What follows is a lesson plan introducing High Beginner ESL students to the Past Tense, the simple past and the past progressive. The activities are for both group and individual work. And the answers are given for the exercises.
Here is the printable PDF for the exercises:
Exercises for Yesterday Morning I Fed My Cat
Lesson: The Simple Past: Yesterday Morning
1. Yesterday Morning
I fed my cat and gave him fresh water. He ate everything and took a few sips. I brushed his fur too. While I was brushing him, he purred and rubbed himself against my hand. He was happy and so was I. Then I dangled a feather on a string and he caught it with his paws. After that, I threw a toy mouse. He chased it, brought it back in his mouth, and dropped it in my hand. He wanted to play all morning, but I had to go to work. I threw the mouse to him one more time before I left. It was my way of saying, “I loved playing. If you want to play some more, when I get home, we will.”
2. The Simple Past, the Past Progressive, and the helping verb To Be:
The Simple Present: Did + Base Form
Yes: The cat caught the feather.
No: The cat didn’t catch the feather.
Yes/No Question: Did the cat catch the feather?
For Certain: The cat did catch the feather.
Yes: He brought the mouse back in his mouth.
No: He didn’t bring the mouse back in his mouth.
Yes/No Question: Did he bring the mouse back in his mouth?
For Certain: He did bring the mouse back in his mouth.
Was, Were
Yes: The cat was happy.
No: The cat wasn’t happy.
Question: Was the cat happy?
Yes: They were there.
No: They weren’t there.
Question: Were they there?
Past Progressive: Was and Were + ING
Yes: I was feeding the cat when the phone rang.
Question: Were you feeding the cat when the phone rang?
No: They were not feeding the cat when the phone rang.
Contraction: She wasn’t feeding the cat when the phone rang.
Yes: He was purring while I brushed him.
Question: Was he purring while you brushed him?
No: The cat was not purring while I brushed him.
Contraction: He wasn’t purring while I was brushed him.
3. Exercises
Exercise One: Change the yes sentences to no sentences.
Example: I fed my cat.
I didn’t feed my cat
I was brushing him while he was purring.
We were playing catch.
He brought the toy in his mouth.
We loved to play.
We were happy.
Exercise Two: Change the yes sentences to yes/no questions.
Example:
She fed her cat.
Did she feed her cat?
I was brushing him while he was purring.
We were playing catch.
He brought the toy in his mouth.
He wanted to play catch.
He was a happy cat.
He ate everything.
4. Student Activity: Group work: “What My Classmate Did Yesterday Morning”
In a group of three, write a paragraph in the past tense about one of the students in your group. They will write five sentences and include ten activities connected with commas and “And.” Use the sequence words “Then” and “After that” in the sentences.
Yesterday morning, my classmate…
5. Student Activity: Individual Work: “What I Did Yesterday Morning”
Write a paragraph in the past tense about what you did yesterday morning. Write at least five sentences and include ten activities connected with commas and “And.” Use the sequence words “Then” and “After that” in the sentences.
Yesterday morning, I…
…
Lesson Plan for “Yesterday Morning”
The Objective:
In these exercises, the class will examine the past tense in English. There are twenty helping verbs in English that give main verbs their number and tense. There are three helping verbs that help the main verbs in the past: Did, was and were.
Every main verb in English has three principle parts. If we look at walk, there is:
Walk (the base form), Walking (the ING), and Walked (the Participle).
If we look at eat, there is:
Eat (the base form), Eating (the ING), and Eaten (the Participle).
What students will understand is that the helping verb, Did, helps the Base Form in the Simple Past. They will also understand that Was, and Were help the the ING in the Past Progressive.
Simple past:
She walked to work (did hidden).
She didn’t walk to work (did seen).
Did she walk to work (did seen)?
She did walk to work (did seen).
Did often remains hidden in the simple past yes sentences.
Past Progressive:
She was walking to work when I saw her.
She wasn’t walking to work when I saw her.
Was she walking to work when you saw her?
Was and Were are always seen.
Some talk about the hidden Did:
Not only will students become familiar with the Simple Past and the Past Progressive, they will understand in the exercises, that in the simple past yes sentence, the helping verb did is usually hidden:
I loved it. I (did) love it.
She ate pizza last night. She (did) eat pizza last night.
But did always appears in the negative, the yes/no question, and the for certain sentences:
I didn’t love it.
Did you love it?
Yes, I did love it.
She didn’t walk to work.
Did she walk to work?
She did walk to work.
Writing Together.
Writing Together. Students will work in a group and write a paragraph about “What My Classmate Did Yesterday Morning.”
Students will help each other to understand how sentences in the past work. They will write five sentences and include ten activities. They will use the sequence words “Then” and “After that.” They will need to write at least one sentence connected the actives with commas and “and.”
Writing Alone.
Writing Alone. Students will work alone and write a paragraph about “What I Did Yesterday Morning.” They will write five sentences and include ten activities. They will use the sequence words “Then” and “After that.” They will need to write some sentences connecting the activities with commas and “and.”
Students will begin to understand how sentences in the past work. They will also begin to understand the use of commas and sequence words.
The Materials:
Handouts
Lined paper
Dry markers for white board
Newsprint
Markers for newsprint
The Lesson:
1. Spelling. Before reading of the paragraph in the lesson, the students will spell the main verbs used in the paragraph. The teacher will say the base form of the verb, not the past tense of the verbs used in the story. There are seventeen verbs: feed, give, eat, take, brush, purr, rub, dangle, catch, throw, chase, bring, drop, leave, have, want, and love. After the dictation, the teacher will write the verbs on the board and students can check their spelling. This spelling activity is not about spelling the words correctly, but getting the students used to spelling and writing what they hear. are will be a spelling activity.
2. With the teacher, the students read the handout “Yesterday Morning I Fed My Cat.” They take turns reading the sentences out loud and check for the subjects and verbs in the sentences.
3. In groups of three, students do Exercises One and Two. Each group writes several of their answers on the white board. When they are finished, the teachers goes over their work making any corrections.
Writing in a Group
4, A. Remaining in their groups, groups discuss and write a paragraph about what one of their classmates did yesterday morning. At least ten activities. At least five sentences. Each group uses the sequence words “Then” and “After that.” Each group writes their paragraph on newsprint and hangs it up.
4, B. With the teacher, the class looks at the paragraphs they have written and hung up. The teacher models using correction marks.
Writing Individually
4, A. The teacher hands out a piece of line paper and tells each student to write a paragraph about what they specifically do every morning. Because the students have already done the exercises, they should have enough vocabulary to work with.
4, B. The students give their first drafts to the teacher, and the teacher, with the student present, goes over the essay and makes corrections.
4, C. The teacher gives the first draft with corrections back to the student, and another sheet of lined paper. The student writes draft two and shows it to the teacher. With the student, the teacher goes over draft two, makes corrections, and gives it back to the student.
Answers for this lesson:
Exercise One: Change the yes sentences to no sentences.
Example: I fed my cat.
I didn’t feed my cat
I was brushing him while he was purring.
I wasn’t brushing him while he was purring.
We were playing catch.
We weren’t playing catch.
He brought the toy in his mouth.
He didn’t bring the toy in his mouth.
We loved to play.
We didn’t love to play.
We were happy.
We weren’t happy.
He ate everything.
He didn’t eat everything.
Exercise Two: Change the yes sentences to yes/no questions.
Example:
She fed her cat.
Did she feed her cat?
She was brushing him while he was purring.
Was she brushing him while he was purring?
We were playing catch.
Were we playing catch?
He brought the toy in his mouth.
Did he bring the toy in his mouth?
He wanted to play catch.
Did he want to play catch?
He was a happy cat.
Was he a happy cat?
The Class writing to together: “What My Classmate Did Yesterday”
Example of the progress of one student writing with the teacher’s correction marks:
Two Extra Lessons:
Pronouncing the -ed Endings of Regular Verbs in English
Every Morning I Feed My Cat