At what age can you...? Legal ages, modals, if, unless

4 Oct 2017. Updated information on source material added

A reading activity on legal age limits in different parts of the UK. Includes: education, voting, driving, marriage and work. Based on materials at: http://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/learners/uk-life/be-safe-uk/what…

The starter is a true / false questionnaire, to elicit prior knowledge and to prompt discussion on age limits, and how the UK consists of four countries with differing laws. The main text can be divided up into a five-part jigsaw (all the paragraphs with headings), with learners sharing the information verbally before looking at the full text.

More challenging words are tackled in a vocabulary building activity. The main grammar points – modals of permission and zero conditionals using if or unless – are reviewed using examples, a cloze and learners’ own examples. Finally, the plenary / summary activity encourages recall of key learning points. Can be used within topics of: education, citizenship, learning to drive, life in the UK, what is the UK, voting, politics, British values.

Editor’s note
Although aimed at ESOL students, parts of this resource are also useful for general reading comprehension (and discussion) in Functional English.

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