It Must Have Been Love - a song lesson for perfect modal verbs (free printable worksheet)

It's a new year, a new term, and time to teach perfect modal verbs of probability again. What a clunky term for something so straightforward. I usually refer to them as shoulda, woulda, coulda, which is another song, but not the one I've made a worksheet on.

I used to use this song as a warmer or lead-in to perfect modals, which was usually met with a lack of enthusiasm. I was about to stop using it but thought I'd move it to the end of the lesson as a last-ditch attempt at making it work, and this time it inspired singing along and some animated discussions. Well, go figure!



Lesson plan

Time: 35 mins
Resources needed: one copy of the worksheet per student. Mp3 or Youtube clip of the song.

1. Gist task. Write the question on the board:
Is this song about:
a. a happy relationship?
b. a relationship that is going to end soon?
c. a relationship that has already ended?

2. First listen. Students listen and compare their answers to the gist task in pairs before OCFB. Elicit the title of the song "It must have been love" and check that they understand this structure is referring to the past.

3. Second listen - minimal response task. Hand out the worksheet. Students listen again and circle the correct word.

4. Productive follow-up. Discussing in pairs, students imagine the story of what happened to the couple. Encourage them to use could/might/must have etc. Eg: they must have had a fight. He might have cheated on her. They can't have been happy together. Write particularly good examples on the board.

Click here to get the worksheet FREE

(Link opens in Google Docs, you can then download, save and print as required)