How to teach “because”

Justice just sent in a very easy way to teach “because.”   You just link it in with the “I like ..” themes, the What do you want to be? theme and maybe one of the verb themes or the sports theme.

Then it’s pretty easy for the kids to come up with things like

“I want to be a dancer because I like dancing”

or “I want to be a baseball player because I want to play baseball”

(Those two can be done with just 3 or 4 lessons!)

To make it more fun (it is a bit boring English after all!) then try it with the Pink Fish game like the video below, but have the cards from the themes above. ( What do you want to be? verbssports)


If the sentence makes sense the kids get a point, if it doesn’t e.g. “I want to be a dancer because I like tennis!” then no points!

Also remember the Photo Real Flashcards, you can use both the “Sports & Hobbies” and Occupations ones!

fishingballooningskipping jope rope

P.S.  You can also flip it round to teach “so” e.g.

“I like eating so I want to be a chef!”

Richard Graham

Hello, I'm Richard Graham. When I was a kid I found school to be sooooo boring... So I transformed my way of teaching. I listened to what the kids were really wanting to say and taught it in ways they really wanted to learn. The results were magical. Now I help teachers just like you teach amazing lessons and double your incomes!

7 Responses to “How to teach “because””

  1. Carol

    A nice way to combine themes and is not difficult.

    I had used the themes “What do you think of…” and used famous people. for example: What do you think of Beyonce (her)? I think she’s cool because …. I like her songs, she sings well, her music is excellent…..

    This works very well with junior high students. But now there is another way too, great! Thanks for sharing!!

  2. Margit

    Great idea! I’ve been wondering about this one many times. “why” should be on the top of the list when teaching kids, but I’ve never really found a good pattern of doing so.
    Thanks for the idea.

    My~ there is so much stuff suddenly that is just perfect for all those kids, who are still in ES but have run through the GE curriculum already. I’m so excited as it is perfect timing. I’ bet my 5th graders are going to take a few more huge steps before they’ll enter JH.

  3. Jesse Hall

    This is a great idea. I’m currently teaching my kids, “I want to go to ______ because I want to see ______.” Some of the kids have been having difficulties with the concept of linking these two clauses, so I will try this. Thanks!

  4. shabnam

    Thank you Justice. It’s wonderful.

  5. Barbara

    My students LOVED the jobs song. They love “rockstar” of course. Afterwards, we did a writing activity where they had to tell me what they want to be and why, like the above activity. Some were very basic “I want to be a football player because I like football” but some were more creative, like “I want to be a journalist because I like to ask questions.”
    Very fun and the kids felt very proud of themselves that they could write a sentence like this.

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