Life used to be different

1. Discuss the questions.

• Do you remember your school days?
What specific memories do you
remember most?
• Did you enjoy going to school?

2. Read the sentences and answer the questions below.

I used to be in the school When I was in primary

soccer team, but now I don’t school, I used to sit at the
even know if I remember back so the teacher wouldn’t
how to play. ask me any questions.

When we were kids, our

I didn’t use to like history in
parents didn’t use to drive
school, but I love it now. Did
us to school. We used to
you use to like history when
walk or ride a bike every
you were in school?
day.

• Do these sentences show the difference or similarity between the past and the
present?
• Do they refer to regular past actions or one-time events?
• How do we create questions, affirmative and negative sentences with the
structure of ‘used to’?

3. Find and correct mistakes in the sentences below.

a) We used to lived next to my high school.
b) I used be very shy when I was a teenager.
c) I didn’t used to be afraid of flying, but now I am just terrified of it.
d) When we were kids, our parents use to read us bedtime stories every night.
e) Did you used to share your room with siblings?

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 Life used to be different

4. Change the sentences from ex. 2 so that they are true for you. Use the
structure of used to/didn’t use to.
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………….

5. Work in pairs. Read the questions and match the underlined words to their
meanings below.
a) Did your teachers use to be very strict? Were you afraid of some of them?
b) How many pupils did your class contain when you were in primary school?
c) Did you use to help your parents by doing chores or working in the fields when
you were in school?
d) Did you use to go to a single-gender school or class?
MEANINGS
• for either girls or boys, but not both
• expecting people to obey rules or to do what they say
• a job or a task that you must do regularly
• to have or include
• land used for keeping animals or growing food

6. Now, answer the questions from the previous exercise.

7. Watch the video [https://youtu.be/IUuJ4kQaOZM] and mark the sentences

below True (T) or False (F). Then, change false sentences so that they are
true.
a) In the past, boys and girls used to be in the same classroom.
b) Pupils didn't use to have as much school equipment as they have now.
c) In the past, classrooms used to contain more pupils than they contain now.
d) Children used to have more free time in the past than they have now.
e) Teaching didn’t use to have such a good reputation as it has nowadays.

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 Life used to be different

8. Discuss the questions below.

• What has changed in education in your country?
• What teaching methods did teachers use to use when you were are a kid?
Have they improved?

9. Over the years, we’ve seen changes in many areas of our lives.
Work in pairs and, using the structure of ‘used to’, talk about the past and the
present.

EXAMPLE:

EDUCATION

GETTING TO
EQUIPMENT LIBRARY
SCHOOL

• When I was a kid, we used to walk to school with my friends, but now parents
drive children to school.
• Children used to ride their bikes and take public transport.

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