Another breaking news appeared all over the internet – do aliens exist, and if so, has the government been hiding this from us for years? Truth be told, there is still no clear answer to that question, and we are all left with speculations about many unexplained sightings and phenomena that puzzle people worldwide. As for me, I found it to be great material for a lesson on modal verbs of deduction and speculation, so I just had to take this opportunity.
Recently, I’ve had a bit of writer’s block and struggled with lesson plan ideas based on exciting and timeless topics. Once again, by some lucky coincidence, stars aligned and brought me this gem of lesson material. I was in the middle of looking for engaging material to use in a B2/C1 lesson about modal verbs of deduction and speculation. My initial thought was to look for an article about gossiping in the workplace – a topic which at this point, has been probably beaten to death. When I stumbled upon a BBC article titled For the first time ever, a team of Nasa scientists is taking unidentified anomalous phenomena seriously. – a bit too long if you ask me. So if you are looking for a B2 lesson plan that explains the rules of modal verbs of deduction and speculation while having a debate about the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, scroll until the end of the post and download the presentation and the worksheet with the teacher’s notes in the class I titled NASA takes UAPs seriously.
The idea for this class came when I saw the beginning of the article presented as a story. I thought it could be further divided into shorter parts and used as a reading and grammar introduction. This grammar is usually done for the first time at a B1 level, so I assumed it could be treated as a revision. Start by reading the first three paragraphs of the article and let students speculate about what they think is going to happen in the next part of the text.
The story starts by introducing a normal day for Alex Dietrich, a jet pilot, whose day was interrupted by an unusual radio message. Students speculate what the message must have been, may / might have been and can’t have been about. Read the next paragraph and check the answers. Proceed by reading the next part about a suspicious object ‘flitting around and suddenly dropping close to the sea’. The students once again speculate about the origin of the flying object, using the modal verbs of speculation. Read the last paragraph and check the answers. Proceed by reading the object description and once again speculate what the pilot must have seen, might have seen and can’t have seen.
Before dealing with the grammar presented at the beginning stage of the lesson, watch the actual video of the incident and let students decide for themselves what the pilot saw. Be careful as the video includes some swear words. You can find other versions of the video without the sound and the subtitles, in case you are teaching students for whom this language may be inappropriate.
Briefly, go over the rules and structure of modal verbs of deduction and speculation when talking about the past. Check students understanding by showing them four pictures of mysterious objects/creatures which were captured on camera. Students write three sentences for each one and share their opinions. I chose a picture of a Chinese weather balloon (seen below), a deepsea creature, an asteroid and a weather phenomenon called, sprites (seen below)
Of course, speculating about the past is one of the options. Students can also speculate about the present and the future. Show a possible conversation which could have happened between the operations officer and one of the jet pilots. Students read the dialogue adapted from the article introduction and analyse underlined grammar structures – must/may/might/can’t + infinitive. As a group, discuss how they differ from the previously discussed phrases.
Show pictures of everyday object close-ups. Students work in pairs and together decide what it must/may/might/can’t be. Reveal the full images and compare them with the students’ answers. How many of them were they able to guess correctly? All the photos were taken from the Insider article titled Close-up photos of everyday objects.
The final grammar task combines the present and past modal verbs of speculation. Students work alone and read seven situations. They speculate about the present and past based on the evidence shown and write their answers.
In the final activity, bring back the topic of UAPs. Students work in pairs or groups and discuss (+ speculate) about unexplained aerial phenomena by answering questions, such as Why might there be more UAPs sightings now than in the past? and Why the name UFO (unidentified flying object) was changed to UAP (unexplained aerial phenomenon)? The answer to the last one baffles me, as the plural form of UAP is UAPs which makes zero to no sense as the plural form of a phenomenon is phenomena! Where does the ‘s’ come from?
Do you believe in aliens? Do you think the government has been in contact with aliens this whole time?
