Level of students: High Beginner

Total class time: 90 min.

Aims:

To introduce new vocabulary about leisure activities

To introduce the past simple with its function to talk about the past (comparing it to the

present simple and present progressive)

To introduce the affirmative and negative form of the past simple and the forms of

regular and irregular verbs

To review adverbials of time concerning weekdays (on Monday, on Saturday, on the

weekend), here used with the past tense.

To practice the pronunciation of the -ed ending in the past simple and the stress of the

personal pronoun when using the same question to talk about another person

To provide Ss with controlled and semi-controlled practice in speaking, listening and

freer practice in writing in the context of reporting about past events using the past simple

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Assumptions:

Ss have previous knowledge about vocabulary concerning a number of leisure activities

and the vocabulary necessary to understand the teachers explanations and commands.

Ss know how to use the present simple and present progressive to talk about the

present.

Ss have experience with the phonetic alphabet and know the meaning of voiced and

voiceless

Ss have experience with writing letters/e-mails in an informal style

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Possible Problems and Solutions:

Ss might have difficulties to differentiate between regular and irregular verb forms.

Sufficient explanation, practice and a list for reference will be provided

Ss might confuse present simple verb forms and past simple forms to talk about the

past. The difference will be highlighted and practiced in drills.

Ss might use the verb be in front of a past simple verb form when forming sentences

(like in I am watched a movie.). The correct pattern for sentences will be shown clearly on
the board.
Materials: board, projector, recording, handouts with pictures, dialogue, grammar rules and
practice exercises

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PRESENTATION STAGE

1) Create interest step or lead in

Purpose:

To create interest in the topic of leisure activities (simple present tense)

Technique: personalisation and brainstorming with a mind map on the board.

Time: 10 min.
Interactive pattern: T-S, S-S
Procedure:
1.

I draw a mind map with the title leisure activities on the board and add lines to

connect possible sub-headlines. I explain Leisure activities are activities we do in our free
time.
2.

I show a picture of myself reading a book and say This is me. In my free time, I often

read a book. Then I add read a book to the mind map.

3.

I ask What do you do in your free time? and pair Ss up to add activities on a sheet that

shows the mind map.

4.

I let Ss collect their answers in the mind map on the board.

5.

I show pictures showing the following actions: watch a movie/go on a picnic/go

shopping/have a party/play sports/sleep/spend time with family/spend time with friends

6.

I ask Ss to compare their answers to the activities in the pictures asking Is there any

new activity?/Do these people do the same things you do?/ etc.

Option: Let each S rank the activities according to his likes and write them down in a list (as a
reflective task and maybe to use the answers for a writing activity).

Material: Board, Pictures

2) Presentation of new language in context

Purpose:

To introduce the past simple in the context of a conversation about weekend activities.

To see regular and irregular verbs.

To provide practice in listening for the gist

To get a first idea about the pronunciation of the past simple -ed ending and some

irregular verbs.
Technique: prediction, listening activity
Time: 10 min.
Interactive pattern: T-S
Materials: recording of the dialogue, handouts containing a printed dialogue and a picture of
the scene
Dialogue:

Did you have a good weekend?

Tony:

Hi, Sarah. Did you have a good weekend?

Sarah:

Oh, yes! I watched a great movie on Friday. On Saturday, I went shopping

with my friend Alice and then we had a party at our house. So on Sunday I slept all day.
Tony:

That sounds good!

Sarah:

How about you? You look tired. What did you do on the weekend?

Tony:

Well, didnt have much fun. I worked all the time and prepared our

presentation.
Sarah:

Oh, no! I totally forgot the presentation!

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Procedure:

1.

I focus Ss attention on a picture of two people (Tony and Sarah) talking in an office.

(Tony looks very tired, Sarah covers her mouth with her hand as if she realized something bad
has happened.) I let Ss guess what the conversation is about.
2.

I show the title of the dialogue (Did you have a good weekend?) and set the scene:

Tony and Sarah are co-workers. Its Monday morning and they talk about their weekends.
3.

I ask Who had a good weekend? Who had a bad weekend? to give a specific listening

task and let Ss guess.

4.

I play a recording of the dialogue. Then I elicit the answers (Tony = bad weekend, Sarah

= good weekend).
5.

I hand out the printed dialogues and let Ss read while I play the recording again.

6.

I elicit new vocabulary and write it on the board.

3) Elicitation of function and structure

Purpose:

To elicit the function of talking about past events using the past simple

To elicit the form of verbs in the past simple (regular and irregular)

Technique: elicitation through concept questions and use of time line.

Time: 5 min.
Interactive pattern: T-S
Procedure:
1.

Now I draw a timeline on the board and mark NOW, PAST, FUTURE and,

pointing at the picture, I ask What day is it in the picture? Then I add Monday after Ss
have answered.

2.

I elicit that the conversation is about past events by comparing it to the present

progressive:
T:

Is Sarah watching a movie now?

Ss:

No.

T:

Is she having a party now?

Ss:

No.

T:

Is she sleeping now?

Ss:

No.

T:

When did Sarah watch a movie?

Ss:

On the weekend/On Friday.

T:

When did she have a party?

Ss:

On the weekend/On Saturday.

T:

Right, on the weekend; not now. (I add weekend to the timeline.)

Tony and Sarah are talking about the past.

3.

I elicit the form of verbs in the past simple by comparing it to the present simple. I write

the following pairs of sentences on the board:

a.

I go shopping with my friend Alice.

I went shopping with my friend Alice.

b.

I work all the time.

I worked all the time.

4.

I ask What is different in these sentences? and, highlighting the past simple forms in

the examples, I explain that the verbs in the dialogue are in the past simple.
5.

I put the word past simple on the board (near PAST on the timeline) and explain

that we use it to talk about the past.

6.

I let Ss underline the verbs in the past simple that appear in the dialogue and let them

collect them on the board (regular on one side; irregular on the other).

4) Modelling

Purpose:

To raise Ss awareness of the formation and sentence structure of the past simple and

provide Ss with a chance to use past simple sentences for speaking (they do it for the first
time)
Technique: mechanical drill
Time: 1-2 min.
Interactive pattern: T-S
Procedure:

1.

I point at the sentence pairs from the previous step and explain that we form the past

simple by changing the verb form. The sentence structure is the same as that of the present
simple.
2.

Then I read out a verb and the sentence it appears in and let Ss repeat after me. After

doing it twice I read out only the verb and let Ss read out the full sentence.
Ex.

T: watched.

Ss: watched.
T: I watched a great movie on Friday.
Ss: I watched a great movie on Friday.
T: went.
Ss: went.
T: Sentence? (Pointing to a sentence if Ss have difficulties)
Ss: I went shopping with my friend Alice.

5) Pronunciation

Purpose: to make Ss aware of

the pronunciation the -ed ending in past simple verb forms

the stress of the personal pronoun when using the same question to talk about another

person
Technique: chain game, listening task (option)
Time: 5-10 min. (or more with option)
Interactive pattern: T-S, S-S
Procedure:

1.

I draw Ss attention to the verbs in the table again saying Lets take a closer look at the

pronunciation of these verbs on the left.

2.

I explain that they all end with -ed but have a slightly different pronunciation.

3.

I explain that we pronounce -ed like

a.

/t/ when the verb ends with voiceless consonant sounds like in watched and worked

b.

/d/ when the verb ends with vowel sounds or voiced consonant sounds like in prepared

and played (I add played to the table and model an example sentence)
c.

/Id/ when the verb ends with /d/ or /t/ like in visited (I add visited to the table and

model an example sentence)

While I explain I add phonetic symbols to the table and let Ss repeat the pronunciation of each
category after me.

watched
worked

/t/
/t/

prepared /d/
played

/d/

visited /id/

4.

I let Ss copy the phonetic symbols to the table in their handouts.

Option: I give Ss another list of verbs, play a recording and let them sort the verbs according
to their pronunciation (/t/, /d/, /Id/).

5.

Now I focus Ss attention on the you in italic thats found in the dialogue (see above).

I ask Why is this you special? and elicit some answers.

6.

I explain that when we ask the same question as before but about somebody else, we

stress the personal pronoun to make clear that we now talk about another person.
7.

I read out the dialogue once again putting special emphasis on the pronunciation of

you and emphasise and illustrate the meaning with gestures.

Option: I let Ss practice in a question chain (I ask them to point at the person theyre talking
to when saying the you to emphasise meaning):

Ex.

T: Did you watch TV on the weekend?

S1: [Yes/No] Did you watch TV on the weekend?

S2: [Yes/No] Did you watch TV on the weekend?
S2: [Yes/No] Did you watch TV on the weekend?

6) Systematization on the board

Purpose:

to present and explain the formation of verbs in the past simple (regular/irregular) and

the patterns for sentences (affirmative/negative)

Technique: (encourage development of deductive skills through) elicitation
Time: 10 min.
Interactive pattern: T-S
Procedure:

1.

I say that Im now going to explain the rules for verbs in the past simple.

2.

I focus Ss attention on the left side of the chart and ask Ss what these verbs have in

common to remind them that all verbs end in -ed.

3.

I add the headline regular to the left side of the chart and explain that the past simple

form of regular verbs ends like this.

4.

I ask Ss to look at their handouts which contains a column about the spelling of regular

past simple verbs and explain:

Most verbs:

+ed

(e.g. watched, worked, visited)

Verbs ending with e:

+d

(e.g. prepared)

Verbs ending with a consonant +y:

Some forms need double consonant:

5.

y to i +ed = -ied (e.g. studied)

(e.g. robbed, shopped)

Now I write irregular over the right side of the chart and explain that these are

irregular past simple forms, that theyre not formed by adding -ed, and that we have to
memorize them one by one.
6.

I ask Ss to look at the dialogue again and let them guess the base forms of the verbs

from the context. Then I write them behind the past simple forms.

7.

Now I present the pattern for sentences in the simple past and write them on the board:

Affirmative:

S + past simple form of the verb

Negative:

S + didnt + base form of the verb

8.

Pointing at the chart I show that didnt is the contraction of did not and did the past

simple form of do. I explain that we use did for all subjects.
9.

Ex.

I add two example sentences to the systematisation on the board.

I watched a great movie on Friday.

I went shopping with my friend Alice.

I didnt watch a great movie on Friday.
I didnt go shopping with my friend Alice.

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PRACTICE STAGE

1) Mechanical drill

Purpose:

To provide Ss with practice in transforming affirmative sentences in the past simple into

negative sentences and the other way round

Technique: oral transformation drill
Time: 1-2 min.
Interactive pattern: T-S
Procedure:

I say Lets practice turning positive sentences into negative sentences and negative sentences
into positive sentences. and start with the examples on the board (later I use other sentences
from the dialogue as well as sentences describing leisure activities from the warm-up,
including Ss ideas):
Ex.

T:

On Saturday, I played sports. Negative?

S1:

On Saturday, I didnt play sports.

T:

On the weekend, I didnt have a party. Positive?

S2:

On the weekend, I had a party.

2) Reading and written practice

Purpose:

To provide Ss with practice in forming past simple verb forms (regular/irregular)

Technique: gap filling

Time: 10 min.
Interactive pattern: S, S-S
Procedure and materials:
1.

I show Ss a picture of a young man having a hard time mowing the lawn. I ask Did he

have a good weekend? to raise Ss attention. I let Ss guess and say Lets find out.
2.

I hand out a gap filling exercise with a story about a his weekend:

I had a very bad weekend. On Friday night, I ________ (go) to Inhambane to meet my friend
Merson. We ________(want) to go to the movies, but he ________(not come), so I
_________ (watch) the movie alone.

Early on Saturday morning, my sisters _________ (call) me and we _________(work) in the

yard. I hate working in the yard. In the afternoon, I ___________(go) Complexo Jerusalem in
Maxixe with my girlfriend. I _________ (see) a lot of nice things to buy, but
I_________(lose) my wallet and _______(not buy) nothing.
3.

I let Ss complete the exercise alone and ask them to pair up to compare their answers.

4.

I remind them not just show each other their sheets but talk about what they wrote and

monitor their performance walking around in the classroom.

5.

After Ss have completed the exercise we check the answers by reading out the dialogue

aloud.
6.

I ask Now, did he have a good weekend or not? and elicit Ss answers to check Ss

understanding of the text and to close the activity.

3) Communicative drill

Purpose:

To provide Ss with freer practice in listening, speaking and writing about past events

using the past simple

Technique: personalization
Time: 10 min. (or more with option)
Interactive pattern: S-S
Procedure and materials:
1.

I focus Ss attention to the worksheet and read out and explain the instructions for the

activity:

Tell your partner about 5 things you did and 5 things you didnt do last week. Use time
expressions like

on Monday/Tuesday//the weekend

in the morning/afternoon evening

at night
Then listen to your partner and write down what he/she did or didnt do.

2.

I monitor the activity and provide vocabulary or other help where there is need.

Option: For more practice, let Ss tell the class about their partners last week.

PRODUCTION STAGE

Purpose:

To provide Ss with freer practice in writing about past events using the past simple

Technique: personalization
Time: 20 min.
Interactive pattern: S
Procedure and materials:
I read out and explain the instructions for the activity:

You are on a trip around the world. Write an e-mail to a friend or your family about your trip.
What country/places did you visit? What did you see? What did you do? How was it? Where
are you now?

Ss compose the text for themselves. They may use a dictionary. I monitor the activity and
provide help

Past Simple Lesson Plan

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, K-3
In the BrainPOP ESL movie, The Thief Walked In (L1U6L1), Ben tells Moby about the
strange experience he had when he arrived home from school the day before. In this lesson
plan, adaptable for grades K-8, students practice the past simple form of regular verbs.
Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments
Students will:
Categorize past simple verbs according to their end sounds.
Retell the events of the movie using a list of verbs.
Collaborate on a team project to creatively demonstrate and teach a spelling rule.
Make up a collaborative story in the past.
Materials:
BrainPOP ESL
Image: The Thief
Vocabulary:
arrive, decide, happen, visit, scare, shout and other regular verbs.
Lesson Procedure:
Listen to the Sounds. When we add -ed to verbs, it sometimes sounds like d (as in arrived); it
sometimes sounds like t (as in looked); and it sometimes sounds like id (as in needed). Below

are verbs that the students have learned in previous BrainPOP ESL movies in Level 1. As you
pronounce each verb in its past simple form write it on the board in one of three columns
according to its ending sounds (d / t / id), but do not identify the categories. After a few
examples, ask the students to identify the categories. Continue pronouncing and adding verbs
until students are able to identify the end sound patterns. Challenge students to test their
conclusions by having them identify which column to put the remaining verbs in. /d/ sound:
loved, washed, happened, played, smiled, cheered, lived, opened, listened, remembered,
cleaned. / t/ sound: liked, asked, looked, helped, talked, touched, worked, stopped, thanked,
jumped, practiced, guessed, walked, cooked. /id/ sound: needed, wanted, waited, hated,
visited, started.
Categorize the Sounds. Leave the three-column chart from Activity 1 on the board. As
students watch the BrainPOP ESL movie The Thief Walked In (L1U6L1), have them write
down every regular past tense verb they hear/see. You can also assign the task as homework.
Tell students to put the verbs in the appropriate columns according to their ending sounds.
With the list of verbs still on the board, ask students to retell the events of the movie using the
image of The Thief as a prompt.
Tell a Story. After students retell the story of the movie, ask the class to make up a new story.
Start the story by providing the first sentence. For example, I heard a terrible noise outside
last night. Instruct them to use the simple past tense as each student adds a sentence to the
story. Write the story on the board, chart paper, or interactive white board, as the class creates
it. When the story is complete, you can use it as an LEA activity (Language Experience
Approach). Read it together as a class, and use their story to practice vocabulary and
language, such as circling all examples of the past tense verbs.
Demonstrate the Spelling Rules. The past simple form of regular verbs has different spelling
rules. The four spelling rules are listed below, as well as in the Know More feature. After
reviewing the rules, assign one rule to each small group of students. Each group must decide
on a way to demonstrate, teach, and give examples of their spelling rule. Encourage them to
be creative with their demonstrations. You can provide some examples, such as a poster, a
quiz, a game, a PowerPoint presentation, a cartoon, a mini book, a skit, a song, a poem, etc.
Through their demonstration, they must explain the rule and provide examples, including
exceptions to their rule. While every student is responsible for researching, finding

information, and contributing ideas, you may want to assign roles to each group member,
based on their strengths, or have the students divide up tasks according to roles they choose.
Spelling Rules of Regular Past Simple Verbs
1. With most regular verbs, we simply add -ed to the base form.
For example: happen = happened.
2. With verbs that end in e, we add d.
For example: smile = smiled, arrive = arrived.
3. With verbs that end in a consonant and y, we drop the y and add -ied.
For example: try = tried, carry = carried.
Exception: if there is a vowel before the y, we leave the y and only add -ed.
For example: play = played.
4. With one-syllable verbs that end in consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) combinations, we
double the last consonant.
For example: stop = stopped.
Exception: With two-syllable verbs, we double the last consonant if the stress is on the last
syllable.
For example: admit = admitted.
But when the stress is on the first syllable, we just add -ed.
For example: listen = listened.
Extension Activity

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. This is a popular children's poem and song
that's full of examples of regular past tense verbs. You can find many versions of it on
YouTube, and the words are available on the Internet. Before singing it with the students, they

can do a Cloze activity, create a poster, create their own books with the words and
illustrations, or even act out a skit.