1 LESSON OVERVIEW

Name of the teacher Guzal Turaeva Level of the class Pre-Intermediate (A2)
Date of the lesson 04.10.2022 Length of the lesson 60 minutes
Lesson type Grammar lesson Lesson topic Past continuous tense
Lesson aims Lesson outcomes
By the end of the lesson, students will be By the end of the lesson, students will have…
(better) able to… - Deduced the new grammar form of past
- Learn how to use the new past continuous on their own with the help of
continuous tense form in appropriate various activities
meaningful context - Filled in the gaps to complete a story, and
used their background knowledge of other
past tense in order to finish the task.
- Described pictures and a day from their
own lives using Past continuous tense.
2 TARGET LANGUAGE ANALYSIS

1. What is the use or function of this grammatical structure?

Past continuous is used to describe continuing and progressing actions at specific point in the past.
Past continuous tense can be used to describe:
- Actions continuing at specific time in the past
- Interrupted actions
- Parallel actions progressing at specific time in the past

2. Describe the context within which you are going to introduce the target language, and explain how
it’s appropriate to your students.
I chose the context of “Telling stories” to focus this Past continuous based grammar lesson, and I
believe this verb tense is widely used for the purpose of describing scenes and telling stories from the
past.

3. What is the form of the target language?

Positive
Subject+past form of “to be” (was/were)+verb+ing
Negative
Subject+past form of “to be” (was/were)+not+verb+ing
Question
Past form of “to be” +(was/were)Subject +verb+ing?
Time phrases
This time yesterday…
At 6 o’clock yesterday…
This time last week/year/month/semester…
When….
While…..
4. How will your students work out the rules for the grammatical structure?
I will introduce the topic to students, and students get to deduce the target structure on their own
with the help of a guiding activity, so that they will be able to better understand the meaning, usage
and structure of the given grammar form.

5. Which concept checking questions or tasks will you use to ensure students understand the meaning
 of the structure?
I will provide a visual aid introducing them to the target structure.
I will also guide them with several CCQs:
“What were you doing at 5pm last night?”
“What was I doing 5 minutes ago when you came in?”
“Did you eat lunch or were you eating lunch yesterday at noon?”
“Were your friends visiting when I called last week?”
“Where were you going when the class started?”

3. LESSON PROCEDURE
Interac
Stage Name Stage Aim Time tion Teacher’s procedure Students will…
Pattern
To get 5 min T-S Greet the students, and tell them today Get a chance to
students S-S they are going to use their story telling review and
engaged skills. remember
and Use the board previous
interested (blackboard/whiteboard/virtual board) vocabulary and
in the new for this activity. grammar
topic Divide the group into two teams, and structures.
divide your board into two parts. Create a short
Ask each student to contribute one story and are able
word they know (noun, adjective, to work in teams.
pronoun, preposition) into their part of
the board.
Warmer After all students have written at least
one word on the board, give each team
some time to come up with a story (as
a team) using all the words they put
down on the board.
If students need help, ask some guiding
questions such as “What happens
next?”, “How do we start?”, “Which
word do we use first, next?”.
Check off the words used in the stories
as the team tells out their stories.
Make sure everyone in class gets a
chance to contribute.
Presentatio To 8 min T-S To introduce the form of Past Have a chance to
n: form introduce continuous, let your students deduce figure out the
the form the structure on their own. new structure on
of the new Give your students pictures that show a their own.
grammar lot of activities. (Fig.1) Use their
structure Then after a short time, have students background
turn over the pictures. knowledge to
Ask students what was happening in describe the
the pictures. pictures.
Ask questions such as “What was the
blonde girl doing?”
“How many people were eating?”
“What was man in white shirt doing?”
 etc.
Try to refer to each picture one by one,
and attempt to ask each student at
least one question.
Monitor their answers to your
questions, and then ask them to
construct the Past continuous form
according to questions and answers
they constructed during this activity.
If students find it challenging, try to
hint and refer back to examples.
Provide visual material introducing the
structure of past continuous in positive,
negative and question forms (Fig.2)
To let 7 min T-S Introduce the meaning and usage of Get a chance to
students past continuous to students. work with
be aware Explain that past continuous is used for partners and
of the actions: construct
meaning - That happened at specific meaningful
and usage moment in the past. sentences.
of the - Or that were interrupted by Are introduced to
grammar another action in the past the two meanings
verb tense Put students into pairs, and hand each of the new
Presentatio pair slips of sentences that have two grammar form.
n: parts, one being the action in past
Meaning continuous, another being the action
that interrupted it in the past. (Fig.3)
Ask pairs to match beginning parts of
sentences with corresponding endings
so that they make logical situations.
Ask students to share their answers
with the group, and pay attention to
the forms and meanings each sentence
carries.

To 10 T-S Put students in small groups of three. Are able to work

encourage min S-S Give each mini group a copy of the in small groups.
students Handout (Fig.4), and ask them to Use their
to practice complete the story by filling in gaps background
the new using Past Simple or Past continuous. knowledge to
structure After they have finished, check the complete a story.
with answers with the whole group. If Have a chance to
Practice
guidance groups got some answers incorrect, let ask and answer
from the students explain each other why they questions
teacher chose the wrong tense for that missing regarding their
space. responses on the
If necessary, provide help and advice handout.
concerning the difference between the
two verb tenses.
To let 20 S-S At this point, tell students that they are Get a chance to
Production
students min working individually on this task. relate to their
 practice Ask students to write a description of own personal
the new an important day in their lives. Ask lives with the
structure them to include the most important help of an
more events of that day in past simple tense, authentic task.
freely and describe what was happening at Create and ask
those specific moments using past questions, and
continuous tense in order to provide improve their
more details. target language
Tell students, after they finish writing speaking.
about their special days, to come up Get to read other
with 2-3 questions from their students’ stories
description in past continuous, e.g. and recognize the
“What was I doing when….?” new structure in
“What was my brother telling me when context.
….?” etc.
Then put your students in pairs, and ask
them to read the descriptions of their
partners.
Give them some time to read the
stories, and let students ask questions
from their partners on their stories.
Monitor and facilitate the pair
discussions.
To let 5 min T-S Summarize the lesson by repeating the Get to relax and
students S-S grammar structure students got to wind down after
relax and learn in class today. all the activities.
wind Ask if there are any questions left Get grades, and
Cooler
down concerning the topic or the activities in leave the lesson
class. feeling
Grade the most active students, accomplished and
provide feedback for their responses. satisfied.

5 BIBLIOGRAPHY (reference sources of texts, recordings, exercises and images used)

1. https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/basic-grammar-guide
3. https://www.teach-this.com/images/preview-grammar/past-continuous/convince-me.png
4. https://7esl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Past-Continuous-Tense-4.jpg
5. https://en.islcollective.com/preview/201401/f/past-continuous-memory-or-nervous-
activity-activities-promoting-classroom-dynamics-group-form_64795_1.jpg
6. https://en.islcollective.com/preview/201310/f/the-cabin-in-the-wood-past-continuous-
grammar-drills_60823_1.jpg

6 MATERIALS (include all the materials you plan to use in your lesson. Please also include references
and number accordingly so that they can be clearly referred to in the stages of your lesson above)
Figure 1. Memory game. Have a look at the pictures. Try to memorize the people’s actions in
pictures, and answer the teacher’s questions.

https://www.teach-this.com/images/preview-grammar/past-continuous/convince-me.png

Figure 2. Introduce the form of Past Continuous using this chart.

https://7esl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Past-Continuous-Tense-4.jpg

Figure 3. Match beginning parts of sentences to appropriate endings.

She was sleeping at her desk while the teacher was explaining the lesson
 They were playing football when the ball crashed into the window
They were dancing at the disco when the music suddenly stopped
Fortunately, when the earthquake hit the children were playing outside
She was looking hungrily at him while he was eating his hamburger
The boys were drinking beer when one of them started to feel dizzy
I was making my way home when a thief suddenly appeared and stole my
mobile
During the meeting everyone was talking at the same time
That day, the congressmen were the legalization of marihuana
discussing

*Handout should be cut and separated into beginnings and endings.

https://en.islcollective.com/preview/201401/f/past-continuous-memory-or-nervous-activity-
activities-promoting-classroom-dynamics-group-form_64795_1.jpg

Figure 4. Fill in the missing spaces to complete the story. Use Past simple or Past continuous
tense.

The cabin in the forest

Instructions: Fill in the blanks with the past simple or the past continuous to complete the
story.

One fine day, not long ago, an old man ______________ (walk) in the forest. Just as it
___________(get dark), he found himself in an unfamiliar part of the forest. He
______________ ( walk) for hours, but he couldn’t find his way home.
Eventually, he ____________ (arrive) at a small old cabin. He ______________ ( feel)
very tired, so he _____________ ( decide) to stay there for the night.
When he _______________ (get) closer to the cabin, he _______________ (see ) that
the door was open. Putting his head inside, he could see that the little cabin __________ ( be)
completely empty, but there was a bed that ______________ ( look) comfortable, and a fire
____________ (burn) in the fireplace. The hunter fell onto the bed and decided to sleep there
for the night.
When he _____________ ( lie ) on the bed, half – asleep, he _______________ (look)
around and was surprised to see that the walls were covered with paintings. They seemed to
be family portraits, all framed and painted in incredible detail. They seemed very realistic, and
were all extremely ugly. They _______________ ( make) him extremely uncomfortable – it
seem that they _____________ (stare) straight at him. So he turned on his side so that
_______________ (face) the wall, ____________ (pull ) the blanket over his head and
______________ ( go) to sleep.
When the hunter _______________ ( wake up) in the morning, the forest birds
_____________ (sing) and the morning light _____________ (come) in through the windows.
Then as he _____________ (look) at the cabin in the bright light, he _____________(discover)
something strange: there _________ (be) no family portraits on the walls of the cabin ….. only
windows.