going to (future plans)
Tomorrow's grammar: I'm going to build a rocket. Plans, dreams and five-year-old ambitions, all on one pattern the class already half-knows.
From age 8Building sentences →
✏️ The pattern
- Saying it
- I'm going to play.
- Saying no
- I'm not going to cry.
- Asking
- What are you going to do?
- Short answer
- I'm going to draw.
🗣️ Sentences a child can say
Tap any sentence to hear it. Every one uses words from a topic pack you already have.
🩹 What you will actually hear
The three mistakes that come up in every class, and what is behind each one.
I going to play.I'm going to play.
Going to leans on am/is/are — drop the little verb and the structure falls over. Teach I'm-going-to as one breath.
I'm going to the play.I'm going to play.
Two patterns share clothes: going to + PLACE (the park) and going to + VERB (play). If a verb follows, no the ever squeezes in.
🎯 How to teach it
- 1
Friday ritual: 'What are you going to do at the weekend?' — the future twin of Monday's past-simple question. The two rituals teach both tenses all year.
- 2
Plan something real together — the class party, a picnic, a show. Real plans need going to sentences and nothing motivates grammar like an actual cake.
- 3
Fortune-teller game: a child mimes tomorrow's action, the class predicts — 'You're going to swim!' Guessing keeps the long structure light.
🗂️ Topic packs that pair with this
Same structure, words your class already knows — no new vocabulary needed.
💬 Questions teachers ask
Going to or will first?
Going to. It grows out of the present continuous the class knows, covers plans (a child's whole future), and leaves will free to arrive later for promises and guesses.
Is 'gonna' acceptable?
For their ears, essential — songs and films run on it. For their mouths, let it happen naturally; correct it only in writing, where going to is the uniform.