Danika Drotar

INTEGRATED LESSON PLAN 4/16/2018 Level of Ss: Lower Intermediate

Lesson Topic: past progressive tense

Primary skills involved: speaking, listening, writing
Lesson objectives: By the end of the lesson, SSBAT construct the past progressive tense
correctly—in both form and function—by expressing in writing and speaking what they or others
were doing at a certain point in time.

Materials needed: Jazz chant handout (“What Happened?”), Past Progressive Explanation
handout, board markers, timeline chart (to help me do “Explain” part), “What Were You Doing??”
information gap handout, Dictogloss paragraph, paper and pencils for students

Stage Procedure Materials Which

Intelligence?

Engage Display the following jazz chant on the doc-cam: Jazz chant Musical
“What
What Happened? Happened?” Bodily/
Kinesthetic
Ow!
Linguistic
What happened?
I was lifting a heavy bag when I hurt my back!

Ow!
What happened?
I was changing a light bulb when I got an electric
shock!

Ow!
What happened?
I was slicing an onion when I cut my finger!

Ow!
What happened?
I was making some tea when I burned my hand!

Ow!
What happened?
I was climbing a ladder when I fell off and broke
my leg!

Adapted from:
http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/listening/jazz-chants/mp3-
files-and-recording-scripts/ (Jazz chant #14)

“Ok everyone! Remember jazz chants? This is a jazz

chant with the past progressive verb. So first, listen to
me saying this jazz chant. On the dark words, I will
clap and say it louder! That means there is more
stress there … Ok, now everyone stand up and follow
along!”
 Danika Drotar
After they have gotten it, question them about the
meaning and let that lead into the “Explain” part…

About Jazz Chants: This technique uses poems and

songs with jazz rhythms to illustrate natural intonation
and stress patterns of English. Learners can start to
notice and produce the stress of sentences using the
chants. Each chant has a 4-beat rhythm [1, 2, 3, 4],
and each beat will be either a stressed word or a
pause. The first beat is the first stressed word, not
necessarily the first word in a sentence.

Explain Explain form and function of past progressive. Draw Board Linguistic
the timelines on the board as well. markers
Visual/
Past Spatial
Progressive
Explanation
handout

1. We usually use the past progressive tense to talk

about something that was happening around a
particular time in the past.

- What were you doing at 8 o’clock last night? I

was watching television.
- In 1994 he was working in a small town in
Poland.
- At 6 o’clock on Saturday morning we were
traveling to the airport.
 Danika Drotar
2. We often use the past progressive and the past
simple tense together. When this happens, the past
progressive describes a longer ‘background’ action,
and the past simple describes the action or events.
The word “when” or “while” is used in one of the
clauses.

- When I woke up this morning, it was raining.

- I saw two masked men run out of the bank
when I was walking home!
- We heard a wolf howl while we were taking out
the trash last night!
- While she was coming home from school, she
saw the bus go by.

3. Often, the ‘action’ described by the past simple

tense interrupts the ‘situation’ described by the past
progressive tense. The past progressive describes
‘situations’ that continue for a while – ‘skiing’ and
‘playing’ – but the past simple describes ‘actions’ that
happen quickly – ‘broke’ and ‘rang’.

- I broke my leg while I was skiing.

- He was playing a computer game when the
doorbell rang.

Adapted from:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/quick-grammar/past-
continuous-and-past-simple

Explore Hand out the “What were you doing??” info gap “What Were Interpersonal
worksheet to students. Have one student read the You Doing??”
directions. Then model the directions for the students: handout

“I will ask Leah where she was during these times.

First, I write her name. Then, I say the full sentence to
her: ‘Where were you at 10 o’clock last night?’ And
she has to answer it IN THE PAST PROGRESSIVE
with something like ‘I was watching a TV show at 10
o’clock last night! I didn’t do it!’ Then I would simply
write ‘watching TV show’ in the box. You do not have
to write the whole sentence. This is a speaking
activity, not a writing activity. If the answer is not in
past progressive, you need to ask your partner to
change the sentence. So, if your partner says, ‘I was
at a meeting’, point it out to them and help them make
a sentence like, ‘I was attending a meeting.’
Understand? Ok, go!!”

Let S’s work on this for about 10 minutes and walk

around the room monitoring how they use past
progressive. At the end, ask S’s where their
 Danika Drotar
classmates were – for example, “Leah, who was the
first person that you interviewed? Madison? Ok,
where was Madison when the sun came up today?”
and Leah would answer with, “She was sleeping in
bed when the sun came up today.”

Elaborate Tell students we will do something called a Dictogloss Linguistic

Dictogloss. paragraph
Interpersonal
“A dictogloss is an activity where you have to listen to Paper and
a story and write notes, and then you have to try to re- pencil/pen for
construct the paragraph from memory. But don’t students
worry! I will read the story three times, and you will
also work with a group later. Do not try to write each
word! This is not a dictation. While I read, just listen—
no notes. I will read a second time, and you can write
down some words and phrases that you can hear. I
will also read it a third time, and you can add to your
notes. You should especially listen for past
progressive verbs. Are you ready? Ok! Just listen the
first time…”

I was watching a movie last night when the doorbell

rang. When I answered the door, an old woman was
standing outside. She was wearing a bright red
jacket and was holding a purple umbrella. I did not
know her, but she came in the door and screamed:
“Johnny! Oh my! I haven’t seen you in so long!” She
kissed me on the cheek while I was standing there,
very surprised. I tried to tell her that I did not know
her, but she was already talking very fast and taking
off her wet boots. I followed her around while she
was exploring the house and talking about “little
Johnny” as a baby. I was feeling very awkward.
Finally she stopped talking! While she was looking at
me, I told her I didn’t know her.
“Aren’t you my nephew Johnny?” she asked. I said
that she must have the wrong house. While I was
speaking with her, someone knocked at the door. Oh
no! Another one? I thought. I opened the door and
saw my neighbor, Mr. Adams. He saw the old woman
in my living room and said, “Aunt Betty? I haven’t
seen you in so long!”

“In groups of 3, compare notes and work together to

build the whole story from memory. Remember that
your paragraph should have the past progressive
verbs! You have to include them in your summary!”

Let students share their summaries either on the doc-

cam or by reading them aloud.
 Danika Drotar
About Dictogloss: According to experts, dictogloss
exercises make students zone in very carefully on a
certain language feature. Another variation of the
dictogloss above is to say a long target sentence
without students writing any notes at first. For
example, “Although I have already been to America
twice, I have never visited Hollywood, despite the fact
that I am crazy about movies.” (This sentence targets
present perfect tense and the collocation “despite the
fact that”.) After you finish reading the sentence once,
have them write down as much as they can
remember. Then, have them listen a second time to
the sentence, but this time they can look at their notes
(although they cannot write anything down until the
reading is over). Have them correct or add to it after
the second reading. Finally, have one student come
up to the board and write the sentence while the class
collaborates together to figure out what the full
sentence is. At the end, the teacher reads the full
sentence one more time to get the answer. For more
information, see the following YouTube video, which
is a great demonstration of a Dictogloss:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRQIDMCjS9c&t=
94s

Evaluate Tell the students to get out another piece of paper. Paper and Intrapersonal
They will do a free-write story using the past pencil/pen for
progressive. It can be a true story or a fantasy story. students Linguistic
Help them to think of some phrases such as, “What
was happening while the monster chased the possibly
princess? Was the prince running to save her?” And Interpersonal
so forth. Elicit some specific phrases to help them (if they work
start. Their stories do not have to be long; they should with partners)
be no more than a few paragraphs. They must include
at least 10 past progressive phrases.

I may have students work in pairs to complete this

activity because two brains are more creative than
one!

If there is time, they will read some of their stories to

the class. If there is no time, students should
finish/complete this activity for homework.