Lesson Plan Simple Past template

LESSON PLAN: What did you do yesterday?

FOCUS: Past simple

TIME: 45 – 50 minutes LEVEL: High Beginner

MAIN OBJECTIVES

After this lesson, students will be able to ask and answer the question “What did you do yesterday?”

MATERIALS NEEDED

‘Lucy and Michael’ worksheet, ‘Jack’s day’ worksheet, ‘Questionnaire’ worksheet, ‘Correct sentence’ worksheet (These are all available to download from the site.)

LANGUAGE

Practice positive, negative and question forms in the past simple.

WARM-UP ACTIVITY (5 mins)

On the board write: saw

bought got up

listened

went rode

played

read

did

had gave

ate

ran

watched

got

Divide the students into groups, standing at the back of the classroom.

Give each group a different coloured board marker/piece of chalk.

Tell the students that when you say a verb in its infinitive, one person from each team must run to the board and circle the same verb in its past simple form.

The first person to circle the correct verb gets a point for their team. The winner is the team with the most points when all the words have been circled.

PRESENTATION (5-10 mins)

On the board write: I play football Yesterday I’m playing football I played football Ask students which ending is correct. Explain that we use the past simple when talking about things which we did yesterday or in the past.

On the board write:

I play football.

Yesterday I played football.

I watch television.

I _____ television.

Ask students what the missing word is.

Ask students to put two or three other sentences into the past simple until you are sure they get the idea.

On the board write:

I played football.

I didn’t play football.

I watched television.

I didn’t watch television.

Read what is written on the board, shaking your head when reading the negative sentences to indicate that these things did not happen.

On the board write:

I read a book.

I didn’t ______ read a book.

I bought an ice cream.

I ______ buy an ice cream.

I saw my friend.

I ______ ______ my friend.

Ask students to fill in the blanks.

Do more examples orally until you are sure students understand.

On the board write:

you / play football / yesterday ?

Ask students to make these words into a question.

Using other prompts like the one above, ask students to form questions in the past simple.

COMMUNICATION Hand out a copy of ‘Lucy and Michael’ to each student.

PRACTICE ACTIVITY (10 mins)

COMMUNICATION On the board write: PRACTICE ACTIVITY (10 mins) do / yesterday / did / what / you ?

Ask the students to rearrange the words to form a question.

Hand out a copy of ‘Jack’s day’ to each student.

Show students the picture of ‘Jack’ and explain that he was asked the question “What did you do yesterday?” and this is his answer.

Read the text at a normal speed and tell the students to tick the things that Jack did yesterday.

PRODUCTION ACTIVITY (10mins)

Ask a strong student “What did you do yesterday?”

Ask another student “Did you watch television yesterday?”

On the board write:

Did you _______ yesterday?

Yes, I did.

No, I didn’t.

Ask individual students questions using ‘Did you _______ yesterday?’

Elicit ‘Yes, I did’ and ‘No, I didn’t.’

Hand out a copy of the ‘Questionnaire’ to each student.

Tell them first to fill in the ‘You’ column.

Then tell the students to find a partner and ask them questions to fill in the ‘Partner 1’ column. Students then change partners to complete the ‘Partner 2’ column.

WRAP-UP ACTIVITY (10 mins)

Hand out a copy of ‘Correct sentence’ for students to complete in pairs.