Narrative Tenses (Past Tense Forms)

(TESOL Ideas and Worksheets Subdivisions)

[Note: "Narrative Tenses" is a term used by some textbooks to include the past simple, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous. Narrative tenses are distinguished from the general category "verb forms to refer to the past" because narrative tenses do not contain forms like the perfect aspect--e.g. "I have seen that movie before."]

* A Trip to the Jungle 

* Quizziz for Narrative Tenses

* Narrative Tenses Kahoot

* Garbage Man for Narrative Tenses

* Board Race for Narrative Tenses

* Narrative Tenses Writing Prompt

...see also my indexes for past simple, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous.

Past Continuous Story: Video and Worksheet

(TESOL Materials--Past Continuous)

Video link: PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

Slideshow: slides, pub

Worksheet: docs, pub

Notes: The video is from Side by Side, and comes from the Youtube channel LANGUAGE PLANET TOLUCA, which I've linked to before.  

At 6:55, it's a rather long video--much longer than I would normally like for a model text.  But the video is so well done and entertaining that I find my students don't mind when I play the whole thing.  (I've also given this video to colleagues, and they've successfully used it in their lessons.)

For the lead-in, I display slide 1, which shows a picture of a power cut.  I try to elicit from students what the English word is, and provide it if needed (the word comes up on the animation).  Students then talk to a partner about what they were doing the last time there was a power-cut.

Because the video is so long, there is no gist task.  Instead, we jump right into specific information questions with the worksheet.

The second page of the worksheet contains a noticing task, but this can also be skipped if you don't want to replay the video.

In the clarification stage, Slides 4-7 then contain sentences from the video.  The meaning of these can be checked with concept checking questions.

The last slide of the slideshow contains a link to the Kahoot game, which I've mentioned in the previous post.

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

https://youtu.be/jkOXNxoMClA?si=IO6w87e9FFP3UAv0 

What were people doing when the lights went out? 

 

 

 

 

 

Why did the lights go out? 

 

What was the man doing at 2:30 yesterday? 

 

What was the man doing at 4:00 yesterday? 

 

What were the tenants doing when the burglars broke into the building yesterday afternoon?

*This is Side by Side TV News, morning edition.  With Bob Rogers and Jackie Williams.  María Hernandez with the weather, and Chip Stevens on sports.*

Bob: Good Morning everybody, along with Jackie Williams, I’m Bob Rogers. Well, as you all know by now, there was a blackout in Centerville last night.  The lights went out all over town.

Jackie: Side by Side TV News reporter Scott Mason is standing by downtown to find out what people _______________  last night when the lights went out. Scott, are you there?

------------

Scott: Jackie, it seems like everybody in town is talking about the blackout last night.  Everyone has a story to tell. What _______________ last night when the lights went out?

Man1: I _______________  the dishes and my wife _______________  the baby a bath.

Woman1: I _______________  my clothes at the laundromat, and suddenly, everything got dark.

Woman2: My husband and I _______________  TV, and our children were doing their homework.

Scott: And what _______________  last night when the lights went out? Excuse me! 

Teenager: Yeah?

Scott: What _______________  last night when the lights went out?

Teenager: Did the lights go out last night?

Scott: Yes. The lights went out all over town.

Teenager: Huh. How about that? I didn’t even know. I_______________  to music all night.

Scott: You _______________  to music?! But there was no electricity!

Teenager: Batteries.

Transcript

*This is Side by Side TV News, morning edition.  With Bob Rogers and Jackie Williams.  María Hernandez with the weather, and Chip Stevens on sports.*

Bob: Good Morning everybody, along with Jackie Williams, I’m Bob Rogers. Well, as you all know by now, there was a blackout in Centerville last night.  The lights went out all over town.

Jackie: Side by Side TV News reporter Scott Mason is standing by downtown to find out what people were doing last night when the lights went out. Scott, are you there?

------------

Scott: Jackie, it seems like everybody in town is talking about the blackout last night.  Everyone has a story to tell. What were you doing last night when the lights went out?

Man1: I was washing the dishes and my wife was giving the baby a bath.

Woman1: I was washing my clothes at the laundromat, and suddenly, everything got dark.

Woman2: My husband and I were watching TV, and our children were doing their homework.

Scott: And what were you doing last night when the lights went out? Excuse me! 

Teenager: Yeah?

Scott: What were you doing last night when the lights went out?

Teenager: Did the lights go out last night?

Scott: Yes. The lights went out all over town.

Teenager: Huh. How about that? I didn’t even know. I was listening to music all night.

Scott: You were listening to music?! But there was no electricity!

Teenager: Batteries.

Scott: So you see, Bob and Jackie, everybody is talking about what they were doing last night when the lights went out. But why did the lights go out? To find the answer, Side by Side TV News reporter Gloria Rodriguez is standing by at the main office of the power company. Gloria?

-------------

Gloria: I’m here at the main office of the Centerville power company with Fred Watts, the company’s director of Public Information. Mr. Watts, what happened last night?

Fred: Well, Gloria, as you know, the lights went out all over town.

Gloria: Yes, we know that, Mr. Watts. Can you tell us why?

Fred: Well, we aren’t sure yet. We know it was raining very hard when the blackout occurred, but we aren’t certain that’s the reason for the problem. We’re working on it.

Gloria: Mr. Watts, is it true that you were all having a big party here last night, and nobody was watching the controls?

Fred: Absolutely not! We were working here and doing our jobs as usual.

Gloria: Well, thank you for talking with us, Mr. Watts. So Bob and Jackie, that’s what we know right now. It was raining very hard last night, and perhaps that’s the reason the lights went out all over town. This is Gloria Rodriguez, reporting live from the power company for Side by Side TV News.

--------------

Jackie: Thank you, Gloria. What a night! What were you doing last night when the lights went out?

Bob: I was washing the dishes.

Jackie: How about your wife? What was Doris doing last night when the lights went out?

Bob: She was taking a bath.

Jackie: I was still working in the building.  Did you hear what happened to the Station Manager and his wife?

Bob. No. What were Mr. and Mrs. Green doing last night when the lights went out?

Jackie: They were riding in the elevator.

Bob: Oh, that’s terrible!

Jackie: Coming up, a robbery on River Street. We’ll be back, in a moment.

----Commercial Break--

Woman: I saw you yesterday. But you didn’t see me.

Man: Really? When?

Woman: At about 2:30. You were getting out of a taxi on Main Street.

Man: That wasn’t me. Yesterday at 2:30 I was cooking dinner.

Woman: Hmmm...I guess I made a mistake.

*Stay tuned for: “Our Neighbors, Our Lives”.  Coming up, after the Morning News*

----------------

Doctor: Hi. This is Ernesto Retina. Owner of “I SEE YOU”: your one-stop place for eye examinations and eyeglasses.  Does this scene look familiar?

Man1: I saw you yesterday, but you didn’t see me.

Man2: Really? When?

Man1: At about 4:00. You were jogging through the park.

Man2: That wasn’t me. Yesterday at 4:00 I was playing tennis.

Man1: Hmmm...I guess I made a mistake.

Doctor: Don’t let this happen to you. Come to “I SEE YOU” for an eye examination, today!  This is Ernesto Retina saying: I’ll see you at “I SEE YOU”.

--------------

Bob: There was a robbery at 151 River Street yesterday afternoon. Side by Side TV News reporter Maxine Baxter talked with the tenants of the building and filed this report.

--------------

Maxine: Yesterday wasn’t a very good day for the people who live at 151 River Street.  Burglars broke into every apartment in the building, while all the tenants were out. What were you folks doing yesterday afternoon?

Man1: I was washing my clothes at the laundromat.

Woman1: I was visiting a friend in the hospital.

Woman2: We were having a picnic at the beach.

Man2: I was playing tennis in the park.

Maxine: And how about you? What were you doing?

Man3: My roommate and I were attending a football game. 

Woman3: I was out of town. I was visiting my grandchildren in Ohio.

Maxine: And how do you all feel about what happened?

Woman2: I’m really upset!

Man2: It’s terrible.

Woman1: I can’t believe it.

Maxine: Yesterday certainly was an unfortunate day for the people at 151 River Street. They had no idea that while they were away, burglars broke in to every apartment in the building. Today, everybody is trying to put their apartments, and their lives, back together.  Maxine Baxter, Side by Side TV News.

--------------

Jackie: Police are still investigating the robbery at 151 River Street.  As of now, there are no suspects.

Bob: And that’s the Side by Side TV News, Morning Edition for today. We’ll see you this evening. I’m Bob Rogers.

Jackie: And I’m Jackie Williams. “Our Neighbors, Our Lives” is next. Have a good day!

Past Continuous and Past Simple (B1) Kahoot by Richard Barge

This is a Kahoot quiz that I found on past continuous and past simple.  I used it in my classroom, and it worked well.

Write Your own Sentence: While + Past Continuous + Past Simple

(TESOL Worksheets--Past Continuous, Past Simple, While, Conjunctions)

Google: docs, pub

In my classes, I used this Slideshow Presentation to cover the grammar in English World 5 Unit 1 p.25.  Because English World 5 was presenting a very rigid form (While+ Past Continuous+ Past Simple) I tried to mimic their form exactly. 

Make sentences using this pattern

While + subject + was/were + Ving + subject + V2

and draw a picture

1.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

2.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

3.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

4.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

While + Past Continuous + Past Simple Scrambled Sentences

(TESOL Worksheets--Past Continuous, Past Simple, While, Conjunctions)

Google: drive, docs, pub

In my classes, I used this Slideshow Presentation to cover the grammar in English World 5 Unit 1 p.25.  Because English World 5 was presenting a very rigid form (While+ Past Continuous+ Past Simple) I tried to mimic their form exactly. 

This is a standard scrambled sentence game.  Before class, the teacher cuts up the cards and shuffles them.  Students are given a blank grid, and the cards, and a glue stick.  In pairs, they must arrange the cards on the grid to make sentences.

There are many different variations possible besides the way I wrote the cards, and I accept as correct any reasonable answer when doing this in class.  In some cases, students who come up with alternative formations will run out of the correct "was" or "were" cards, in which case I allow them to write in the missing word with a pen.

While	he	was	swimming	a shark	ate him
While	he	was	listening to music	the phone	rang
While	we	were	driving to work	we	saw a fire
While	I	was	eating lunch	I	heard the news
While	you	were	sleeping	I	stole your money
While	they	were	watching TV	a lion	came into the house
While	she	was	walking	a dog	bit her
While	I	was	studying	it	started to rain

While + Past Continuous + Past Simple Slideshow

(TESOL Worksheets--Past Continuous, Past Simple, While, Conjunctions)

Google: slides, pub

In my classes, I used this Slideshow Presentation to cover the grammar in English World 5 Unit 1 p.25.  Because English World 5 was presenting a very rigid form (While+ Past Continuous+ Past Simple) I tried to mimic their form exactly.  The first 6 pictures are taken from the English World 5 Textbook.  The other pictures are from around the web.
The section on meaning should be accompanied by some extra verbal explanation and concept checking questions, which are not written on the slides, but which the teacher can use in class at their own discretion.



The following class, I recycled the same pictures for a board race.  (To be used as a review in the subsequent class.)

Google: slides, pub

While+ Past Continuous Scrambled Sentences

(TESOL Worksheets--Past Continuous, Conjunctions, While)

Google: drive, docs, pub

This is a standard scrambled sentences worksheet.  (The cards are cut up and shuffled.  In groups of 2 or 3, students re-arrange the cards out on the grid to make sentences, and glue them into the correct formation.  In this case, several different possible sentences are acceptable, and I accept any sentence that has the correct subject verb agreement)  In my classes, I used this to supplement English World 4 Unit 5 Grammar p.60, and indeed the grammar structure (two verbs in the past continuous) was specifically chosen for that reason.

While	the teacher	was talking	I	was sleeping
While	my brother	was eating	I	was running
While	the children	were crying	the teacher	was laughing
While	the mother	was cooking	the children	were watching TV
While	we	were walking	she	was driving
While	the cat	was sleeping	the dog	was playing
While	I	was dancing	my friend	was studying
While	they	were swimming	he	was fishing

While + Past Continuous Slideshow

(TESOL Worksheets--Past Continuous, conjunctions, While)

This is a slideshow with various sentences using "While + past continuous, past continuous."  It was set up to supplement the grammar lesson on page 60 from English World 4, and so follows the format used in English World 4 very strictly (always two past continuous verbs, always with the while clause at the front of the sentence).  And the first 5 slides are all copied and pasted directly from the English World 4 textbook.  (The rest of the slides were found using a google image search).

In my classes I used this as a board race.  The first team to run to the board and write the correct sentence gets a point.  (Any grammatically correct sentence would get a point--the answer doesn't have to be exactly the same as the sentence on the slides).  But the slideshow could also be used for  drilling or eliciting.

Google: slides, pub 

Crossword Puzzle for Past Continuous

(TESOL Worksheets--Past Continuous)

Crossword Puzzle: Google drive
Crossword Puzzle Answers: Google Drive

I did one crossword puzzle on the Past Continuous before, but that one was contrasting the Past Continuous with the Past Simple.  This worksheet was designed to supplement English World 4 Unit 2, in which the students were not yet being asked to compare and contrast Past Simple and Past Continuous.  So this new updated crossword puzzle focuses simply on the formation of the past continuous.
All the questions are recycled from the previous crossword puzzle (with the past simple questions omitted) and I also threw in some sentences I had previously used in a past continuous find your partner activity.

Google Slides for Drilling Past Continuous

(TESOL Worksheets--Past Continuous, English World 4)

These are some Google slide presentations for drilling the Past Continuous.

I made them to supplement Unit 2 of English World 4, and because it builds off of the English World 4 vocabulary, it probably functions best as a supplement to that specific lesson.  But I think it might be able to stand on its own as an independent resource as well, so I'm also adding it to my Past Continuous index.

Past Continuous Google Slides: Slides, Pub

Past Continuous Short Answer Google Slides: Slides, Pub