Nina Simone, 1967

This song became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.
Because of the complexity of the grammatical construction repeated in the song (wish + a verb in the past tense), it works best as a teaching tool for levels low intermediate and up.

Choose from the following activities:

• Grammar Practice expressing wishes about the present with the construction wish + a verb in past tense. The worksheet below is for levels low intermediate and up. Permission granted to duplicate for classroom use.

     wish worksheet.docx      wish worksheet.pdf          wish worksheet (webpage)

• Listening Listen to the audio-only video while reading the lyrics below, with the phrases beginning I wish in bold. Lyrics intended for nonprofit educational purposes only.

I Wish I Knew, lyrics.docx          I Wish I Knew, lyrics.pdf          

• Listening Listen to the song again while filling in the missing phrases. This gap-fill exercise targets the construction wish + a verb in the past tense. Lyrics intended for nonprofit educational purposes only.

I Wish I Knew, gap-fill.docx        I Wish I Knew, gap-fill.pdf

• Grammar Practice the construction wish + simple past to make a wish about the present by playing the Memory Circle game. First, students complete one of  the sentences below:

I wish I had _______________________________.
I wish I could _______________________________.
I wish I didn’t have to _______________________________.

Students form a circle and follow the steps below. (A circle should not contain more than 12 students, so they may need to form several circles.)

1. Student 1 says the sentence he/she wrote. (For example, I wish I had more time to study.)
2. Student 2 repeats what Student 1 said. (Anna wishes she had more time to study.)
3. Student 2 then adds his/her own sentence. (For example, I wish I had a new car.)
4. Student 3 repeats what Students 1 and 2 said. (Maria wishes she had more time to study. Yuki wishes he had a new car.)
5. Student 3 adds his/her own sentence.
6. Students continue going around the circle, repeating what the other students said, in order, and then adding their own sentence.
7. After the last student says all the sentences, ask students to give him/her a round of applause. It’s not easy to be the last student!

• Listening This gap-fill activity targets the rhyming words in the song. Lyrics intended for nonprofit educational purposes only.

I wish I knew how, rhyming words gap-fill.pdf

• Discussion Talk about where you would go if you could fly. Structure the discussion with the activity below. Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.

if you could fly activity.docx          if you could fly activity.pdf

if you could fly activity (web page)

• Reading Read a story with the theme “I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.” If you use the True Stories reading series, you could follow up with “Together Again” (True Stories 2), about a Cuban fighter pilot who escaped from Cuba in a military jet.