Unexpected events

Hi everyone,

The posts are back! I missed it already.

Today I'm sharing a lesson plan I used with my students, for them to discover, practice and apply the use of simple past and past continuous. We were talking about vacations and cultural differences, and I decided to use two scenes from Outsourced and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

As usual, I await your feedback.

Here's the first video:

Here's the second video:

Here's the worksheet.

Stay tuned,

Claudio

How to train your dragon

Today I'm sharing a lesson I created using the great movie "How To Train Your Dragon". Throughout this lesson students will be introduced to the use of simple past and past continues, analyze it, understand it and apply it. I used this activity with a teens high basic group and they really enjoyed the activity and picked the structure at the same time.

Warm up: 

Match the lines as you watch

Astrid was moving her head	when the dragon spit fire at him
The dragon was sleeping	when the two-headed dragon bit them
He was running	when the dragon started to bang him against the floor
He was holding his jaw	when the dragon ate him
He was sitting on the floor	until the dragon tried to bite her
They were fighting	when the dragon ate him
He was standing	when the dragon attacked his feet
He was speaking	when the boy watered his butt

Answer the questions:

Which two grammar points do you see in these sentences?

Which of them talks about an action in progress in the past?

Which one describes a single event that interrupts the other?

Complete the sentences using was or were and finish the sentence: 

I _______ taking  nap when…

He _______ chasing a dragon when…

We _______ watching a horror movie until...

She _______ playing with her father’s sword until…

They _______ exploring an island when…

She _______ combing her hair until…

They _______ dancing when…

Now look at the pictures and describe what was happening until another event interrupted that action.

Eg: He was sitting on the floor, when the dragon gave him the fish. 

As a follow up students could be divided in two groups and write sentences for the other group to mime. A member of the oposite group gets one of them, and represents the it word by word. This promotes accuracy since the more accurate they are or the more they anticipate grammar, the faster they get the sentence. Eventually, they will choose the correct form of the verb to be once they know the subject.

Another alternative could be to have them write the sentences at home and represent them through sound. They could go to vocaroo and record it for their partners to guess. What do you think?

Here's the worksheet.    

See you around,

Claudio