One of the important grammar aspects students in English as a second language (ESL) class need to learn is the future tense. Getting them to write down their plans for the future can be a good way of generating examples to explain this tense. Students generally find it easy to understand the formation of the future simple tense. It is important that they learn not only the affirmative form, but also the negative and interrogative forms of usage. Once they understand the future simple perfectly, you should gradually lead them to the future continuous and future perfect tenses

Affirmative Future Simple
To teach how to form the future simple tense, begin with the affirmative usage. Write out an equation on the chalkboard as "Subject + will + verb base form." Explain this using a few examples such as "I will talk," "She will come tomorrow," and "It will be easy." Ask each student to speak a sentence on what he or she plans to do the next day, using this tense.

Other Forms of Future Simple
Verify that students have understood the affirmative form and move on to teaching other forms of the future simple such as negative, interrogative and short answers. Select an affirmative sentence such as "She will come tomorrow" and explain how to make it negative ("She will not come tomorrow"), interrogative ("Will she come tomorrow?") and short answers ("Yes, she will" or "No, she won't"). Explain that using "will not" and "won't" means the same, but the usage depends on the formality of the situation. Have students work in pairs; let one person say an affirmative sentence and the other convert that into a negative, interrogative and short answer.

Time Clauses and Adverbs in Future Tense
One of the important facts ESL students need to learn is that any sentence that speaks of a future event but includes a time expression -- words such as before, after, when, as soon as, unless, while, by the time and if -- does not use the future tense, but the simple present. Give examples to illustrate this point and point out the correct form of usage. For example, we do not say "We will go shopping after you will come home," but "We will go shopping after you come home."

The Use of "Going to"
Ask students to write down their idea of what they plan to do after finishing their degree. Have a few students read out their statements. If they have used the word "will" to express the future, introduce them to the words "going to" as a substitute. For example, if someone has written "I will start a business of my own," show how it can also be written as "I am going to start a business of my own." Explain that there is sometimes a subtle difference between "will" and "going to" in the sense that "will" is a prediction, whereas "going to" indicates a definite plan.

Future Continuous and Future Perfect
Form student groups, and ask the members of each group to come up with a paragraph of events that will be happening in their life five years from now. They will write using "will" and "going to." Use a few sample pieces to explain about the future continuous and future perfect tenses. For example, if a student has written "In five years time, I will work in a school," demonstrate the usage of the future continuous as in "In five years time, I will be working in a school." Help students learn to use the future perfect to speak of a future event by saying "In five years time, I will have completed my bachelor's degree." Draw attention to the fact that the future continuous is used for some ongoing activity in the future, but the future perfect refers to a future event that happens only up to a point.