What to Do with the Conditional

1A Present Situation That is Possible

Wishes are great context for practicing the conditional. Remind students that when
using wish, the past tense is used to represent a present situation. With that in mind,
have your students do a genie in the bottle role play to practice. Have one person play
the genie who starts by saying, “I will grant you three wishes.” The other person then
makes a wish using the conditional form of the verb. For example, he might say, “I wish I
had a puppy.” The genie answers, “Your wish is my command.” Once the person has
made all three wishes, have your students reverse roles and repeat the role play.
2A Future Situation That is Possible
If clauses are another natural context for practicing the conditional tense in English. For
an if clause discussing a future situation, the verb is in the present tense. Ask your
students to imagine their lives five or ten years from now. What would they like their
lives to look like? Have your students write 10 sentences about their futures starting
with an if clause. For example, someone may write “If I work in the United States in
fifteen years, I will live in New York City.” Remind your students, too, to place a comma
after the first clause in each sentence.
3A Present Situation That is Unlikely or Impossible
What would your students do if they were not studying English? Have each person
imagine what it would be like if he or she was completely fluent in the English language
right now. Then, have your students write about what their life would be like. “If I were
fluent right now, I would write a bestselling novel,” might be an example. Remind your
students that when using be as the verb in the if clause, any subject takes “were”.
4A Future Situation That is Unlikely or Impossible
Worst case scenarios can range from outrageous to probable, and in his book The Worst
Case Scenario Survival Handbook, Joshua Piven give the reader plenty to think about. If
you are able to get a copy of the book, use these situations to practice using conditional
statements for future unlikely events, or come up with some worst case scenarios of
your own. Give each student one of the scenarios to read about. In each segment, Piven
compiles advice on how to overcome the worst case scenario. Your students will read
his advice and then determine how to write the same information in a conditional
statement. She will then share her advice with the rest of the class. For example, if she
reads about being trapped in quicksand, she might say, “If you are trapped in quicksand,
you should try and float on your back.” In this case, the if clause should be in the
present tense and the main clause should use should with the main verb
5Something That is Always True If Something Happens
As different as your students might be, they do have one thing in common: they are
learners of English. Have your students tap into that experience by writing a brochure
giving advice to future students of English. In the brochure, your students should give
advice to the reader in an imperative statement and follow it with the reason for the
advice. They should use the conditional to express results that are always true when a
student performs a certain action. For example, your students might advise their
readers to speak with native speakers every day, and they would follow that advice with
this explanation. “When a student speaks with native speakers every day, he or she has
better pronunciation.” In a sentence with this structure, both verbs are in the present
tense.
6Something That Would Have Been True in the Past If Something Had Happened
Give your students a chance to get to know one another better while they practice the
conditional by sharing stories of their past. In pairs, have one student share something
that happened to him at some time in the past, for example, that he got an A on an
exam. Then have the second student ask a question beginning with “what if” and using
the conditional form of the verb to pose an alternative past. For example, the second
student might ask, “What if you had not studied?” The first student would then answer
with a conditional statement. “I would have failed.” For a past situation that might have
been true, the verb in the first clause should use the past perfect and the verb in the
second clause should use would have plus the past participle form of the verb.
One of the great things about teaching conditionals is that once you discover some
classroom activities that work well for one, they can be adapted to suit any of the
conditional patterns that you may be asked to teach. Here are 7 fun activities for
teaching conditionals for the ESL classroom that you can easily adapt to help your
students understand the correct structures and usages.

1. Pass the Pig. Tell your students to stand up and form in two lines (teams) and
have an item that can be thrown and caught without causing injury or damage. Set
the timer on your phone to sound after about 30-45 seconds. The teacher calls out
the beginning half of a conditional sentence, throws the ball to a student at the
beginning of the line and asks them to complete it. The student then throws the ball
to their opposition in the line, who does the same, creating a different ending to the
same beginning. Whichever team DOESN’T have the ball when the alarm sounds
wins a point. Restart at the place where the ball is with a new beginning.

(Example with zero conditional: When I feel bored, I……fall asleep, go for a walk,
phone a friend…)

2. Chain Conditionals This is a more challenging version of pass the pig and is
sometimes referred to as a “conditional train”. The extra challenge is to create a
new sentence using the end of the previous one. As with “pass the pig”, the teacher
begins with a sentence, for example with a first conditional: 'If I go out tomorrow, I’ll
go to a beach.' The next person in the team relay must then use the end of the
previous sentence .. If I go to the beach, I’ll sunbathe….. If I sunbathe, I’ll get burnt…
If I get burnt, I’ll go to a pharmacy…. Bear in mind you can include modals such as
‘might’ and ‘could’ in this pattern too.

3. Pelmanism (“Concentration”). This is a game based on memorizing cards or other

objects placed in front of the players that has become a standard activity in the ESL
classroom. It is known as “Concentration” in many countries. Create 5 pairs of
cards with beginnings and endings written on them. For example, with a second
conditional: Card 1 “If I lived in Antartica” / Card 2 “I would be very cold”. Lay them
face down and either mark all the backs of the beginnings with “1” and the endings
with “2” or have beginnings and endings on different colored card. Set students up
in groups of 2-4, with a set of cards each. They put all the cards face down and take
turns picking up a beginning, saying what a suitable ending might be and then pick
up an ending card. If they are a suitable match they keep the pair, if not they replace
the cards face down and the next student continues. You must design the pairings
so that there is only one possible match. Make sure the students say what the
ending might be before picking up the second card to maximize student talk time.
The student with the most cards at the end wins. Can repeat as time allows.

4. Mill Drill Questionnaire. Mill-drills, or mingling activities, are another ESL

standard which use the simple questionnaire idea whereby students ask each other
questions prepared by the teacher and write down their answers. Create a form with
room for names and answers so that students can report back about what they’ve
found out, using the target language pattern.

Example, for 3rd conditional:

What would have happened if…?

Lucy: We hadn’t invented the wheel?

Joe: we would have traveled around by horse. What would have happened if you
had ruled the world?

Sue: There wouldn’t have been any wars.

5. Group Discussions. Set students up into small groups with role-plays such as
tour companies, or as political parties creating an election manifesto, (have fun
having them choose their names). Give them conditional questions such as:

What would you do about traffic congestion if you were the government? (2nd
conditional)

What do people do when they go on holiday with your tour company? (zero
conditional)

Give out the same question to each group and allow them a few minutes to come up
with their best responses. They report back with their ideas and you act as a voter
or customer deciding which you would choose. Repeat with the next question or
scenario as time allows.

6. Board Game With Prompts. You can use snakes and ladders (chutes and ladders)
or any similar game board and adapt it to your target language point. To make the
game more versatile, have squares with different colors and create your own cards
in the colors that either have starts for students to create endings to, errors to
correct or questions related to previous lessons. When the student lands on a
square they pick up the matching card and carry out the task. If they do it correctly,
they stay where they are and if not, they go back to where they came from.

7. Using Songs. This idea is certainly more suited to a teacher who has a regular
class of students, but is something that could be used to good effect if you do a
little bit of pre-teaching at the end of one class by giving students a basic pattern to
look for, and task them with finding songs with that pattern in for the next class:
Students must listen for the conditionals in the song then create some alternative,
possibly less musical but more amusing lyrics in groups during the lesson.

Two example songs:

Eric Clapton, “Change the World” If I could change the world, …… (2nd conditional)

Gloria Gaynor, “I will survive” If I'd known for just one second you'd be back to
bother me, …….. (3rd or mixed conditionals)
General Questions

It's good to ask your babysitter as many questions as you can think of. Some things that might seem
obvious or expected to you could be unusual for a babysitter. The more things you talk about up front, the
less chance there is of expectations being broken later on.

1. How much do you charge / what is your hourly rate?

There's an old saying when it comes to negotiating that "the first person to say a number loses."

It's best to let your babysitter tell you how much they want to earn before you throw a number out. You
might be willing to pay them $12 per hour, but they might be perfectly willing to do it for $10.

Just make sure you're taking other factors into account like your babysitter's age and experience. The
cheapest option isn't necessarily the best.

Refer to our complete guide to babysitter pay for help deciding on an appropriate pay rate for your
situation.

2. What aspects do you like most about caring for kids?

This answer doesn't matter so much, as long as it's not something superficial like "the money." You'll
mostly use this question to get an idea if they have experience with kids.

3. What do you look for in a family / employer?

Probably pretty standard answers here, like easy-going families with well-behaved kids. But you might get
some answers about things they don't like as well.

4. Are you okay if we sometimes have to call and have you stay later than planned?

You won't want to abuse this regularly, but ideally, your babysitter will be flexible and not be super
resentful if you need them to stay a couple hours later. Life is full of unexpected situations that might
come up.

5. Do you live nearby? If not, do you have a car or reliable form of transportation?

In other words, if we call will you actually be able to show up?

6. What's one thing you wouldn't want me to know?

It seems like if you asked this kind of question to a criminal or someone with something big to hide, they
would just lie. But that isn't always the case! I've actually heard of one group interview where the
interviewer asked everyone this question and one of the candidates just flat-out admitted to doing
cocaine before the interview!

7. What are your views on discipline? Would you change if we ask?

Your interviewer needs a way to handle a child effectively when misbehaving, but discipline can be a
touchy subject.

Kids need some form of discipline to learn right from wrong and to take responsibility for their own
actions.
You want your babysitter to give a warning before disciplining your child because a warning is an
opportunity for your kid to change their behavior. Then if they continued to misbehave, maybe the
babysitter would put them in a time out.

8. What days and hours are you available? Have you got a curfew or certain time you need to be home
by?

You'll need a babysitter whose schedule lines up with yours.

9. What's your favorite age of child to care for and why?

Ideally, you want a babysitter who is confident caring for kids of any age. So a flexible answer is best here,
but you at least want them to include your own kid's ages.

A good babysitter should be able to adapt to all different ages, personality, needs, and skill levels.

10. Are you looking to babysit for a family long term?

You want to make sure your babysitter is serious and committed because there's no point going through
this whole interview process again next month if you can avoid it.

11. What do you like least about babysitting?

This is kind of like the dreaded "what's your worst quality?" interview question that you've probably got
before and had to answer with some corny answer about how you're too much of a perfectionist.

But you might get an honest answer here that could give you some valuable insight.

Basically anything besides "the kids" or "it's a lot of work" is probably fine. Even if a babysitter's answer
was changing diapers, I'd probably be fine with that, because at least it's honest. It's my least favorite part
of the job too!

Background and Experience

All of the question in this section have pretty straightforward answers, so I won't elaborate on each one
individually. You're just trying to get a good idea of your babysitter's experience and history.

12. How many families have you babysat for? How old were their kids?

13. What kind of jobs or volunteer work have you done with children in the past? (Other babysitting jobs,
sports coach, etc.)

14. How many years have you worked with kids?

15. Do you have specific experience with X (newborns, special needs, potty training, or whatever you're
looking for.)

Sitter's Current Situation

16. What are you studying in school?

This is more of a get-to-know-you kind of question than anything else, but bonus points for an answer
involving education, childcare, etc.

17. Do you have any other part-time jobs? Or other commitments?

This probably already came up when discussing availability if they've got one, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

18. Are you allergic to dogs, cats, or any other pets?

If you've got one that matches their allergy, the interview might be over at this point. Unless they want to
take an antihistamine every time they come over.

19. Do you smoke?

You definitely don't want them smoking in the house or around your kids.

If they need a smoke break during their shift and need to step outside for a few minutes, are they going to
bring your kids out with them, or just leave them unattended?

Even if they only smoke a cigarette or two per day and won't need to smoke while they're at your house,
the smell of smoke could still transfer from their clothes into your furniture and might not be worth the
hassle.

20. Are you scared of any kinds of pets?

Especially important if you have more exotic things like snakes or tarantulas. But they should be okay with
dogs too because they'll probably need to let them outside if you're gone for more than a few hours.

21. Do you have any vacations or time off planned in the next 6 months where you won't be available?

Another part of their availability and making sure there are no scheduling conflicts.

Safety and Training

22. Do you know CPR? Do you know first aid?

CPR is nice to have in case anything really serious happens. But your babysitter should at least know some
basic first aid like how to apply a band-aid.

23. Do you know what you would need to do if a child is choking?

It happens more often than you'd think, especially with younger kids. If your kid is choking, they only have
a couple minutes before they pass out. So you need a babysitter that won't panic and not know what to
do.

24. Can you drive if there's an emergency?

In case something happens that's not so bad that they need to call 911, but still bad enough that they
should go to the emergency room.

25. Can you swim?

This one is important if you have a pool.

Behavioral Interview Questions

I really like behavior-based interview questions because they tend to focus more on getting your
babysitter to come up with a specific real-life example of something, as opposed to answering
hypothetical "what if" questions.

26. What was a specific time where you faced a crisis at a job? How did you deal with it?

Here you're looking for proof that they can keep cool and hold things together while under pressure.

27. What has your proudest babysitting moment or accomplishment been and why?

This one shows they've spent a significant amount of time around kids and have made a difference. It
might be something like a baby's first word, learning to crawl or walk, a child making a drawing for them,
etc.
28. Tell me about a specific time when you had to prioritize several tasks and manage your time
efficiently. How did you decide what was most important?

Multitasking is an important skill to have as a babysitter. The more kids they'll be watching, the more
important it is.

They need an effective way to prioritize for those times where one kid is throwing a tantrum, the other is
trying to shove markers in your dog's ear, and the phone is ringing... all at the same time.

29. What activities do you do with the kids on an average babysitting shift?

Your babysitter should be engaging with your kids and have plenty of suggestions for games and craft
activities that they could do together.

If your babysitter has trouble coming up with answers to this question, they might be the type that will
just sit on the couch and watch TV with your kid for 3 hours, every single time.

30. What do you do if a child refuses to go to bed? How have you handled tantrums in the past?

Both of these give real examples of how your babysitter would discipline your child.

31. Under what circumstances would you call me?

There's a balance you're looking for here. A babysitter shouldn't be interrupting you with basic questions
multiple times while you're out, but you don't want them to be too nervous to call for something serious
either.

32. If you can't get ahold of me, who would you reach out to for help?

It doesn't matter who it is. They just need some type of support structure they can reach out to for help
and advice. Whether that's their mom or another family member, a friend, or maybe they look through
your phone book to find someone.

33. Give me an example of a time and place when you faced a stressful situation that demonstrated your
coping skills.

Similar to the question about prioritizing and multitasking.

Having a stressful situation is okay and it happens. You want to know what actions they took to fix the
situation, and what the end result was.

34. Share a specific example of a time as a babysitter when you used good judgment or fact-finding skills
to solve a problem.

You're not expecting them to be able to fix a burst pipe with a shoelace and a piece of chewing gum. But
they should have an example that shows they have some common sense and can think on their feet.

35. Share a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty as a babysitter.

Anything that shows they're willing to take that extra step. Staying late, taking a kid to the mall to see
Santa, tutoring, etc.

36. Tell me about a time you were forced to make an unpopular decision.

If they're anything like me, it probably involves taking away TV or candy.

37. Give me a real-life example of a time when you had to make a split-second decision, without parental
input.
Anything that shows a willingness to take the initiative or do what they think is right, even without clear
guidance. This might be hard for a babysitter without much experience to come up with.

38. Tell me about a work situation that irritated you. How did you handle it?

You need a babysitter that can keep their cool under pressure.

39. What three words would your friends use to describe you?

You could get a huge range of responses here. Kind, positive, loyal, friendly, honest, practical, or mature
are good ones.

Words like "fun" might be a sign that they have trouble being serious when needed.

40. Are you comfortable giving the children baths and dressing them?

Most kids only need a bath once or twice a week anyway, so it's not a huge deal if the answer is no. But it
would be nice to have it all done for you if the babysitter is going to be there on bath night and they're
willing to help out.

If you don't feel comfortable having the babysitter give your kid a bath, then you can just skip this
question.

41. Are you willing to take kids out to the park or library? Or would you just want to stay at home with
them?

The more engaging of activities that your babysitter is willing to do with your child the better. Plus it
shows a lot of confidence that they're willing to go out in public with your kid and not worry about losing
them.

42. How do you handle conflict with a kid you're watching? (like not following instructions or refusing to
go to bed.)

You likely already asked about discipline in general, but here is a chance to get some real examples of
what they'd do.

43. What do you think it is that kids like about you?

You'll probably get pretty generic answers here like being friendly, nice, fun, or goofy.

If they take a while to think of an answer, they might be making one up. Which could be a bad sign and
mean kids they've babysat before haven't liked them!

See our complete list of essential babysitter qualities that you should be looking for during your hiring
process.

Questions You CAN'T Ask A Potential Babysitter

Now you should have a great idea of what questions you should ask your babysitter. But we also need to
discuss some questions that you absolutely can't ask.

It's unlikely that a babysitter would ever try and sue you for discrimination, but it's still best to avoid some
illegal interview questions.

To keep it simple, don't ask questions about:

 Age

 Race / ethnic background

 Religious views
  Sexual orientation

 Marital status / plans on becoming pregnant

 Disability

 Arrest record

Note: Laws vary about what you can and can't ask during a job interview depending on where you live, so
check your local labor department's website for more information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2EgeOtWxk0

https://www.teach-this.com/images/resources/what-would-you-do.pdf

https://www.teach-this.com/images/resources/i-think-you-would.pdf
https://www.teach-this.com/images/resources/the-panel.pdf