I don’t know when I made this lesson. Honestly, I was looking through an old USB and there it was. I love it when that happens. I suppose I should have named it something better than “First Day” when I made it first, then I might have come across it before now.

Anyway, it’s a nice little lesson on narrative tenses with a focus on past perfect. I used it for a class today and it went down very well. The procedure is quite straightforward.

Try it out and let us know what you think.

• Level: Pre-intermediate / Intermediate
• Objective: to revise / examine + practise the use of past perfect in conjunction with other narrative tenses.
• Time: 2 – 3 hours

Materials:

1. Worksheet (word): first day
2. Worksheet (PDF):first day
3. Teacher’s copy:first day teacher’s copy

Procedure:

PART 1

1. Students discuss the Qs and feedback as a class. T deals with any lovely errors of emergent language on the board.
2. Sts read through the story and discuss: How did Larry feel? Why?
3. T establishes that the actions didn’t happen in order and asks sts to decide in pairs which action happened first. T draws their attention to the table and asks them to number the actions in order from 1 – 8 (the first one is done for you/them). T monitors and helps out where necessary.
4. Feedback as a whole class. Take some time with this. It’s important for sts to really grasp the order.
5. Ask sts what tenses they can see in the story.
6. Draw their attention to the FORM section and ask them to fill in the form using the story to help.
7. Same as above with the USE section.
8. Feedback as a class, giving further examples if necessary.

PART 2

1. Sts read through the story and ignore the blanks. They answer the same gist questions as above: How does he feel? Why?
2. Sts match up the vocab. Feedback as a class. Spend some time ensuring sts understand all the words. A lot of them can be illustrated better through actions. Nothing should stand in their way for the next activity.
3. Sts work in small groups and decide which tense goes in which spot. Tell them they should think about WHY as well because you will ask them why they chose each tense.
4. Feedback as a class. Deal with any common issues.

PART 3 – Follow up

As a follow-up, I would either have them write about their first day at school or at a job or I would ask them to write the end of Larry’s story. I’d use the mistakes from this as a basis for revising these tenses in the next lesson.