Teacher Guide
This is an introduction to the past continuous tense, emphasising using the correct form of the verb 'to be' in the past. The students should know how to form the continuous form of the verb and can refer to previous worksheets to review. Teach them to choose 'was' or 'were' according to the subject/pronoun used. Explain that we usually use this form to describe what was happening at a certain time or event in the past, it's useful when telling a story.
10mins: Introduction - 'Whats your name, how old are you, where are you from? What's one adjective that describes you? Have you got any brothers or sisters?'
05mins: Review: Adjectives - brainstorm a list of adjectives together. Think of examples for each one.
05mins: Review: Present continuous - 'to be' + verbING. Brainstorm and write some examples on the whiteboard.
10mins: Pre-teach: Was/were - the past tense of the verb 'to be'. Discuss which pronouns agree with which verb.
10mins: You were there! A game to practice was/were:Have all students except for one stand in a line. Let student 1 look at the line for ten seconds then close their eyes while the others scramble the line and take a new position. The student opens their eyes then has to put them back into the original order saying 'You were there, he was there etc'.
15mins: Worksheet: page 08 - was/were
05mins: Warm Down: Goodbye + points
- was swimming
- were eating
- was playing
- were going
- were drinking
- was running
- were...flying