Date:_______________________ Name:_________________________________

WHAT HAPPENED? HAPPY ACCIDENTS

PAST AND PAST PROGRESSIVE WORKSHOP –LEVEL V

Specific Objective
To communicate past events in oral and written forms by giving opinions and ideas about personal, academic, and the
immediate learner’s environment.

I. Reading warm up: Read the following accidental inventions and discuss what they are talking about, which is
the most interesting, the most useful, and if you know of any other things that were invented accidentally. Match
the pictures with the texts.

In 1905, 11 – year-old Frank
Epperson wanted to make a new
soft drink. He mixed the
ingredients with a stick, but he left
the soda outside overnight. The
next morning, he found it frozen
with the stick inside.
In 1948 George de Mestral went
for a walk. While he was walking,
he noticed small seeds stuck to his
clothes. He examined them under
a microscope and found hundreds
of small hooks that stuck to almost
anything.
In 1970 Spencer Silver tried to
invent new glue, but it was very
weak. No one wanted to use it.
Four years later, his co-worker
Arthur Fry put the glue on
bookmarks to keep them in place.

Sources: http://
inventors. about.com

II. Watch the following video and answer the following questions using complete sentences :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuoiCpLnzF0

● What makes this band different from others? _______________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
● When were they “ready to fly”?__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
● Why did they have the courage to participate in music festivals in Europe?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
● What do you think they mean when they say “we were reaping the benefits of our passion”? ________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
III. Writing/ Discussion
Towards the end of the video they say “Look beyond the appearance…. very, very strong. Move the world
entirely”. What do you believe about this expression? Support your idea.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
IV. Listening Practice:
 a. Listen to these stories about lucky breaks. What were the people doing before they got their lucky breaks? What
were their lucky breaks? 53 unit 12 4a https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-LeMKG9IHeuRXdnbjYtdWRCcEk/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-LeMKG9IHeuT0liZERkX3ZHc0E/view?usp=sharing

Person What they were doing Lucky Break

Yang
Zhifa

Gwyneth
Paltrow

b. Listen again. How did the events change their lives? __________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Taken and adapted from Interchange2 4th edition, page 80

V. Grammar Focus: Revise the grammar explanation below and develop the following activities:

Past Continuous vs. Simple past

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/simple_past_progressive_contrasted.htm

Use the past continuous for an action in progress in the past. Use the simple past for an action
that interrupts it.

I was watching a good movie, but I fell asleep before the end.
I was talking to my friend when my cell phone died.
While I was shopping one day, a celebrity walked into the store.

a. Answer:
● What were you doing when your teacher arrived?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
● What did you do 10 minutes ago?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
b. Unscramble the sentences: There are two words you do not need to use.

● company- didn’t- had- the- have- a- dress- policy – code- has.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
● who- was- sister- your- when- doing- your – friend- what- arrived-why ?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
c. Further practice: Quiz yourself: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_past_progressive.htm
Write your score:_______________

VI. Writing: Invent a short story of 25-30 words maximum about how you became well known/recognized in your
field of study. Explain what you were doing and what event changed your life.

_________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________

_________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________

_________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________

The end!