept-clarifying Lesson
Konrad Brodzinski, UK
Konrad Brodzinski is from London, UK. He read Modern Languages and English at Cambridge University, and has lived and taught English in Greece and Italy, as well as delivering shorter courses in Sweden, Georgia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. He now teaches in London. While mainly an EFL trainer, he also translates Polish fiction and non-fiction into English. He is interested in language as metaphor, and has recently questioned conventional presentations of aspects of English grammar and vocabulary in a series of articles in Modern English Teacher magazine.
E-mail: kbrodz@hotmail.com
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Introduction
Presentation idea
Conclusion
‘Possibility’ is a fuzzy concept. Not only in English – translate the word into another language, and you may well find it’s ambiguous there too. I once had the privilege of meeting the grammarian Geoffrey Leech, who distinguishes between ‘it’s possible for us to …’ – a practical possibility – and ‘it’s possible that we will …’ – a future possibility whose realisation we can’t control. But even that distinction doesn’t always guarantee clarity. Trawling the internet, I have found examples where the two overlap. Example: ‘Going to tropical countries, it’s possible for us to catch serious diseases’.
You might say that the last example is not correct English. I would reply: it may not be correct, but that’s how English is used in the real, global world. And it’s used like that because even learners who have worked for years on building up a robust repertoire of grammar, vocabulary and phonology in English have missed the essentials of the modal verbs which denote ‘possibility’: can, could, may, might. They have missed them because in their mother tongue possibility expressed as a modal / auxiliary verb is limited to one/two options – roughly translated as ‘can’, ‘could’. In my experience, many learners are happy to use ‘maybe’, but find ‘may’ and ‘might’ rather alien, partly at least because they do not have direct, one-word translations into the L1.
Generally, the grammar books don’t help. If you have a sentence with limited social context, or no context at all, then the choice between the four modals of possibility appears abstract. Are you going to the party? I’m not sure. I can go. I could go. I may go. I might go.
The mini-lesson below is one I use in an attempt to – let’s be technical here – disambiguate possibility, or – let’s be more humanistic – to make familiar something which should not be so complicated. It uses an apparently complex mix of ‘could have’, ‘might have’, ‘might’, etc - which might scare learners, and indeed teachers. But personalise the grammar – and it’s all clear.
I teach adults, and this particular lesson is designed for learners who have, in their life / education / career, had to make their own choices – students and professionals, for example. If you’re teaching younger learners, whose choices are often made for them, it might not be so easy to personalise. But I’m sure if you’ve come to know your younger learners, you can adapt, and find situations where they, or their parents or friends, have made real choices. So here goes:
Ask the students to identify a point in their lives where they were able to choose between two alternatives. Never mind the grammar. Then select one – let’s call her Elena.
Elena: I had a choice: study business / study history of art. I chose business studies.
The key point here is that both options had to be viable, There were two doors in her life: she was able to open either one. It was her decision.
Now the grammar:
[Prompt:] So, you…
I had the possibility to study … [what is actually produced here and in subsequent examples will vary, depending on the level of English and the L1].
More simply?
I … could study history of art.
Yes, you could study history of art or you could study business … You’re still at the point where you had the choice – and maybe you picked history of art. But you didn’t. So you could have …
I could have studied history of art.
That’s it. ‘Could have’ shows that you didn’t . But you chose …
Business studies.
And now?
I’m a business student / I’m a manager / I’m working for a big company.
And if you had chosen history of art?
[The grammar books tend to focus on the so-called ‘third conditional’: would have … but how often can we be really sure about consequences of non-existent actions? Why not might have? And indeed might?]
*Maybe I could become a teacher of art.
You might have become a teacher of art?
Yes, I might have become a teacher of art.
[Eliciting from the rest of the class:]
So, Elena might have become a teacher of art. Now, let’s imagine her today.
Maybe…
Yes?
Maybe she is a teacher of art?
Maybe she is … – she might be?
She might be a teacher of art?
Yes. She might be a teacher of art. And so, what might she be doing?
She might be teaching art.
Or she might be doing something different. ( … ? )
She might be working in an art gallery.
Or she might be unemployed.
Or … [etc. etc.]
Naturally, the above is not a whole lesson – it is just a blueprint for presentation and some practice. But however complex the rest of the grammar may appear – that depends on the point in the syllabus in which this item is introduced – the concepts of could and might are clearly separated.
Could as a derivative of can is an expression of ability, practicality and potential..
Might, like its close relative may, is in the hands of the gods.
Relate it to the individual – personalise it – and the difference is clear.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroomcourse at Pilgrims website.
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