📌 B1EN

What Would You Do If You Won the Lottery?

A ready-to-use B1 English lesson — reading, questions and answer key, built by teachers on TeachIn.

This lesson has 3 sections in total — including the full answer key.

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📖 Reading

Imagine you woke up tomorrow with an extra day off, no responsibilities, and unlimited money. What would you do? A local radio station asked this question last week, and the answers were surprising. Most people didn't mention expensive cars or huge houses. Instead, they talked about time, family and small pleasures they never have time for. One caller, a nurse called Rosa, said that if she had a free day, she would spend the whole morning in bed reading a book. 'I love reading, but I'm always too tired,' she explained. 'If I weren't so busy, I would finish at least one novel a month.' Another caller, a taxi driver named Tomás, said he would drive to the mountains with his family. 'If the weather were nice, we would have a picnic by the lake. My kids would love that.' A teacher called Priya gave a different answer. She said that if she won a lot of money, she wouldn't stop working completely. 'If I had enough money, I would still teach, but only part-time. I would also travel more. If I could visit any country, I would choose Japan, because I've always been fascinated by its culture.' Her answer made the radio host laugh, because most people say they would quit their job immediately if they became rich. The radio station also asked a psychologist, Dr. Álvarez, to comment on the results. She said that people's answers show what really matters to them. 'If someone had more free time, they would probably choose to spend it with people they love, not on expensive things,' she said. 'This tells us that relationships and rest are more important to most people than money.' She added that thinking about hypothetical situations, like winning the lottery or having extra time, can actually help people understand their real priorities. By the end of the show, the host asked listeners to send messages with their own answers. Hundreds of people wrote in, and almost all of them mentioned family, travel or hobbies. Very few mentioned buying luxury items. It seems that, given the chance, most people would choose experiences over things.

🗣️ Speaking — discussion

Context

Imagine you won a large sum of money in the lottery tomorrow.
You have to decide how to spend, invest, or use this unexpected wealth.
This scenario invites reflection on values, priorities, and life changes.
Many people have different dreams about what they would do if they had more money.
The choices we would make reveal what matters most to us in life.

Themes

Dreams and Aspirations — What would you do if you had unlimited resources? This explores personal dreams and how money might help us achieve them.
Responsibility and Consequences — Winning suddenly brings responsibility. If you won, how would you manage the money wisely and avoid negative consequences?
Values and Priorities — Our choices reveal what we truly value. If you could change your life with money, what would that tell us about your priorities?
Social Impact — If you had wealth, would you help others? This explores generosity, duty, and the role of privilege in society.

Personal Response

If you won a large amount of money tomorrow, what would you do first?
Would you tell your family and friends about your win? Why or why not?
If you could change one thing about your life with money, what would it be?

Themes & Ideas

If you had more money, would you work less, or would you still want a job? Explain your answer.
If money could solve all your problems, do you think you would be happier? Why or why not?
If you could help one group of people with your wealth, who would it be and why?

Critical Thinking

If you won the lottery, how would you prevent the money from changing your relationships with friends and family?
If a lottery winner wanted to keep their life the same, what challenges would they face?
If you had to choose between giving money to charity or investing for your family's future, what would you do?

Cultural & Social Topics

In your culture, if someone became wealthy suddenly, how would people expect them to behave?
If lottery winnings were taxed at 70% in your country, would you still want to win? Why or why not?
If wealth was distributed more equally in society, would lotteries still exist as they do now?

🎭 Classroom activity

Pair activity: Student A describes a lottery win scenario using the second conditional ('If I won, I would...'). Student B asks follow-up questions using the same structure ('If you did that, would you...?'). Then swap roles. Finally, the class votes on whose plan sounds most realistic or happiest.

✏️ Questions

In our unit 7b class discussion, Maria said, 'If I ___ (have) more free time, I would learn to play the guitar.'
Our teacher explained the second conditional and told us that if she won the lottery, she ___ (travel) around the world.
While we were practising the exercises in unit 7b, the whole class ___ (agree) that hypothetical questions were the most fun part of the lesson.
By the time the teacher reached the last activity in unit 7b, the students ___ already (finish) the second conditional worksheet.
If our teacher ___ (give) us more example sentences, we would understand the second conditional much better.
Since the students ___ (study) unit 7b last week, they have felt much more confident about conditional sentences.
What is the main topic of the radio show discussed in the passage?
- a) How to become rich quickly
- b) What people would do with extra free time and money
- c) The best places to travel in Japan
- d) How psychologists study money problems
According to the passage, what would Rosa do if she had a free day?
- a) She would go to the mountains with her family
- b) She would spend the morning reading a book
- c) She would visit Japan
- d) She would work part-time as a teacher
Why did Priya's answer make the radio host laugh?
- a) Because she said she would never travel
- b) Because she wanted to become a taxi driver
- c) Because she said she would keep working instead of quitting immediately
- d) Because she refused to answer the question
What does Dr. Álvarez suggest about people's answers to hypothetical questions?
- a) They are usually false and unreliable
- b) They reveal what people truly value in life
- c) They only apply to psychologists
- d) They show that people mostly want luxury items
In the sentence 'If she weren't so busy, I would finish at least one novel a month,' what is wrong with the sentence and how should it be corrected?
- a) It is correct as it is
- b) The subject pronouns should match: 'If I weren't so busy, I would finish at least one novel a month'
- c) It should use 'was' instead of 'weren't'
- d) It should use 'will finish' instead of 'would finish'
What does the word 'priorities' most likely mean in the context of the passage?
- a) Rules that must be followed
- b) The things a person considers most important
- c) Problems that need to be solved quickly
- d) Expensive items people want to buy