Past Tense Lesson Plan - Meg&Bree #1

Mar 26
2 min read

Topic: Regular and irregular past tense

Objective: Students will use regular and irregular past tense verbs in complete sentences as they tell a story with 75% accuracy.

Outline:

Introduction	Look at a visual such as flashcards or slides, that include a picture and the target word. This gets the words fresh in the students’ heads. Call and response I say “say” you say “said” I say “are” you say “were” Make a chart (irregular and regular)	Take time to remind students of the present and past forms, assuming they have seen them in previous lessons. I find this lesson is still possible when 2-3 new past forms are added that students haven’t seen before.
Pre-reading	Bring up the comic topic by discussing:- the title - character names - keywords in the story Ask a few questions: - When do you feel bored? - What do you do when you feel bored? - Do you like to play outside?	This is the time to peak student interest as well as prepare them for what is coming. I like to remind them of a few key words, such as crown or fight, so that the storytelling goes more smoothly.
Reading	[First, choose if students will participate as a class, in pairs, in groups, etc] Students take turns telling the story out loud. The past tense verbs are visible at all times. You can point to the verb when it has been used, or check it off. Another option is to provide a print-out of the verbs so students can monitor themselves.	Remember, the objective is to use the past tense so some other mistakes can be overlooked.
Post-reading	Questions about the story Why questions such as “Why did their dad say…? Where questions such as “Where do they watch TV?” What questions such as “What did they eat?” Questions about the students Did you ever make a flower crown before? When did you feel bored? What did you do?	There are two great outcomes from these questions: a chance to use vocabulary again to really reiterate it, and to keep students speaking!
Bonus activity: Split the class into two teams. You say a verb in the past tense, and one person from each team races to point to the correct picture that demonstrates this verb. [Great with flyswatters!]

Here are two lists of verbs I compiled which, needless to say, can be adapted to your own student(s) needs:

Lower level

Were
Finished
Ate
Said
Went
Walked
Sat
Watched
Made
Asked
Did
Put
Danced

Higher level

Lay down
Came
Tied
Fought
Pretended