Summary
This ESL lesson plan helps B1 English students master the past perfect tense for sequencing events in storytelling. Through a series of interactive exercises, students will learn how to clearly narrate stories by describing actions that happened before other past events. This lesson focuses on improving both grammatical accuracy and narrative skills, making storytelling more engaging and easy to follow.
This lesson helps intermediate students build confidence in using complex tenses. Activities include a warm-up discussion, a listening gap-fill, vocabulary matching, and grammar drills. Students will practice combining sentences and apply their knowledge in a final speaking task where they share personal stories, ensuring a practical and comprehensive learning experience.
Activities
- A warm-up discussion where students talk about telling stories and why the order of events is important.
- A listening gap-fill exercise where students complete a short story about a missed connection, focusing on past tense usage.
- A drag-and-drop vocabulary activity to learn key storytelling terms like 'chronological,' 'prior,' and 'sequence.'
- Grammar practice exercises focusing on choosing between the past perfect and the past simple tense in different sentences.
- A reading comprehension task where students complete a blog post about a disastrous commute by filling in the gaps with the correct verb tenses.
- A speaking activity that encourages students to share their own stories, using the past perfect to structure their narratives correctly.
Vocabulary focus
The vocabulary section introduces essential terms for storytelling and sequencing. Key words include "narrate," "chronological," "prior," "flashback," "recount," and "sequence," helping students build the language needed to discuss and structure narratives effectively.
Grammar focus
This lesson centers on the past perfect tense (had + past participle). Students will learn how to use it to show that one past action finished before another past action began. The exercises contrast the past perfect with the past simple, clarifying how to establish a clear timeline in stories and explanations.
