ESL Lesson Plan – Past Simple Tense and Action Verbs (A2)

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Lesson Goals: At the end of the lesson, students should be able to form and use Simple Past, be familiar with the formation, and word order in negative sentences and questions.

Target Grammar: Past Simple

Target Vocabulary: Action Verbs

EFL Lesson Plan For Teachers – Past Simple Tense and Action Verbs

Presentation

1. Listen to the text and fill in the blanks.

Last ____________ I did a lot of things. On Saturday, I went to see a friend. We went to the park and played chess there. I went back ____________ in the late afternoon and played ____________ music on my computer.

Later that evening, I watched my favorite ____________ on TV and went to bed very late.

2. Match the verbs with their Past Tense.

play	watched
do	played
watch	did
dance	drank
drink	danced

Grammar Box

Encourage your learners to watch the videos below, and do the interactive activities as they learn. Remind them that this is not a test, it is just for fun, so there is no problem if they don’t get it right. 🙂

Verb+ed want+ed → wanted work+ed → worked	Verb, ending in – e+d dance+d → danced live+d→ lived
Verbs, ending in –y: y → i + ed (* There are exceptions! For example, played.)  cry→ cried try→ tried	One vowel verb: double the consonant stop → stopped blog → blogged

Irregular Verbs:
Irregular verbs do not follow the rules above. In most cases, you will need to learn by heart.

Look at some of the most common irregular verbs

Present Simple	Past Simple
go	went
begin	began
find	found
write	wrote
meet	met
come	came

Practice

1. Fill in the blanks in the table.

add
	asked
boil
come
	hated
	joined
agree
	checked
	left
jump

2. Rewrite the verbs in the past tense.

1. My father works ____________ as a policeman.
2. Three kids play ___________ outside.
3. I listen ________ to music and play__________ cards.
4. I walk _________ in the park with my best friends.

3. Put the story in order. Rewrite in the past tense.

1. Monika (works) late last Friday.

____________________________________________

2. Then she (miss) the bus and (take) a taxi back home.

____________________________________________

3. She (has) a lot of work to do, and (has) to stay in the office until 7.30 pm.

____________________________________________

4. After dinner, they (watch) a movie together and (go) to bed at 11.30 pm.

____________________________________________

4. Underline the correct option.

1. I (say, think, told) Martin to give me the book.
2. She (answered, brings, run) the phone.
3. The family (swim, bought, jump) the house last April.
4. My brother and I (fed, dress, come) our two cats.

Production

1. What did you do last summer holiday? Write 6-8 sentences.

2. Ask your partner 10 Yes/ No questions about their last weekend.