Black Friday: deal or trap? The first conditional for choices before a sale
About this lesson
This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches the first conditional through Black Friday, November 27, 2026, with examples like If you wait a day, you'll save money.
- Grammar
- If + present simple and will / won't + base form (If the price doesn't go down, I won't buy it.), the comma and What will you do if…?
- Topic
- Where the name comes from, how the sale spread abroad and what a British study found about its deals, with words such as bargain, refund and impulse buy.
- Activities
- A dated consumer column, a late-night dialogue, self-checking drills, a chat about a sale link, open boxes and, for homework, a store's ad to read.
What's inside
Chapter 1Warm-up: shopper or saver?
Chapter 2Let's read: the truth about Black Friday
Chapter 3Let's listen: nine minutes left!
Chapter 4Grammar: if you wait, you'll save
- Study the scheme: the first conditionalGrammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct option: if + present, will + verbChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
- Fill in the table: build first conditional sentencesFill in the tableUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: which sentence is right?QuizUnlock
Chapter 5Let's talk: what will you do if…?
Chapter 6Homework
- Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
- Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Sort the offers into the correct columns: deal or trap?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Match the beginnings and the endings: shopping tipsMatchUnlock
- Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
- Read the ad from Ben's screenReal-life documentTry it
- Read the ad again and mark true or false: what does it really say?True or falseUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: Ben's postDrag and dropUnlock
Black Friday vocabulary
10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.
+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words
- bargain
- discount
- refund
- receipt
- impulse buy
- sold out
- countdown
Grammar: the first conditional: if + present simple, will / won't
The first conditional links a situation that may really happen to its likely result: If you wait a day, you'll save money. A sale with a countdown is full of such choices. As Hannah checks Ben's cart, learners pair if + present simple with will or won't, add -s for he, she and it, place the comma and ask What will you do if…?
If you wait, you'll save
The first conditional: something that can really happen in the future, and its result.
Condition and result
The if-clause names a condition that can really happen, in the present simple; the result takes will or won't + base form: If the price doesn't go down, I won't buy it. Hannah warns Ben: If you buy all that, you won't have money for Mom's present.
How to build it
| The if-clause (the condition) | The main clause (the result) |
|---|---|
| If + present simple | will / won't + base form |
| If you wait a day, | you'll save money. |
| If the price doesn't go down, | I won't buy it. |
Hannah and Ben
- If you buy all that, you won't have money for Mom's present.
- If I wait, everything will be sold out!
- If I get them, I'll finally hear my boss on calls.
- If they don't work, you'll get a refund.
- If you still want it on Monday, I'll help you find a real bargain.
- What will Ben do if the countdown starts again?
Every person, and -s after he, she and it
Will and won't never change, but the verb after if does: he, she and it add -s (If she buys two, she'll get one free.), and their negative is doesn't + base form: If it doesn't work, he'll get a refund.
Every person
| Person | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| I | If I wait, I'll save money. | If I don't hurry, I won't get one. |
| you | If you compare prices, you'll find a bargain. | If you don't check, you won't know. |
| he | If he buys it, he'll need the receipt. | If he doesn't pay today, he won't get the discount. |
| she | If she waits, she'll save money. | If she doesn't like it, she won't keep it. |
| it | If it costs too much, it'll stay in the store. | If it doesn't work, it won't be a bargain. |
| we | If we leave now, we'll get there early. | If we don't hurry, we won't find anything. |
| they | If they wait, they'll pay less. | If they don't have a receipt, they won't get a refund. |
He, she, it
After he, she and it, the present simple needs -s: If she buys two, she'll get one free. The negative is doesn't + base form: If it doesn't work, he'll get a refund.
No will after if
The if-clause is about the future, yet its verb stays in the present simple: If I have time, I'll come, not If I'll have time. The result still needs will: If you wait until Monday, you'll save money, not you save money.
No will after if
The if-clause is about the future, but its verb is in the present simple. Never put will or would after if: If you wait, you'll save money (not: If you will wait). If I have time, I'll come (not: If I'll have time).
Common mistakes
If you will wait, you'll save money.
If you wait, you'll save money.
no will after if
If I'll have time, I'll come.
If I have time, I'll come.
no 'll after if
If you wait until Monday, you save money.
If you wait until Monday, you'll save money.
the result needs will
If she buy it, she'll be happy.
If she buys it, she'll be happy.
she + -s
The comma and questions
When the if-clause comes first, a comma follows it: If you wait, you'll save money. With the result first, leave the comma out: You'll save money if you wait. In questions, will goes before the subject: What will you do if it's sold out?
The comma and questions
If-clause first? Add a comma: If you wait, you'll save money. Result first? No comma: You'll save money if you wait. In questions, will comes before the subject: What will you do if it's sold out?
More lessons on this grammar: Zero and first conditional lessons and exercises
Try the first conditional exercises
Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.
What's in the lesson
- 16 auto-checked exercises
- 4 games
- 1 real-life document
- 1 article
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 set of word cards
- 1 audio clip
- 1 picture
- 1 transcript
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- link a real future possibility to its result: If you wait a day, you'll save money. If they don't work, you'll get a refund.
- keep will out of the if-clause: If I have time, I'll come, not If I'll have time or If you will wait
- use -s and doesn't after he, she and it: If she buys two, she'll get one free. If the price doesn't go down, I won't buy it.
- ask about the future and place the comma: What will you do if it's sold out? You'll save money if you wait.
- help a friend think before a sale: If we compare prices at other stores, we'll see if that's true.
English B1 · Hot Topics follows the calendar with five self-contained lessons, and this one belongs to Black Friday, which falls on November 27, 2026. It also works before or after Pitch it to the Sharks!, lesson 3 of English B1.2 · Changemakers, where the first conditional meets the second. A sale with a countdown is a string of real choices and their likely results: the first conditional's job.
Students spin a wheel of shopping questions, then meet ten sale words, from compare and afford to sold out and countdown, as cards with audio and short definitions, plus a memory game. They read a consumer column dated November 23, 2026, on the name, the sale's spread and a British study of its deals, then hear Hannah check her brother Ben's cart as a countdown runs, in an AI-voiced dialogue. The grammar chapter has the scheme and four self-checking drills, among them a table that builds sentences from word prompts. In the speaking chapter, students answer Alex's sale link in a chat on their own, then open boxes with a partner or the teacher.
Nine of the ten homework parts check themselves: a word match, gaps with the cards, a deal-or-trap sort, a choice of forms, gaps with the words in brackets, shopping tips to match, sentences to unjumble, true or false on Gizmo Gopher's ad and Ben's post with words to drag in. The tenth is the ad itself.
- Grammar:
- first conditional · if + present simple · will / won't
- Topic:
- Black Friday · shopping · sales · money · Cyber Monday · smart shoppers
Teaching tips
- Write a price tag on the board before anything else: Was $300, now $90! Ask Deal or trap? and collect answers as if-sentences: If we compare prices, we'll know.
- Ask why the day is “black” before the column. Students guess, then read to compare the profit story, which appeared only in the early 1980s, with the older one about crowds and traffic in Philadelphia.
- Pause the dialogue before each of Hannah's warnings and let students guess her if-sentence, then play on: If you buy all that, you won't have money for Mom's present.
- Let pairs write one more rule for the column's smart shoppers as a first conditional sentence, such as If you check your budget first, you won't spend too much. The class votes for the most useful one.
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The whole course: English B1 · Hot Topics
Five stand-alone lessons for teens and adults at B1, in American English, each tied to an event of late 2026: GTA VI's release on November 19, Black Friday, two blockbusters on December 18, Christmas around the world and New Year. Teach each one in the week of its event, for example between units of English B1.1 or B1.2. Every lesson has its own grammar point, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course
Unit 1 November: a launch and a sale
GTA VI's release after two delays and Black Friday deals, with the present perfect with already, yet, for and since, and the first conditional
Lesson 1GTA 6: worth the wait?The present perfect with already, yet and just vs the past simple
Lesson 2 · you're hereBlack Friday: deal or trap?The first conditional: if + present simple, will / won't
Unit 2 December: holidays and big screens
Christmas in four countries, two blockbusters on one Friday and New Year's resolutions, with the present simple passive, -ed and -ing adjectives, and be going to vs will
