Introduction
Talking about the past and describing situations and experiences in the past is an important part of communications in any language. For these reasons, you need to learn how verbs are formed in the past.
The past simple is used to refer to actions and events that happened in the past. The actions are already over.
Watch this video and pay attention to the rules for the formation of the past simple tense.
Task
You will have to write a short text about a holiday you remember using the past simple tense.
Provide information about the following:
- Where did you go?
- Who did you go with?
- How long did you stay?
- What places did you visit?
- What was the weather like?
- Did you have a good time?
- Did you have any problems?
Process
Practice:
1- Let's take a look at the following web site where you will find some interesting exercises about some past simple verbs. You can listen to the pronunciation of verbs both in infinitive and past forms.
https://quizlet.com/214533079/past-simple-regular-and-irregular-verbs-flash-cards/
Then you can match the verbs with their correct pictures.
https://quizlet.com/214533079/match
2- Now, read about Martin's vacation:
http://www.esl-lounge.com/level1b/level-1b-elementary-martins-vacation-reading.php
Answer these questions about the previous text:
1. Where did Martin want to go on holiday?
2. What time did he leave the house?
3. How did he get to the airport?
4. When did he realize that he didn't have his passport?
5. How long did it take to go back to his house in the taxi?
6. Where was the passport?
7. What did Martin discover when he went back outside?
8. How did Martin get to the airport the second time?
9. Why did he arrive late at the airport?
10. Why did Martin go home?
3- Listen to this song and take the quiz
https://www.eslvideo.com/eslvideo_quiz_lowint.php?id=26056
Finally, you can click the following link and you will find a fun game where you have to choose the correct forms of the verbs in order to score points and win the game. Good luck!
https://learningapps.org/view850705
Evaluation
| excellent | good | fair | try again | score | |
| regular and irregular verbs practice | all verbs were written in the correct past form. | most verbs were written in the correct past forms. | more practice is needed | the objectives were not met | 25 |
| reading comprehension activity | there was a full comprehension of the text | comprehension of the text was acceptable | there was a poor comprehension of the text | a lot of practise is needed | 25 |
| listening activity | correct and full identification of the past forms of the verbs in the lyrics | most verbs were identified in the lyrics | not all verbs were identified | failure in the identification of the verbs in the lyrics | 20 |
| writing activity | very good use of the simple past, vocabulary and expressions | correct use of the past simple, vocabulary and expressions | poor use of the past simple, vocabulary and expressions | much more practice is needed to enhance writing skills | 30 |
| total score 100 |
Conclusion
In this webquest you have learned how to use verbs in the past simple to talk about situations or actions that took place in the past. I hope it was a nice experience and that you enjoyed all the activities.
Best,
teacher Tomatis