Hey there! This is TOP episode 68: Present Simple For Future
My name’s Ola and I am an English teacher. My goal is to help you start speaking English with confidence and get rid of speaking barriers. I believe it is achievable for you. And it’s time you started speaking English fearlessly! Go to my website for full transcripts and worksheets to each episode. Happy learning!
Welcome back! I’m thrilled you’re here today with me! I hope you’e doing fine and I hope you’re ready to open your mind. Yes! I know you might feel confused now. Present Simple? Future? Something’s really wrong in here! Trust me, stay with me, just listen. Open your mind. And don’t forget to practice later on with me. In fact, you know you can use Present Simple for the future, and I’ll prove it! Just give me a few minutes.
Let’s break down today’s episode. First, I’m going to tell you in exactly what situations you should use the present simple to describe the future. Then we’ll practice. I’ll give you seventeen sentences to listen and repeat out loud. It’s the most important part of the lesson, of the episode, so please say them out loud.
Next, I’ll give you some homework and we’ll wrap up, right? It’s a short and sweet lesson. Ok, let’s do it. Let’s get down to business.
We use the present simple to talk about the future when we are discussing a timetable or a fixed plan. Timetables, programmes. Usually, the timetable is fixed by an organisation, not by us. Use Present Simple to talk about public transport, about cinemas, theatres. My bus leaves tomorrow at seven. Instead of: My bus will leave tomorrow or My bus is going to leave tomorrow. No. It leaves tomorrow. There is a timetable and it’s fixed. So we use it with scheduled events. What about personal arrangements? Can we use Present Simple to talk about my private meetings for example? Yes, although it’s not common. We tend to use Present Simple to talk about official arrangements. So, we don’t say: I have a meeting on Thursday. But! Well, come on! It’s a language, be flexible! If it’s a business meeting, it’s fixed in your calendar, it’s not likely to be cancelled. Heck! Use present Simple. Don’t be angry! English is a language with a ton of exceptions, isn’t it? Embrace it, open your mind. Chillax!
Time to put it all into practice. Listen and repeat:
School begins at nine tomorrow.
What time does the film start?
The plane doesn’t arrive at seven. It arrives at seven-thirty.
What time does the tram arrive?
What time does the film start?
It’s Thursday tomorrow.
See? You don’t say It will be Thursday tomorrow. It is Thursday tomorrow.
My flight is at 10 o’clock.
Hurry up! The bus leaves in 10 minutes!
This lesson ends at 7 pm.
My exams start in January.
The buses to the city centre run every fifteen minutes.
The next bus is at 7 o’clock.
My train departs from platform 9.
The museum closes at 7 pm.
She has a yoga class tomorrow early in the morning.
This restaurant opens at noon.
The coffee break is in half an hour.
Ok! What to do now? What’s next? Well, I’m sure you know there’s some homework. If you’ve subscribed to my newsletter this pdf file with your homework is already in your inbox. If not, subscribe! Teacherola.com/68. Download the worksheet and translate 10 sentences into Polish.
Teacherola.com/68.
Let’s wrap up! What have you learned today? Now you know that Present Simple Tense can be used to describe the future. Use it to talk about timetables, schedules, fixed arrangements.
If you find this episode useful tell your friends about this podcast. They will thank you for it!
Next week’s topic is pronunciation, make sure you don’t miss it and subscribe if you haven’t yet. Subscribe to this podcast but don’t forget to go to teacherola.com/newsletter and join TOPeople. This group receives e-mails once a week. In this beautiful email, I teach you something small, something I don’t teach anywhere else. It’s only for TOPeople. So you won’t find it on my Instagram nor here in this podcast.
Thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you next Wednesday! Happy learning. Take care! Bye!