Class: A2 pre-intermediate 10-12 years old Date: xxx Topic:

Number of students: 12 Length of lesson: 60 minutes

Lesson type: Grammar (face-to-face)

Lesson aim: By the end of this lesson, students will be better able to identify and use the past continuous tense for interrupted actions accurately and
fluently.

Lesson objectives:

● Students will understand and know how to form the past continuous (to describe interrupted actions) through a clear presentation. (in a clear
and appropriate context)
● use the past simple with the past continuous to show a shorter action being interrupted by a longer action,
●
● Students will produce the form accurately in controlled practice.
● Students will practice the past continuous tense to describe interrupted actions in a fluent manner through freer practice tasks.
● OR: Students will practice producing the form in a fluent manner (communicatively) through playing true/false board game.

Materials and equipment:

Anticipated problems:
1) Students may confuse when to use was/were.
2) The students all speak the same L1 and so may be reluctant to speak
English.
3) Running out of time for the plenary.
Solutions:
1) Highlight the difference in the presentation and practice in the controlled
practice task.
2) Remind students to only speak English in class as needed.
3) Watch the time throughout the lesson and make minor adjustments as
required.
 Stage Stage Aim Timing Interaction Teacher Activity Student Activity
Warmer Get students Show students visuals of people doing Students take pens and write the instructions, write the
activities on their whiteboard..
talking and activities (e.g. reading a book, playing
introduce the basketball, watching TV, flying a kite, dancing
context for and cooking) and ask them to describe what
the target they are doing.
language.
Students work in pairs to correct errors identified by
theteacher.
Look at the picture.
Correction. When everyone has written
something, encourage learners to work
together and make any corrections as
necessary. .

Then I ask the question, "What did you do

over the weekend?"

Students take turns answering the question.

I repeat their sentence back to them using
correct grammar, and help with any basic
vocabulary, as needed. Next, I write their
sentence on the board..

I will ask clarifying questions such as

“Where did you go?", “with who?” in order

to get a few more details from them and
push them to use more language.

Ask your partner what he / she likes to do

on the weekends.

Pretend you and your partner have a lot of

time to spend on the weekend. Discuss
different activities you might do and choose
one that you will both enjoy.

Tell why you like (or don’t like) to do these

activities.
.

http://www.awalkinthechalk.com/2019/06/3-
weekly-esl-activities-that-do-not.html?m=1

Ask the students to shar

Ask your partner what he / she likes to do on

the weekends.

Once I ask the question, "What did you do this

past weekend?" or "What did you do over the
weekend?" students take turns answering the
question. I provide a sentence starter for my
beginners. Then, I repeat their sentence back
to them using correct grammar , and help with
any basic vocabulary, as needed. Next, I write
their sentence on the board. Lastly, they copy
their sentence into their notebook. I like to write
each student's response in a different color
marker so that they can easily distinguish
between the sentences on the board.

I might ask clarifying questions in order to get

a few more details from him or her. I want to
push them to use more language, if they are
able.

Ask students to come up with examples of

situations where they were interrupted and what
they were doing at the time.

Ask the students to share a time when someone

interrupted them while you were doing
something.

Ask two instruction checking questions such as

"Raise your hand if you have ever been
interrupted?" and "Can you tell us how someone
might feel when they are interrupted?"
What were you doing at the time? Share that with
a partner.

what did you do at the weekend

 Tell your partner about a

time you were surprised.
 Tell your partner about
the last time you went on
holiday.
What is something you have never done, but
would like to try?
Ask students to come up with examples of
situations where they were interrupted and what
they were doing at the time.

Before students come into class draw a line down

the board to divide it into two. Write on left side:
'Interrupted actions’
'In 2001 I climbed Mount Olympus’

As students come in, had each one a board pen

and indicate they should quickly write an exciting
experience of their own on the left side of the
board. (I will speak as little as possible, as the
natural thing would be to use the target language,
which I want
to avoid at first).

If they don't put in a time I will ask 'when?' and

encourage them to put in a date/time.

When did you do this?

 Correction. When everyone has written
something, encourage learners to work together
and make any corrections as necessary. .

Can you tell me what you have to do?

Ensure that you keep ten of these sentences as

you will need them for the freer practice task.

Ask two instruction checking questions such as

"Raise your hand if you have ever been
interrupted?" and "Can you tell us how someone
might feel when they are interrupted?"

Ask students to provide their own examples.

Make sure to correct their sentences, if needed,
and reiterate the right way of constructing them.

Stage Stage Aim Timing Interaction Teacher Activity Student Activity

Presentation T-class Elicit target language.
Thank and praise them and say…

Draw on the board a timeline and label them

from left to right with past, present and future
labels.
to visually demonstrate the past participle

Write the following sentence on the board:

 She was swimming yesterday morning

 I was working hard all day yesterday

Ask the students CCQs

1-When did it happen in the past, now, or in the
future?

2-Was it a long action or short action?

3-Did it happen in a period of time or at a point in

time?

Then explain the past continuous by timeline

Then write the following sentence on the

board:
" I was reading a book when the bell rang.”
Elicit from the students which action was
happening and which action interrupted it.
For example, "What was I doing when the bell
rang?", "Was I still reading a book when the
bell rang?" , and "Which action interrupted
my reading?"

Explain that we use the past continuous tense

for the ongoing action and the simple past
tense for the interrupting action.

Elicit the form of the tense from the students

(subject + was/were + verb-ing).

Provide additional examples and elicit

sentences from the students:
"The children were shouting when the teacher
came in.

Check form.
Looking at examples we now have on board,
elicit the form.
"Is 'The children were shouting' past or
present?" and "Did the action of shouting
finish or continue?".
ensure students understand the use of time
clauses with "when". For example, "Is the
action before or after the interruption?" and
"Is the past continuous tense used for a
completed or an ongoing action?"

Check concept.
Ask concept questions to check if the learners
understand the function and how the target
language is used.

"Did the actions happen at the same time or

one after another?"
"Which action interrupted the other?"
Explain that we use the past continuous tense
for the ongoing action and the simple past
tense for the interrupting action.

draw a horizontal line on the board. On the left

mark it as past, in the middle mark it as present,
and at the right, mark it as future.

Write the following sentences on the board and

ask the students to choose the best meaning of the
sentence given and deduce the form, use and
meaning of the past continuous:
I was reading a book when Jane came.
a) Jane came before reading.
b) Jane came after reading.
c) Jane came during reading.

Write the following sentence on the board:

"What happened while I was watching TV?"

Provide additional examples and elicit sentences

from the students:
"The children were shouting when the teacher
came in.

to express an action was going on at a

particular time in the past
I was washing my hair at 10 p.m. last night.
 to show that an action in the past that
was on-going was interrupted
She was sunbathing when it started to rain.

- Elicit the form of the tense from the students

(subject + was/were + verb-ing).

Yes/No questions, e.g.

Stage Stage Aim Timing Interaction Teacher Activity Student Activity

Controlled Hand out the exercise sheet with timelines to
Practice the students.

Ask them to fill in the blanks with the past

continuous tense to complete the sentences
describing the interrupted actions. Also, ask
them to underline the conjunction. e.g. "I ____
(watch) TV when the phone ____ (ring)."

Then ask them to match the sentences to the

correct point on the timeline.

Monitor and provide feedback.

Ask two instruction checking questions such

as "Are you going to write the past continuous
tense?" and "Are you working alone or with a
partner?"

- Hand out a timeline and example sentences

to each student and ask them to match the
sentences to the correct point on the timeline.
- Monitor and provide feedback.
- Ask students to work in pairs to create their
own sentences with the past continuous tense
using the timeline as a guide
 The sheet should have several sentences in the
past continuous tense, with blanks for the
interruptions, and a word bank with
conjunctions. The students should fill in the
blanks with the appropriate conjunction and
interruption. They should then share their
answers with a partner and discuss any
differences.

Give handouts with timelines and a task to the

students.
Circulate and provide feedback.
Do two instruction checking questions such as
"Are you going to write the past continuous
tense?" and "Are you working alone or with a
partner?"

Hand out worksheet with questions. PW. What were you

doing ….? • 15 minutes ago • Two hours ago • At six
o’clock this morning • At eleven o’clock last night • At
six o’clock last Sunday • At this time last week

- Hand out a timeline and example sentences to

each student and ask them to match the sentences
to the correct point on the timeline.
- Monitor and provide feedback.
- Ask students to work in pairs to create their
own sentences with the past continuous tense
using the timeline as a guide.

Stage Stage Aim Timing Interaction Teacher Activity Student Activity

Freer Practice Divide the class into two groups A and B.
Hand out small pieces of paper, one per
student. Explain that would write the first
part of a sentence using the present continuous
tense and fold over the papers.
Group B students will write/ complete the
sentence using the past simple tense and fold
over the papers.
Collect the papers and put the group A
students’ sentences in one box and label it as
“ongoing actions” and group B students
sentences in another box and label it as “
interrupting actions”.
Choose one student from group A and another
from group B. Ask the first student to unfold a
paper from the first box, then ask the second
student to choose and unfold a paper from the
second box.
Ask them to read each part aloud and then
join them using the conjunction ’when’.
Afterward, They should act out the sentence,
with one student interrupting the other at the
appropriate moment.

Monitor the groups and provide support and

feedback as necessary.

The sentence
should be written using I.
students should write the first part of a sentence
using the present
continuous tense . The sentence
should be written using I. Then ask the students
to fold over the paper
so that the sentence cannot be seen and pass the
paper to the student
next to them. The students must complete the
sentence using the past
simple. They must not unfold the paper. Explain
that the students can
write any sentence they like, this activity works
well with funny or silly
sentences. Collect in the papers.

Split the class into two teams. Open a piece of

paper. Choose enough
students from one team to act out the sentence.
Ask them to read the
sentence outside the classroom and decide how to
act it. They are not
allowed to speak, they can only use actions.
Explain that the other
 students on their team have one minute to try and
guess the sentence
and say it correctly, using the past continuous and
past simple. If they
cannot guess it, give the other team a chance to
guess. You could do a
couple of practise turns before starting the game
properly. Each time a
team guesses correctly, they win a point. The
team with the most points
at the end of the game is the winner.

Divide the class into two groups A and B. Group

A would start a dialogue by asking a question
which will be answered by group b. They should
make sure that they are using the past continuous
tense in their sentences. For Example group A
may ask,

Have students work in pairs to come up with their

own sentences using the past continuous and
"when." They should then act out the sentence,
with one student interrupting the other at the
appropriate moment. Afterward, a few pairs can
share their sentences with the class.

Encourage the students to be creative and include

both actions and interruptions in their dialogues.
Monitor the groups and provide support and
feedback as necessary.

Stage Stage Aim Timing Interaction Teacher Activity Student Activity

Plenary

Bibliography