The Teacher Who Could Not Read — can / could / be able to (B1 Grammar)

B1 - can / could / be able to

Thirty Years

PICTURE

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"You've been able to hide this for thirty years. Imagine what you'll be able to do now."

*can / could* for ability · *be able to* in other tenses and forms

Reading

Speaking

LEAD-IN

Two truths and a lie

Write three sentences about your abilities — two true, one false. Your group guesses the lie.

• I can...

• I could ... when I was a child.

• I've never been able to...

PICTURE

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BEFORE YOU READ

A secret at work

David Herrera, 55, worked for eleven years as a secondary school teacher. He could not read a single word.

PICTURE

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READ ONCE AND ANSWER

1. How did David hide his secret for thirty years?

2. What changed?

READING

The teacher who couldn't read

For most of his adult life, David Herrera, now 55, had a secret that could have destroyed him at any moment: he couldn't read. Not slowly, not badly — at all. And for eleven of those years, he worked as a secondary school teacher.

"People think it's impossible, but it isn't," he says. "I could memorise anything I heard. I could get students to read aloud 'to build their confidence'. I was never able to write comments on homework, so I developed a system of ticks and stamps. I could talk my way out of almost any situation. What I couldn't do was read a bedtime story to my own daughter."

David grew up in a chaotic house and moved school nine times. By the time anyone noticed he was behind, he was already an expert at hiding it. "At school I was 'the funny one'. Teachers used to pass me because I was charming. Being able to charm people is a survival skill — but it's also a prison."

The turning point came at 47, when his daughter, then eight, pushed a book into his hands at bedtime. "I made an excuse, like always. And she said: 'Dad, you always say that.' I went downstairs and cried."

The next week, he walked into an adult literacy centre. "The first month, I couldn't even look the tutor in the eye. But she told me something I've never forgotten: 'You've been able to hide this for thirty years. Imagine what you'll be able to do with that intelligence now.'"

It took David three years to read his first novel. Last spring, he was finally able to do the thing that started it all: he read his daughter — now a teenager — the first chapter of the book she'd chosen at eight.

"She pretended it was embarrassing," he smiles. "But she stayed."

COMPREHENSION

Choose a, b or c.

1. As a teacher, David...

a) read very slowly

b) avoided all situations that required reading

c) only taught maths

2. He hid his problem at school by...

a) being charming

b) skipping classes

c) copying friends

3. At the literacy centre, at first he...

a) learned quickly

b) felt deep shame

c) gave up

4. Reading his first novel took him...

a) three months

b) a year

c) three years

GRAMMAR FOCUS

When can runs out of forms

a) He couldn't read — not slowly, not badly — at all.

b) I was never able to write comments on homework.

c) You've been able to hide this for thirty years.

d) Imagine what you'll be able to do now.

e) Being able to charm people is a survival skill.

f) Last spring, he was finally able to do the thing that started it all.

1. Can has only two forms: ________ (present) and ________ (past). True or false?

2. Look at (c), (d) and (e). Why is be able to used instead of can / could? What tense or form is each one?

3. Two sentences are about the past: one uses couldn't, one uses was able to. Which one talks about one specific occasion?

THE RULES

Complete the rule

• For the future, the present perfect, infinitives and gerunds, can has no form — so we use ________ + infinitive.

• For general past ability, use could: My son could read before he started school.

• For one specific occasion in the past, use was / were able to: Firefighters were able to rescue everyone last night.

CAREFUL

Be able to is also slightly more formal than can, so we sometimes choose it even when can is possible.

PRACTICE

Complete with the correct form of be able to (or can / could where both are natural).

1. Her phone has been off all day, so I ________ (not) reach her yet.

2. I hate ________ (not) remember people's names.

3. I'd love ________ speak another language fluently.

4. Firefighters ________ rescue everyone from the building last night. (one specific occasion)

5. We won't ________ come to the wedding — we'll be abroad.

6. My son ________ read before he started school. (general past ability)

7. She's delighted because she's finally ________ find a flat she can afford.

8. ________ you ________ help me move house on Saturday?

SPEAKING

Hidden abilities, secret struggles

Discuss in pairs or small groups.

1. What's something most people can do that you've never been able to do?

2. What have you recently become able to do?

3. What do you hope you'll be able to do in five years?

4. Is there anything adults are embarrassed to admit they can't do — and should they be?

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

GIST He memorised everything he heard, made students read aloud, used ticks and stamps instead of written comments, and charmed his way out of trouble. His daughter asking for a bedtime story changed everything.

COMPREHENSION 1 b · 2 a · 3 b · 4 c

GRAMMAR FOCUS 1 True — can and could. 2 (c) present perfect, (d) future with will, (e) gerund as the subject — can has no form for any of these. 3 (f) — one specific occasion, so was able to.

RULE be able to

PRACTICE 1 haven't been able to

2 not being able to

3 to be able to

4 were able to (one occasion — could is not possible here in the affirmative)

5 be able to

6 could / was able to — both work (general ability)

7 been able to

8 Will you be able to