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Lesson planB265 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Five Years from Now: Future perfect
Students practise the future perfect to talk about career and life goals, then write a five-year plan for themselves.
Future perfect · Plans · Work · Money
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Plan at a glance
Aims
- Use future perfect accurately
- Learn and use 14 words and phrases in 2 sets: Career and study, Money and homes
- Read for detail: three five-year plans
- Writing task: your five-year plan
Stages · 65 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about plans and share ideas with the class.
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 5 minControlled practice: Ex. 2
- 10 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 3–4
- 20 minReading: Ex. 5
- 15 minWriting: Ex. 6
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 2 PDFs)Grammar notes
Future perfect simple: will have + past participle
- Use it for something that will be finished before a time in the future: By 2030, we will have paid off the mortgage.
- Negative and question: I won't have finished by Friday. Will you have saved enough by then?
Future perfect continuous: will have been + -ing
- Use it to say how long an activity will have continued at a future moment: In June, I will have been working here for ten years.
Watch out
- Common time phrases: by Friday, by then, by the end of the year, by the time…
- After by the time and when, use the present simple, not will: By the time you get home, I'll have cooked dinner (not By the time you will get).
- State verbs don't take the continuous: Next year I'll have known her for twenty years.
Study tips
- Make a timeline of your next five years. For each point, write one sentence with will have: By next summer, I'll have finished my course.
- Notice by and by the time in plans and timetables; they often signal the future perfect.
Glossary
- Career and study8 items
- Money and homes6 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Goals and money: word formation
Use the word in capitals to form a word that fits the gap.
- a
Running a marathon was the biggest of my life.
ACHIEVE - b
She's very and wants to be a manager before she's thirty.
AMBITION - c
After five years in the same job, he finally got a .
PROMOTE - d
You need the right to work as a nurse.
QUALIFY - e
My grandparents spend their travelling around Europe.
RETIRE - f
We used all our to pay for the wedding.
SAVE - g
If you plan carefully, you'll finish the project .
SUCCESS
2
By then…
Complete each sentence with the verb in brackets. Use the future perfect simple, the future perfect continuous or the present simple.
- a
By the end of next year, I (pay) off my student loan.
- b
In June, Ana (work) at the same company for twenty years.
- c
By the time you (get) home, I'll have cooked dinner.
- d
Don't call at eight; we (not finish) the meeting by then.
- e
Do you think you (save) enough for a deposit by next summer?
- f
By 2035, they (live) in this house for a quarter of a century.
- g
Next month, my parents (be) married for forty years.
3
Key-word transformations
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word given. Use between two and five words, including the word given.
- a
I'll finish the report before Friday.
HAVE
I the report by Friday.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- b
Next month will be my tenth year of working here.
BEEN
Next month, I here for ten years.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- c
The film will start before we get to the cinema.
BY
The film will have started to the cinema.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- d
Paying off the mortgage will take us another twelve years.
OFF
In twelve years' time, we the mortgage.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- e
She will reach all her career goals before she is forty.
ACHIEVED
She all her career goals by the age of forty.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
4
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correction.
- a
By the time you will arrive, we'll have left.
- b
By next week, I will have finish the course.
- c
In May, we will be living here for ten years.
- d
Next year she will have been knowing him for a decade.
- e
I hope I'll have got a promote by the end of the year.
- f
Until 2030, the city will have built a new metro line.
5
Read: three five-year plans
Read the text and choose the correct answer.
We asked three people where they think they'll be in five years' time. Dev, 27, nurse: "I'm studying part-time for a master's degree, and by this time next year I'll have finished it. After that, I'd like to move into management. By the time I'm thirty, I hope I'll have been running my own ward for a couple of years. It's ambitious, but I've always set myself big goals." Hannah, 41, graphic designer: "My partner and I have been saving for years, and we're finally buying a flat. If everything goes to plan, we'll have moved in by Christmas. The mortgage is huge, though. We won't have paid it off until we're nearly seventy! Career-wise, I'm happy where I am. I don't need a promotion; I need more free time." Marco, 58, engineer: "In two years I'll have been working for the same company for thirty-five years, and then I'm going to retire. People think I'll be bored, but I've got plans. By the time I'm sixty-five, I'll have sailed all the way round the Mediterranean. At least, that's the idea. My wife thinks I'm joking. I'm not."
- a
What will Dev have done by this time next year?
- b
By the age of thirty, Dev hopes he will have been running a ward for ___.
- c
Hannah and her partner expect to ___.
- d
What does Hannah want most from her working life?
- e
When Marco retires, he will have worked for his company for ___.
- f
How does Marco's wife feel about his sailing plan?
6
Write: your five-year plan
Write about your plans.
Where do you think you will be in five years' time (120–150 words)? Think about work or study, money, where you live and personal goals. What will you have done by then? How long will you have been doing the things you do now? Use will have + past participle and will have been + -ing at least twice each. Word box: goal · achieve · career · promotion · ambitious · mortgage · pay off · savings Example: By this time in five years, I'll have finished my degree, and I'll have been working as a teacher for about two years.
Suggested minimum: 120 words
0 words · aim for at least 120
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 14 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 2 sets.
Career and study
- goal
- something you want to achieve in the future
- achieve
- to succeed in doing something after working hard
- career
- the series of jobs you do during your working life
- promotion
- a move to a more important job in the same company
- ambitious
- having a strong wish to be successful
- degree
- the qualification you get after finishing a university course
- qualification
- an exam you have passed or a course you have finished
- retire
- to stop working, usually because of your age
Money and homes
- salary
- the money you earn from your job every month or year
- savings
- money that you have kept, usually in a bank, to use later
- deposit
- the first part of the price that you pay when you buy something expensive, such as a house
- mortgage
- money you borrow from a bank to buy a house or flat
- loan
- money that you borrow and must pay back
- pay off
- to pay all the money you owe
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