Lesson Plan​: Talking About Past Events

Designed by​: Ana Maria Montañez A.

Stage / Activity Time Description

warm-up 3 minutes Teacher will ask the student how was her weekend.
What did she do and what things she missed to do.

spontaneous review 3 minutes The teacher will ask the student some questions in the
simple present tense as it was the grammatical topic
that she studied with her last English teacher in the
online course. Examples for this activity include:

-What do you do in your free time?

-What is your morning routine? How about your
evening routine?
-What is something you eat almost every day?

topic introduction through a
reading
8 The teacher will send the student through the zoom
chat a short text about what happened on 9/11 in the
United States. The teacher will ask the student to read
out loud the text and highlight all the verbs she can
find (SEE APPENDIX 1). As the student goes over
the text, the teacher will correct pronunciation and
she will also clarify the meaning of some unknown
words for the student.

focus on grammatical form
20 Once the learner finishes reading, the teacher will
focus on the usage, rules and variations for the simple
past tense. For this stage. the teacher will use his
blackboard and she will also send the student a list
with some of the most frequently used irregular
verbs. (SEE APPENDIX 2)

controlled practice
15 The teacher will ask student to read the text “The
First Person on The Moon” (SEE APPENDIX 3).
This text has some blanks for the student to fill them
with the appropriate form of the verb in past simple.
The teacher will guide this practice and help the
student to accomplish it.

summary of the session and 5 The teacher will ask student to make a brief summary
homework of what they did in today’s lesson. In addition, she
will ask learner to do a writing task which consist of
narrating a past event that calls the attention of the
learner in the simple past tense. The student must take
as an example the texts seen during the class in order
 to write his own.In addition, after the student finishes
writing her text, she must record herself narrating the
story. The teacher will provide feedback for both, the
text and the recording.

APPENDIX 1

On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States. They hijacked four airplanes in
mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in
New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed
part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed
in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy
either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented
them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

APPENDIX 2

# Base Form Past Tense Form

1 say said
2 make made
3 go went
4 take took
5 come came
6 see saw
7 know knew
8 get got
9 give gave
10 find found
11 think thought
12 tell told
13 become became
14 show showed
15 leave left
16 feel felt
17 put put
18 bring brought
19 begin began
20 keep kept
21 hold held
22 write wrote
23 stand stood
24 hear heard
25 let let
26 mean meant
27 set set
28 meet met
29 run ran
30 pay paid
31 sit sat
32 speak spoke
33 lie lay
34 lead led
35 read read
36 grow grew
37 lose lost
38 fall fell
39 send sent
40 build built
41 understand understood
42 draw drew
43 break broke
44 spend spent
45 cut cut
46 rise rose
47 drive drove
48 buy bought
49 wear wore
50 choose chose
​ Taken from: ​https://www.esl-lounge.com/reference/grammar-reference-most-common-irregular-verb-list.php

APPENDIX 3
The First Person on the Moon

It ________ (to be) 1961. John F. Kennedy ________ (to be) the president of the United States. He
________ (want) to land humans on the moon. The United States had just started trying to put people
in space. Was NASA ready to go to the moon? The president and NASA ________ (know) they could
do it. They ________ (to be) ready to put people on the moon. Apollo 11's mission was to land two
men on the moon. They also ________ (have) to come back to Earth safely.

Apollo 11 ________ (launch) on July 16, 1969. Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael
Collins ________ (to be) the astronauts on Apollo 11. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin
________ (land) on the moon. They ________ (land) on the moon in the Lunar Module. It ________
(to be) called the Eagle. Collins ________ (stay) in orbit around the moon. He ________ (do)
experiments and ________ (take) pictures.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong ________ (become) the first human to step on the moon. He and
Aldrin ________ (walk) around for three hours. They ________ (do) experiments. They ________
(grab) bits of moon dirt and rocks. They ________ (put) a U.S. flag on the moon. They also ________
(leave) a sign on the moon.
The sign the astronauts ________ (leave) on the moon says, "Here men from the planet Earth first set
foot upon the moon July 1969, A.D. We ________ (come) in peace for all mankind."

The two astronauts ________ (return) to orbit, joining Collins. On July 24, 1969, all three astronauts
________ (come) back to Earth safely. President Kennedy's wish ________ (come) true. It ________
(take) less than 10 years.

APPENDIX 4 - ZOOM MEETING

RECOMMENDATION
A recommendation that I believe is useful for having a good class and avoiding problems is to respect
the time in the class. Arriving punctually to the virtual meeting and communicating whenever the
student can’t attend the session is really important.