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Talking About Past Events Lesson Plan B1

The document provides guidance and activities for teaching students to use the past simple and past continuous tenses in English to describe past events and actions. It includes warm-up exercises like putting a story in order, drawing cards to describe pictures using the tenses, an accusations game using past continuous forms, and creating a story from a provided grid using both tenses. Students are then asked to tell a funny past story of their own.

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Filip Rakocevic
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304 views5 pages

Talking About Past Events Lesson Plan B1

The document provides guidance and activities for teaching students to use the past simple and past continuous tenses in English to describe past events and actions. It includes warm-up exercises like putting a story in order, drawing cards to describe pictures using the tenses, an accusations game using past continuous forms, and creating a story from a provided grid using both tenses. Students are then asked to tell a funny past story of their own.

Uploaded by

Filip Rakocevic
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Talking about past events

Grammar: Past Simple and Continuous (for more advanced Ss – Past Perfect as well)

Part 1 (warm-up)

Cut out the story on p.2, mix the cards and ask Ss to put the story back together (as a group). When this is done, invite Ss
to notice the uses of Past Continuous and Past Simple in this story – when and where in the story each of the tenses is
used.

Part 2

Cut out the cards on p.3. Ss draw 2 (or more, depending on the size of the group) cards and describe the picture using Past
Simple and Continuous (e.g.: The parents were relaxing in the living room when the baby started crying.). Point out the
difference between using when and while to connect the two tenses. This is a 5-minute activity, just to get the Ss more
comfortable with using the two tenses themselves, before moving on to more challenging activities.

Part 3

Play an accusations game. Write “When I saw you, ...” on the board. A student draws a card (p.4) with an activity (all verbs
are in the infinitive form). They need to accuse another student of doing that, using the verb provided in the correct (Past
Continuous) form. The “accused” then needs to provide an excuse/explanation for that behavior, using Past Continuous
and Past Simple.

Part 4

Draw the story grid from p.4 on the board (or display it on the board). Ss should use the information provided in the story
grid to come up with a story of what happened together. They should also agree on who should tell which part of the
story. When they’re done, give feedback, then read them the story provided on p.4 and ask them to compare the two.

Part 5

Ask Ss to recall a funny event from their own experience and tell it to the class using Past Continuous and Past Simple.
Part 1 (story-cards)

Justin was driving home after working late


It was a cold dark night in December.
at the office.

The road was clear and he was driving Suddenly, out of nowhere, a young woman
quickly. stepped out in front of him.

She was wearing a long black coat and Justin stepped hard on the brake, but it was
carrying a small bag. too late.

While he was looking around the car, he felt


He got out of the car and looked around, but
a strange presence that sent shivers down
there was nobody there.
his spine.

He was looking under his car when a truck The truck driver walked up to him and asked
stopped behind him. him if he needed any help.

The truck driver didn’t seem surprised with


Justin told the man what had happened.
Justin’s story.

“A young woman was killed in a car crash on this road in December 1984.”, the driver said
in a mysterious tone.
Part 2 cards
Part 3 cards (accusations)

wear swimming shorts


carry a desktop
and a Hawaiian shirt take a shower with
computer out of the
during his/her his/her clothes on
office
graduation ceremony

put his/her sneakers in wash his/her shoes in text someone during an


the microwave the dishwasher exam

put a lot of salt into


secretly take a photo of climb into his/her house
his/her friend’s soup
someone at the through a second floor
when they weren’t
shopping mall window
looking
throw some clothes out
give an envelope full of argue with a police
of the living room
money to a professor officer
window

Part 4 (storytelling grid)

Mike birthday party sorry late

hospital motorcycle angry Mary

jealous upset Leslie accident


It was a special night for Mary. It was her 18th birthday and she was having a big birthday party in her house. All
her friends from school were there and were having a great time. That was, everyone except for Mary, who was
trying to look like she was having a great time, but really she was very upset. Everyone from school was there
except her boyfriend Mike and her classmate Leslie, who also happened to be Mike’s ex-girlfriend, and Mary
couldn’t help but wonder if they were together. She was secretly still very jealous of Leslie.
‘Why hasn’t Mike called to say he is sorry that he is late and that he is on his way?’ thought Mary. Where was
Mike and what was he doing? And where was Leslie and what was she doing? Mary was starting to get angry
now. ‘How dare Mike stand me up on my 18th birthday?’ thought Mary. ‘How horrible can you get?’ Just then
the phone rang. ‘Ahh, finally it’s Mike calling to apologise and say he is on his way,’ thought Mary, and she
rushed to answer the phone. But it wasn’t Mike who answered, it was Leslie.
‘Hi, Mary, Leslie here. I’m calling about Mike …’ As soon as she heard Leslie say she was calling about Mike, Mary
exploded with jealousy. ‘Leslie!’ she shouted back. ‘How could you be so mean as to steal Mike from me on my
birthday?’ Mary burst into tears and hung up the phone. She then ran upstairs into her bedroom and closed the
door.
The phone rang again. This time Mary’s mum answered it. Five minutes later Mary’s mum went upstairs and
knocked on Mary’s door. Mary’s mum explained to Mary what had happened. On the way to the party Leslie
had seen a motorcycle skid on oil on the road and crash into a lamppost. Luckily, the motorcyclist was OK, but
he had some cuts on his head and needed to have an X-ray to check that he hadn’t injured his head. The
motorcyclist had turned out to be Mike, and Leslie had taken him to the hospital in her car. Leslie had tried to
call from the hospital to tell Mary what had happened but the phone in the waiting area had been busy. Leslie
had just been about to tell Mary that Mike had had an accident when Mary hung the phone up on her.
Mary felt pretty stupid. Mike had been getting his head X-rayed and there she was crying in her room thinking
he was cheating on her with Leslie. Mary realised that she was the one who was going to have to do all the
apologising when they arrived, even if it was her birthday!

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