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This unit covers the verb past tenses. The past simple verbs, the past continuous, the past perfect and the past perfect continuous. Each form describing the past differently.
The regular past simple verb endings are very straightforward only adding an -ed to the end of the infinitive of the verb. To walk = walked. There are a large number of irregular verbs that change the root of the word completely when used in past tense form, for example see = saw, buy = bought, eat - ate. This form is the easiest to learn and memorize in the regular verbs and maybe also in the irregular forms because of their very distinct differences. Doing drills to learn the verbs and role plays where the students get a card with a present tense verb, interpret it to the past and then act it out for other students to guess what it is, is a fun way for them to learn, practice and memorize.
The past continuous requires the addition of an auxiliary form of was/were as well as the past participle -ing added to the infinitive of the verb. For example: He was walking down the street. She was buying some groceries. The past perfect requires the auxiliary verb had + the past participle -ing. Examples are: He had walked many miles. She had bought lots of groceries.
The past continuous describes an action that happened and might still be happening, an ongoing or gradually changing action or an action that was happening but was interrupted. To offer students a way to practice this form they could be again miming an action for others to guess, and make it a progression. A student could get a card with the two past continuous verbs: eating/walking. The other students get to guess what he was doing first ...then/second. First he was eating an apple, then he was walking his dog.
The past perfect requires the auxiliary verb had and the past participle ending -ed or irregular form of the verb in past tense. He had walked many miles. She had bought a lot of groceries. It describes an event or action in the past that happened. It is final.
Finally the past perfect continuous requires the auxiliary verb had + been + -ing to be formed. For example: He had been walking many miles that day. She had been buying lots of groceries. The past perfect continuous describes an action or an event in the past that has been going on up until current time.
There are a few activities that the unit describes that can be done to activate the students in role playing while using the different past forms. The first two forms are the easiest to learn and the latter two are for more advanced students that are comfortable using the past simple and past continuous. In terms of teaching it I like the idea of storytelling when using the past forms of the verb. It becomes a fun and often entertaining way of learning and offers the students a chance to show their creative side. Students can be given either pictures, maybe a series of events that they can use to create their own stories. Often I start by using pictures of daily routines, maybe the same ones used to learn present tense which will help the students learn the same verb form in the past tenses. Then let them develop their own description of their daily routines or make up a new story. If the students are young using animals appropriate for their culture to describe what they do can make it very natural and fun.
