Past Continuous / Past Simple (Revision Quiz)

You are going to 

• revise the difference between the past continuous and the past simple.
• look at some gif images and make sentences using the correct tense

 
Go here to revise

1. Past Continuous (with gifs)  
2. Past Simple / Past Continuous (with gif images) 

Do the quiz.
Write the correct sentences for each image.
Be careful of spelling and don't forget full stops.
The gif images may sometimes be slow to display.depending on your connection speed.








More
Carry on Doctor - Practising the past continuous / past simple, Film and TV,  Intermediate, Past Continuous, Past Simple, Writing, Writing a letter of complaint

Jump and Slide 3 (Quiz Game - Pre-Int)

An pre-intermediate level quiz game to practise making questions in the past, present and future.

Individuals or teams see an answer and must ask the correct question.
A version for beginners is here Jump and Slide (Quiz Game - Beginners / Elem)
An elementary version is here Jump and Slide 2 (Quiz Game - Elementary)

Students should see the questions / answers "board" projected on an interactive whiteboard (if so they can come out and "touch" the numbers to play) or on a screen.
Students could also play it on tablets if available.


Note
1) You can download the "board" below and print it as A3. Teams throw a dice, land on a square and answer the corresponding question. If correct, they move a piece (as in a traditional snakes and ladders style game) until they arrive at the "end".

2) Or you can do it as revision quiz without the board
It can be downloaded as a ppt file below and adapted.

See below for game instructions



Board
This image can be downloaded below for printing.

Play

1. Click anywhere to start
2. Throw a dice. 
3. Move your piece. 
4. When you land on a square (on your printed sheet), click on the number in the game below and ask the right question. 
5. Click again anywhere on the screen to see if your answer is correct.
6. Click the blue triangle (bottom right) to go back to the home "game" page.
7. Continue until you reach the end.

Downloads
Game sheet is jpg here (right click and "save as") or word doc here
A version of the game as a ppt file is here

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below




More

• Asking Questions Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Question forms

• Rolling Word Game Elementary, Games, Intermediate, Kids, Speaking, Young Learners

Accidental Inventions and Hidden Heroes

You are going to

• practise past simple and past continuous
• watch a video about inventions and do a matching exercise 
• watch a video about a science exhibition and do a quiz
• listen to a radio interview about what motivates inventors and do a gap-fill
• read an interview with inventor Mark Champkins
• discuss and describe inventions
• write about an invention

1) Video 1 - Discuss

• What are the most useful inventions that we use today?
• What couldn't you live without?
• Is it a simple everyday object like a pen or a paper clip or something more complex?

You are going to watch a video called "10 Accidental Inventions"

• What inventions do you think they are?
• Why do you think they are called "accidental"?

Watch and find out

2) Matching exercise

Match the beginnings of the sentences with the ends. Watch the video again if you need to.

3) Grammar

Look at the sentences again. How many tenses are there?
Which phrases are Past Simple?
Which are Past Continuous?
What's the difference between the Past Simple and Continuous?
Not sure? Look here

4) Video 2 - Discuss

You are going to watch a clip about an exhibition called the "Hidden Heroes Exhibition."

• Who do you think are the "Hidden Heroes?
• Why do you think they have called them "hidden"?
• What kind of objects do you think are in the exhibition?

Watch the clip




Now answer these questions. Watch the video again if you need to.

5) Discuss - Listen

Rawlplugs and screws

• Do you agree that the objects in the Hidden Heroes exhibition are very important?
• Why do inventors invent things?
• What do you think is the main motivation for inventing? 

Listen to an interview with inventor Mark Champkins on BBC World Tonight and find out.





Fill in the gaps in the summary with the verbs from the list. Choose them from the drop-down menu.

Printable version available here

6) Reading

Interview with Mark Champkins. Look at the questions.

• What inspired you to become an inventor?
• What is your favourite invention ever?
• What invention could you not live without?
• Which object in the museum is the most inspirational or influenced your time here so far?

Go here to read Mark's answers
http://sciencemuseumdiscovery.com/blogs/insight/inventor-in-residence/

7) Discuss

• What would you invent if you could?
• What inventions does the world need now? Why?

8) Writing / Discussion

What invention couldn't you live without?

Describe it.

• Is it a simple everyday object or something more complex?
• What's it for?
• What kind of design has it got?
• Has the design changed much since it was invented?

Look on the internet. Find out some history

• Who invented it?
• Where was it invented?
• Was it invented by accident?
• Why and how was it invented?
• What were they trying to do when they invented it (what else were they working on)?

What do you think about it?

• Why is it important?
• What did it change or make better for people?
• What couldn't we do without it?
• Why couldn't you live without it?

Write about your invention
Write it using 3 - 4 paragraphs (see above)
Don't forget to have an introduction (say what it is and why you are choosing it)
and a conclusion (your opinion of it / why couldn't you live without it and why you think it's important)

More practice

More reading
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/hiddenheroes


More past continuous and past simple
http://efllecturer.blogspot.com/2011/04/past-continuous-with-gifs_12.html
http://efllecturer.blogspot.com/2011/04/past-simple-past-continuous-with-gif.html


More inventions http://efllecturer.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-would-have-happened-if-10.html

Your City - Past and Present (a powerpoint project)

This is a student activity project which can be done with all levels and practises various grammar points including present and past tenses and the language of comparing and contrasting.

Teacher's notes

1. Find some old photos of your city or town from 50 -100 or more years ago
2. Go out and have students take photos of the same locations today
3. Students then prepare a powerpoint (see below) to compare and contrast the photos
4. Students should write a short descriptive paragraph describing each pair of photos (present and past). See below for structures to practise.
5. The powerpoint can then printed and turned into a booklet (ie a  souvenir for foreign students on a summer course) or class posters. It could also done as a presentation in class.
6. Students can also research online and write an introduction outlining some local history and points of interest.
7. Students can also write a conclusion stating whether they think there have been many changes and improvemets.

Language to practise

Elementary > Pre-intermediate 

• Adjectives
• Using present simple and continuous tenses and past simple and continuous tenses
• There is / are / was / were (n't)
• Some / any
• Countable nouns
• Articles
• Comparatives

Intermediate > Upper Intermediate

• Same as above plus
• Expressions to compare and contrast - both / also / however / on the other hand / although / moreover...
• Present perfect
• Passive
  
• Descriptive adjectives
• Stating opinions

Powerpoint Template

Here is a powerpoint template I prepared for a project on Southampton in the UK with a pre-intermediate class. The contemporary photos were mostly taken by the students on a group excursion (however google supplied one or two) and are occasionally a little dark but you get the idea...

• It's probably best to use google to find historic photos of your area but here is a site which is good for the UK http://grumpystumpy.com/
• If you can't get students to take photos then contemporary UK photos can be found here  http://www.geograph.org.uk/
• BBC's Turn Back Time is a similar idea and can be seen here

Southampton - Past and Present from David Mainwood

Discussion Ask students which photos they prefer - the past or the present. Why?
Is there anything good that we have lost from the past?
Would they like to travel back in time? When? Why?
What would they miss from the present?  





Writing (IELTS) - People nowadays work hard to buy more things. This has made our lives generally more comfortable but many traditional values and customs have been lost and it is a pity. To what extent do you agree or disagree?





Now try this post
Describe a city - Superlative Southampton Comparatives and Superlatives, Describing a place, Intermediate, Reading, Southampton, Upper Intermediate, Webquest 

Past Continuous (with gifs)

Answer the questions in the past continuous

The answers are written in black so highlight  Answer  with your mouse and continue moving it to the right to see the answer.

1) What were the cowboys doing?

Answer = The cowboys were eating.

2) What was he doing when the shark ate him?

Answer = He was fishing

3) What was he doing when he dropped the ball?

Answer =  He was juggling

4) What was the penguin doing when the other one hit him?

Answer = He was walking

5) What was the other penguin doing when the first one tripped him?

Answer = He was walking

6) What was the kitten doing when the cat jumped on him?

Answer = He was playing

7) What was the baby doing when the cat jumped on him?

Answer = He was walking

8) What was the man doing when he hit the lamppost?

Answer = He was talking

 

9) What was she doing when the ball hit her?

Answer = She was talking

What were the players doing when the ball hit her?

Answer = They were playing football

If you got all the answers right, well done...

Now try it the other way round. Click here and answer the questions using the past simple.
http://efllecturer.blogspot.com/2011/04/past-simple-past-continuous-with-gif.html

Past Simple / Past Continuous (with gif images)

Contrasting Past Simple with Past Continuous

Answer the questions in the past simple

The answers are written in black so highlight  Answer  with your mouse and continue moving it to the right to see the answer.

1) What happened while she was talking?

Answer = The ball hit her on the head (Ouch!)

2) What happened while he was fishing?

Answer = A shark jumped up and ate him.

3) What did he do while he was juggling?

Answer =  He dropped the ball

4) What did the penguin do while the other one was walking?

Answer = He hit him

5) What did the other penguin do when the first one was walking?

Answer = He tripped him

6) What did the cat do while the kitten was playing?

Answer = He jumped on him

7) What did the cat do when the baby was walking?

Answer = He jumped on him

8) What happened while the man was talking?

Answer = He hit the lamppost

If you got all the answers right...

You did very well !!!

Now try answering with the past continuous

http://efllecturer.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/past-continuous-with-gifs_12.html  

Carry on Doctor - Practising the past continuous and writing a letter of complaint

You are going to

• watch a clip about going to hospital
• make sentences using the past simple and past continuous
• write a letter of complaint practising the past simple and past continuous

Discuss

• Have you ever had an accident?
• What happened?
• Did you go to the hospital?

 

1) Watch the clip.

Francis Bigger was giving a lecture. When he was speaking he fell off the stage. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital.

What happened to Francis while he was in the hospital?

  

 

2) Put the photos in the right order. What was happening in each one?

Use the past continuous.
eg  1 - C) He was speaking

 

3) Look at the presentation.

Make sentences in the past simple or the past continuous about what happened to Francis.

Click to go.

Carry On Doctor from David Mainwood

4) Write a letter of complaint. 

Now write Francis' letter of complaint to the hospital. Use the model in the presentation to help you.

• Tell the hospital what happened. Don't forget to use past simple or past continuous where appropriate
• At the end say why you are not happy and tell them that you want an apology