Teacher Guide
Draw a timeline on the board and mark the present as "now". Say that we use the present perfect to describe an action in the past that has some relevance today (when we don't know or don't care when exactly it happened, just if it happened or not). In this case the present is a reference point.
Now, with a different colour marker mark a point on the line in the past and write "simple past" above it. Explain that with the past perfect, the reference point is now in the past and we use the simple past to describe it. Otherwise it works the same as the present perfect. For example instead of saying "I'm not hungry, I have eaten a lot already" it would become "I wasn't hungry at lunch yesterday as I had eaten a lot already".
Write up the structure for the past perfect tense: simple past (more recent moment in the past) ............. had + past participle (older action that happened before)
Give the students plenty of examples and ask them to try and form some examples too. Each question on the worksheet represents the 'reference point' which will always be expressed in the simple past tense. Have them write complete sentences to respond.
10mins - Conversation: Ask the student to imagine what life was like for their great-grandparents. Have the student use the past perfect to talk about what the lives of their ancestors might have been like, then have the student compare/contrast their own life.
15mins - Pre-teach: Past perfect. (Had + past participle) We use past perfect to describe an action that was completed in the past before something else happened. Ex: I walked to school before it had started raining. We can use the past perfect with time expressions (when, after, by the time, as soon as) Ex: I had arrived at school as soon as it started raining. We can use also use them with adverbs such as just, already, ever (question only) and never. Please note the adverb goes between the auxiliary and main verbs. Ex: I had just arrived at school before it started raining.
15mins - Worksheet: 04 Past perfect
15mins - Test: Worksheet: 04 writing practice - part 2
05mins - Warm down: Discuss any material the student had difficulties with. Goodbye, see you next time!
00mins - Homework: Complete the next section of the online homework.
Possible solutions:
- She was excited because she had won the competition.
- He felt tired because he had not slept well the night before.
- The fridge was empty because Tom had not gone to the supermarket.
- I felt sick because I had eaten something bad.
- They didn't go to Jamaica for their holiday because their flight had been cancelled.
- I bought a new jacket because I had lost my old one.