LESSON OVERVIEW

In this lesson, students learn the difference between Past Simple and Past Continuous. They also get the chance to practise using the two tenses in a variety of tasks. 

PAST SIMPLE AND PAST CONTINUOUS

At the beginning of the lesson students read the definition of the word excuse and think what excuses people often give in different situations (e.g. when they are late). Then, students read six situations and think of an excuse they might give in each of them (e.g. You borrowed a friend’s laptop and broke it.) Next, they look at a list of excuses and match them with the situations they talked about. The excuses contain verbs in Past Simple and Past Continuous forms. After that, students look at some of the excuses again and find the verbs, as well as decide which tense they are. They also work out the rules of using Past Simple and Past Continuous. 

PRACTICE

In this part of the lesson students practise using the past tenses. First, they do a controlled activity in which they need to choose the correct verb forms in sentences. Then, they look at four photos of people who might have done something wrong and discuss some questions. For instance, they explain what happened (e.g. someone broke some plates), say whether these situations ever happened to them, and decide if the people should apologize for what happened. Then, students use the four photos to create some excuses for what happened. They need to use Past Simple and Past Continuous, as well as some verbs in brackets. Finally, students play a game in which they get a list of situations (e.g. You promised to cook dinner but you didn’t.). In pairs, they need to create excuses for what happened, and their partner needs to guess what the situation is.