Talking about the past!
An introduction to Past Simple
When we talk about Past Simple, we mean a PRECISE MOMENT THAT IS FINISHED.
Again: specific, a short time, and it is gone.
Specific: We are going to be using dates.
In 1999, people were scared of the Y2K.
Short time: It is normally a quick moment.
Yesterday, my friend was there eating salad.
It is gone: It is always different from the present.
In those days, the dollar was not so expensive.
Think about this: what do we imply if one says "my father was happy?".
What are the possible implications of this sentence.
The past for the VERB to BE is WAS, WERE.
WAS for I, He, She, it.
WERE for You, They, We.
The verb to be is a non-action verb. What it does is to describe characteristics, moments, personal information, etc.
The verb to be is also considered an irregular verb, but more than irregular is unique. It uses a different negative and question form than the others.
WAS NOT - WASN'T - NEVER combine DID with WAS
WERE NOT - WEREN'T - NEVER combine DID with WERE.
Adjective game: The past is always different
Complete the differences in the picture with the opposites.
Traditional-Modern Old-New Abundant-Scarce
Small and modest - Big and shiny
Black and white - in color
Japan was ___________________.
Now, Japan is ______________________.
The cars were ________________.
The cars are ________________________.
The buildings were __________.
They are ___________________________.
The trees were _____________.
The trees are _______________________.
The photo was ______________.
The photo is _______________________.
Past Simple: WAS and WERE (To be)
Introductory Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieoxdz6weWo - How was your trip? Top-notch
1. How was Dr. Anderson's travel?
2. Was the hotel restaurant good or bad?
3. Were there other doctors?
4. Was the trip for pleasure or business?
5. Was the city nice from the airplane?
Talking about the past!
Past simple – use
Past finished actions or states
We can use the past simple to talk about past finished actions or states. We know and we often mention when these actions happened with a past time expression: yesterday, yesterday morning, last night, last week, two days ago, five years ago, etc.
Jessica called me last night.
Rachel was a very good writer.
Past repeated actions
We can use the past simple to talk about habits or repeated actions that happened in the past but don’t happen in the present. We often use adverbs or expressions of frequency (often, always, every day, etc.). - (Used to)
When I was a child, I ate sweets every day.
In school, I always played football during break time.
Pre-reading Activities: Underground Cities
What are these places?
Where are they located?
Why did people create them?
Past Simple: Regular and Irregular Verbs
What are Regular Verbs
Regular verbs are a form of verbs that follow the normal rules of conjugation, that is, they follow a typical pattern for changing verbs into their past, past participle or future tense forms. Usually, -ed or -d is added to regular verbs when used in the past tense or in case the word ends with a ‘y’ then the ‘y’ is removed, and -ied is added.
Example:
Maria accepts the award on his behalf.
Maria accepted the award on his behalf.
Maria will accept the award on his behalf.
Maria already had accepted the award on his behalf.
In the above example you can see the use of the word ‘accept’ in its present(accepts), simple past (accepted), future (will accept), and past participle (had accepted) form.
Regular verbs that end in a single vowel and a consonant
If a verb of a single syllable ends in a vowel and a consonant, then the consonant is doubled and -ed is added to change it to the past tense.
Examples:
stop – stopped
hop – hopped
Ban – banned
Chat – chatted
Drag – dragged
Other examples could include: clap, clip, drop, fit, flip, grab, grin, grip, hug, jog, knit, mug, nod, pat, plan, rob, shop, skid, scrub, ship, skip, slip, snap, spot, star, stir, thin, top, trip, wrap, etc.
In verbs with more syllables ending in a vowel and a consonant, the consonant is doubled and -ed is added if the stress falls on the last syllable to change it to the past tense.
Examples:
In verbs with more syllables ending in a vowel and a consonant where the stress doesn’t fall on the last syllable, the consonant is not doubled and -ed is added to change it to the past tense.
What are Irregular Verbs
Unlike regular verbs, irregular verbs do not follow the normal rules of conjugation to form their past, past participle, or future tense forms. In other words, any verb that does not add -ed, -ied, or -d to its past tense form is considered an irregular verb. Irregular verbs are sometimes also called strong verbs.
Example:
I have a lot of work to do.
Did you complete the work?
The work was done.
In the above example you can see the use of the word ‘do’ in its present(do), simple past (did) and past participle (done) form.
Irregular verbs and ED pronunciation:
https://www.uv.mx/pozarica/caa-conta/files/2016/02/REGULAR-AND-IRREGULAR-VERBS.pdf
A Normal Day vs. Yesterday
Divide the board into two. Write Usually at the top of one section and Yesterday on the top of the second. In the usually section, write some typical daily activities. Then in the yesterday section write a similar statement but eliciting the past tense form
Usually
I get up at 7 am
I have a shower at 7.15 am
For breakfast, I eat toast and drink tea
I go to work by car
I arrive at work at 8.45 am
In the evening I watch TV for one hour
Yesterday
I got up at 9 am
I had a shower at 9.30 am
For breakfast, I ate cornflakes and drank coffee
I went to work by car
I arrived at work at 8.45 am
In the evening I watched a movie
Now ask students to tell their partners about the previous day’s activities.
1. Yes/No Questions First
The first thing to approach is the use of helping verbs (HV). You need to explain when to use ‘did’ and when to use ‘was/were’. Was/were is the past tense of the verb to be. It is used to talk about states of being, emotions, and senses. Did is used in conjunction with an action verb. The helping verb ‘did’ isn’t used in the statement, only in the question and the short answer. The question word or helping verb always goes at the beginning of the question.
Statement
Question - Explanation
I loved him. - Did you love him? - There is no helping verb and there is action: Use did
Mario was happy. - Was Mario happy? - Reverse the statement to put the HV in the front
James went out. - Did James go out? - There is no helping verb and there is action: Use did
They were in trouble. - Were they in trouble? - Reverse the statement to put the HV in the front
2. Information Questions
Using question words like who, what, when, where, how and why will elicit a long answer. These are used to draw out information, not simply a yes or a no. They also combine with ‘did’ or the verb ‘to be’ for questions. Using the same examples from above, draw some parallels. Again, if you have the helping verb was/were in a sentence, it will appear in the information question. When there is action and no helping verb in the statement, you need did in the question. A great way to get students thinking about information questions is alter the statements and then have them determine which question word to use, and the word order for the question.
Here are some examples:
Statement - Question
How long did you love him? - I loved him for ten years.
Where was Mario happy? - Mario was happy in Mexico
When did James go out? - James went out early this morning.
Why were they in trouble? - They were in trouble because they were naughty.
Greek Holidays
http://www.elllo.org/english/1251/1258-Hana_Daniel-Holidays.htm
Assessment Questions:
1 - Where did Hana go on holidays?
2 - How did Hana describe it?
3 - What did she do there?
4 - Who did she go with?
5 - How long did she stay there?
6 - What did she see?
Assessment on Writing
Write a paragraph describing your favorite holiday vacations. Follow the questions to cover up the information and if there are some details you don't remember, just invent them.
1) What was your favorite holiday vacation in your life?
2) Where did you go on that vacation?
3) Who did you go with?
4) How did you travel to that destination?
5) How long was the trip to get there?
6) Where did you stay?
7) What did you do in that vacation? (Include 3 activities)
8) What did you eat and drink?
9) What was the best moment?
10) What was the worst moment?
Example:
My favorite holiday vacation was when I was 12 during Christmas. I went to Merida, a very beautiful mountainous city. I was with my dad, mom, brother, aunt, uncle, and some cousins. We traveled in a car caravan of three. It took about 6 hours there, we stopped in different places to rest on the road. We stayed in a big family hotel called Magdalena. We hiked to the Pico Bolivar, visited the local zoo, and tried different restaurants. We ate a lot of typical food, grilled meat, and drank hot chocolate. The best moment was when we visited the mountains because the view was amazing. The worst moment was when my brother and I got a fever, called "Fiebre del Paramo", and had to go back to the hotel.
Past Simple Tense - Know what they're saying!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5dklneCct0
Three-part video:
(Part 1 - No subtitle).
(Part 2 - Activity partially subtitled).
(Part 3 - Fully subtitled) Practice listening, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar by means of films, music videos, series, etc.