C1 · BAUN Turkey
Futures Thinking
Advanced Conditionals
Scenario Planning
Balıkesir University · C1 Activity 2 · CLIL · PBL · SDG 13 · SDG 11
🗣 Language
Third Conditional · Speculative modals · Discourse markers for concession · Persuasive academic register · Futures vocabulary
🌐 Content
2050 sustainability scenarios · Utopian / dystopian futures · Human agency · Intergenerational justice · Systems thinking
🤝 Skills
Critical reading · Oral discussion · Persuasive speaking · Advanced writing · Scenario design · Ethical foresight
🏙 Lead-in: Two Visions of 2050 (5 min)
Method: Visual inquiry · BrainstormC1: Speculative modals · Futures framing
Look at the two visions of 2050. Click the one that resonates with you — optimistic or dystopian — then share your reasoning. Use speculative language: "By 2050, this might well have become the reality for..." / "In the long run, we could find ourselves in a world where..."
🌳
Utopian 2050
Cities powered by 100% renewables. Forests restored. Species recovering. Carbon-negative economies. Clean air, clean water, global equity. Youth-led climate policy reversed the worst projections.
🌿
Dystopian 2050
1.5°C exceeded. Coastal cities flooded. Mass climate migration. Biodiversity collapse. Technology deepened inequality. Late action proved too little, too late to prevent cascading tipping points.
👨🏫 Teacher
Display the two images side by side on the projector. Do NOT show the descriptions first — let students generate their own associations. After sharing initial reactions, reveal the card descriptions and ask: "Which details surprised you?" Transition to the Language Builder to pre-teach the structures students will need for the Scenario Design.
Display the two images side by side on the projector. Do NOT show the descriptions first — let students generate their own associations. After sharing initial reactions, reveal the card descriptions and ask: "Which details surprised you?" Transition to the Language Builder to pre-teach the structures students will need for the Scenario Design.
✍️ Language Input: Advanced Conditionals & Speculative Modals (10 min)
Method: CLIL · Guided productionC1: Third Conditional · Mixed Conditional · Speculative modals
Select one chip from each row to construct a C1-level speculative or conditional statement about 2050. Save your sentences — you will use them in your Scenario Design and Vision Pitch.
✍️ C1 FUTURES LANGUAGE BUILDER
Select one chip per row · Build a sophisticated speculative or conditional statement
① Temporal / conditional framing
② Main claim about 2050
③ Concession or discourse marker closing
Select options above to construct your C1 futures statement...
📝 C1 Language Reference — Futures Grammar
Third Conditional
If we had acted in 2000, we would have prevented...
Had governments committed earlier, we might now be facing...
Were this the case, the situation would be fundamentally different.
Had governments committed earlier, we might now be facing...
Were this the case, the situation would be fundamentally different.
Speculative Modals
By 2050, this might well have become...
We could feasibly find ourselves in a world where...
It may well prove to be the case that...
Technology might conceivably...
We could feasibly find ourselves in a world where...
It may well prove to be the case that...
Technology might conceivably...
Discourse Markers (Concession)
Nevertheless, the evidence suggests...
In the long run, however...
Despite this, one must acknowledge...
Notwithstanding this optimism...
In the long run, however...
Despite this, one must acknowledge...
Notwithstanding this optimism...
Persuasive Register
It is imperative that we recognise...
The stakes could not be higher...
This vision is not merely desirable; it is achievable provided...
We would be remiss to dismiss...
The stakes could not be higher...
This vision is not merely desirable; it is achievable provided...
We would be remiss to dismiss...
📄 Scenario Design — 2050 Vision (15 min)
Method: Project-Based Learning · Scenario PlanningC1: Hypothetical reasoning · Causal argumentation
Choose optimistic or pessimistic 2050 and design the 3 key decisions or events that led there. Each event should be articulated using C1 conditional and speculative language. Click “Build Preview” to see your scenario brief.
📄 2050 SCENARIO DESIGNER
Choose your scenario type · Name your world · Design 3 key turning points · Build your vision brief
Title of your 2050 world
Turning Point 1 — A critical decision made between 2025–2030
Turning Point 2 — A technological or social development between 2030–2040
Turning Point 3 — The decisive moment by 2050
Scenario Brief Preview
Complete the form above and click Build Scenario Preview.
📰 Future Headlines — Newspapers from 2050 (10 min)
Method: Gamification · Creative CLTC1: Nominalization · Headlines grammar · Specificity
Write newspaper headlines from your 2050 world. Headlines must be specific, not generic — they should name countries, percentages, species, or events. Avoid: "Climate Improved." Prefer: "Aegean Posidonia Seagrass Declared Fully Recovered After 20-Year Restoration Programme."
📰 FUTURE HEADLINES — 2050
Write a specific, evidence-grounded headline from your 2050 world · Choose the type · Click Add
Your 2050 headlines appear here...
💬 Headlines Discussion — C1 Analysis Prompts
📰
"Which group's headline is most realistic? What makes it credible?"
C1: "What lends this headline credibility is its specificity: it names a measurable outcome, a timeline, and an identifiable cause. In the long run, scenarios that fail to identify specific causal mechanisms are, arguably, more wish-lists than genuine foresight. The distinction matters because realistic visions require not merely desirable endpoints but credible pathways."
⚠️
"Which headline represents a tipping point? What triggered it?"
C1: "A tipping point headline is one describing an event whose consequences are non-linear — that is, an event that, once triggered, generates self-reinforcing feedback that makes reversal impractical or impossible. The Arctic ice-free summer is one such: once it occurs, it accelerates warming by removing the albedo effect, making subsequent warming faster regardless of subsequent emissions reductions."
🎭 Vision Pitch — Persuasive Presentation (15 min)
Method: CLT · Debate PedagogyC1: Persuasive register · Rebuttal · Academic critique
Present your 2050 vision persuasively: "Why our scenario is realistic and why it matters." Other groups may challenge using the academic critique markers below. Use the timer to practise and the checklist to prepare.
🎭 VISION PITCH TIMER & CHECKLIST
Prepare using the checklist · Practise with the 3-minute timer · Peer groups critique using academic markers
3:00
PRESENTATION TIMER
✍️ Peer Critique — Academic Challenge Markers
Challenging Plausibility
It is debatable whether...
One might question whether...
This scenario arguably underestimates...
Despite this, the evidence suggests...
One might question whether...
This scenario arguably underestimates...
Despite this, the evidence suggests...
Conceding Points
While this is plausible, nevertheless...
Granted, but in the long run...
Despite this, one should note...
Notwithstanding this argument...
Granted, but in the long run...
Despite this, one should note...
Notwithstanding this argument...
🏆 PEER VOTE — Most Inspiring vs. Most Realistic Vision
Listen to all visions — then vote!
💡 Reflection & Homework (5 min + HW)
Method: Futures thinking · Critical reflectionC1: Intergenerational ethics · Agency · Long-term thinking
"Which actions today can most plausibly shape 2050 positively?" Discuss across groups. Use discourse markers throughout. Click each card for a C1 model response.
🌤
"What is the single most consequential action humanity could take today?"
C1: "While individual lifestyle choices are not without value, the evidence strongly suggests that systemic decarbonisation — phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and redirecting capital toward renewable infrastructure — might well prove more consequential than the aggregate of individual behavioural change. In the long run, however, both systemic and individual transformation may prove necessary rather than alternative."
🌎
"If you had acted on your scenario's first turning point today, what would you do?"
C1: "Were I to operationalise this in the immediate term, I might well begin by... Nevertheless, the systemic barriers to individual action — including political inertia, institutional lock-in, and short electoral cycles — are such that personal agency, despite its importance, must be complemented by collective political pressure if the scenario's logic is to be realised."
⚖️
"Does your generation have a realistic basis for hope, or is optimism itself a form of denial?"
C1: "This is arguably the most searching question confronting futures literacy. Had the pessimistic scenario already become inevitable, optimism would indeed constitute a form of cognitive dissonance. The evidence suggests, however, that multiple trajectories remain open — which means that hope is not mere denial but a rational response to genuine uncertainty. That said, hope without agency is insufficient; hope must be accompanied by specific, time-bound commitments."
🤝
"What would you tell policymakers or NGOs about your generation's sustainability vision?"
C1: "Despite this generation's reputation for digital preoccupation, the evidence suggests an unprecedented level of systems literacy and ethical urgency among young people globally. In the long run, engaging youth not merely as the objects of sustainability policy but as its architects — as scenario designers, not just scenario inheritors — might well prove the most effective mechanism for closing the gap between the futures we can imagine and the futures we are building."
📝 Homework — 300–350 Word Essay
📄 Task: “My Vision of a Sustainable Future”
Write a 300–350 word persuasive essay describing your personal vision of a sustainable 2050. Your essay must include:
· At least two Third or Mixed Conditional structures
· At least three speculative modals (might, could, may well)
· At least three discourse markers for concession (nevertheless, in the long run, despite this, notwithstanding)
· A specific, evidence-grounded account of 2–3 key changes that would define your 2050
· A closing reflection on personal and collective responsibility
· At least two Third or Mixed Conditional structures
· At least three speculative modals (might, could, may well)
· At least three discourse markers for concession (nevertheless, in the long run, despite this, notwithstanding)
· A specific, evidence-grounded account of 2–3 key changes that would define your 2050
· A closing reflection on personal and collective responsibility