Past Times- Things in Common
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Typical time expressions with narrative tenses personalised speaking game in which students find experiences that they share, including matching times to Past Continuous, Past Perfect, etc.
Lesson Plan Content:
Past times things in common
Choose one of the times on the next page below. Give information about yourself and ask questions about your partner related to that time until you find something in common. Negative sentences that are true for both of you are also okay. Then do the same for other past times below.
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Useful language for talking about your past I… ed… I had already…ed… I hadn’t… yet… I was…ing. I have(n’t)…ed… I used to…
Useful language for talking about similarities and differences Me too!/ I… too. Me neither./ I… not… either. Really? I… |
Past times and tenses presentation
Without looking below, brainstorm suitable time expressions for each of the sentences below. Some expressions can go in more than one place, but write them in the most common column for each phrase.
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I was eating |
I have had two cigarettes |
I had an accident |
I had saved a lot of money |
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Look below for ideas, brainstorm more, then compare as a class.
Past times to ask questions about
- A couple of… ago
- A fortnight ago
- A long time ago
- At this time yesterday/ last week/ last month/ last year
- At … o’clock on…
- At… a.m. on… day
- At… p.m. yesterday
- At… in the morning/ afternoon/ evening on the… th of…
- At five past/ quarter past/ half past/ …past…
- At… to…
- Before I left home/ I…
- Before this class/…
- By the time I left home
- For a long time
- For just a short time
- For… days/ weeks/ months/ years/ decades.
- In 20…
- In January/ February/ March/…
- In the 19…s
- In the last week/ month/ year/ decade
- In the last… days/ weeks/ months/ years
- Just a short while ago
- Just before this lesson
- Last night
- Last week/ month/ year
- Never
- On Christmas Day
- On… day
- On the first of/ second of/ third of/…th of…
- On the fourteenth of February
- Once/ Twice/ three times/ many times/ … times
- Since 19…/ 20…
- Since I joined this class/ I left school/ I woke up/ I…
- Since the beginning of this month/ Since the beginning of…/ Since the first of…
- Since the end of…
- Since the year…
- Since… day
- The day before yesterday
- The week before last
- The year before last
- This morning/ afternoon/ evening
- This week/ month/ year/ decade/ century/ millennium
- Today
- Yesterday (morning/ afternoon/ evening)
- … minutes ago/ hours ago/ days ago/ weeks ago/ months ago/ years ago.
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