I didn’t think it would become popular (past predictions)

Ewa | Aug 19, 2026Aug 19, 2026

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

• talk about past predictions;
• watch a news report from 2001 about mobile phones;
• practise grammar structures for talking about past predictions.

In this lesson, students share simple predictions and guess which technologies people were describing in quotes from the past. They review and practise the grammar used to talk about past predictions (e.g. be convinced, expect, think, believe + would/could), watch a video about mobile phones from 2001 and discuss why predictions about technology often turn out to be wrong. Students also rephrase famous historical quotes as past predictions and give reasons why the speakers may have held their opinions.

WARM-UP AND GRAMMAR

This lesson starts with a warm-up in which students share a simple prediction for each category. Afterwards, they read comments containing past predictions and guess which existing technology (e.g. self-driving cars, streaming services, EVs, AI) the speakers were talking about. Moving on, students choose the correct words to complete sentences about these predictions. Then, they look at the statements again to work out the rules for forming past predictions. Following that, students choose the correct option in further example sentences and share which three statements are true for them.

VIDEO AND MORE PRACTICE

In this part of the lesson, students discuss what mobile phones looked like in 2001 and predict what new features might be introduced. Then, they watch a news report about mobile phones and choose the correct summary. Then, students answer further questions about a specific part of the video. Students then discuss how they felt watching the video and why predictions about technology are often wrong. Moving on, they look at real historical quotes and rephrase them as past predictions using structures from box A and box B. Finally, students give possible reasons why each speaker might have held their opinion.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This lesson also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students write follow-up sentences for statements using past predictions structures and words provided in brackets. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.

WORKSHEETS

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