Zero Conditional Speaking Activity

The zero conditional is an important grammar topic. When teaching it, you want your students to speak. So here is a good zero conditional speaking activity.

A great way to practice the Zero Conditional is to have the students explain rules to a game.

This works best as a presentation, where students explain the rules to a game they enjoy or know. By using the rules, students need to speak with the zero conditional.

Here is an example:

Checkers

• If you jump over your opponents piece, that piece is eliminated.
• If you land in your opponents back row, your checker is "kinged".

Students enjoy teaching classmates about a game they are good at or that is unique to their country. It is a great way to encourage speaking with the zero conditional. The class should also ask questions about the rules, which gives everyone a chance to use proper grammar. For example, "If the ball goes out of bounds, do I kick it in or throw it in?"

This exercise also works well in writing.  In this format, students write a list of 5 key rules for their chosen game.  This allows the teacher to focus on issues when writing the zero conditional, for example comma use.