Young Learners, level 2: Basic Simple Past exercises

26th October 2022

A chance to review the simple past (verb 2).

I expect all students to be able to use the past tense by the end of the seminar.

infinite / present (verb 1) / past (verb 2)

1 to be am / was [I am / I was]

are / were [they are / they were]

2 to have have / had

3 to do do / did

4 to say say / said

5 to go go / went

6 to get get / got

7 to make make / made

8 to know know /knew

9 to think think / thought

10 to take take / took

11 to see see / saw

12 to come come / came

13 to want want / wanted

14 to use use / used

15 to find find / found

Past Tense Exercise

1. You (have) a test yesterday.

You had a test yesterday.

2. They (do) their homework last night.

They ——- their homework last night.

3. You (are) lazy last week.

You ——- lazy last week.

4. I (am) hungry yesterday.

I ——- hungry yesterday.

5. Sam (go) to Hong Kong last year.

Sam ——- to Hong Kong last year.

6. The man (make) tables and chairs yesterday.

The man —— tables and chairs yesterday.

7. Two weeks ago the boy (has) a new bicycle.

Two weeks ago the boy ——- a new bicycle.

8. In London I (know) many people.

In London I _______ many people.

9. I (get) 10 points in my English test.

I ______ 10 points in my English test.

10. I (want) to see a great film.

I _______ to see a great film.

Extra work for Top Cats

Corrections: Write in the past tense

I (am) born in Vietnam and (arrive) in Sai Gon in 2020. I (go) to school in District 1 because I (want) to work near my home. Last week, my friend (have) a party. She (dance) all night and I (hear) her singing. In the morning, she (have) a headache.

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Young Learners, Level 3: using new adjectives.

14th October 2022

The last two lessons focused on adjectives and their opposites, including:

big~ small // high ~ low // sharp ~ blunt //

easy ~ difficult // rough ~ smooth //

quiet ~ noisy // fat ~ thin // safe ~ scary

Complete the sentences with the correct adjective.

I can’t cut my hair, my scissors are __________

My puppy is so _______ however, my hedgehog is very _____________ .

The maths test was so _______ however the science test was so ________________ .

Be careful, Ms Thuy ! The man is very ______ .

Laurel and Hardy are so funny. One is very _____ however, one is very ______ .

Yoyoko is only _________________ however she is very ______________ !

Harold is climbing very _____

Oh, no ! Crocodiles have very ______ teeth.

Now … your turn

Get out your list of adjectives. Write THREE sentences with new adjectives.

To help, look at these photos:

Young Learners, Level 1: the basics

7th September 2022

Objectives:

Students able to form a short, four-word sentence using an article, a noun, a verb and an adjective.

Check and correct pronunciation.

Develop intonation.

Improve confidence in speaking.

Train students how to behave in a classroom, to bring pen and paper to class and to write down new words.

First a warm up

Board some letters (a, b, c, p, t, etc). Ask for animals beginning with the letters.

Write some adjectives (about 5 – 8 depending on class ability). Last night I chose:

angry / big / small / cute / dangerous / fast / slow

Students write down these words, then complete three sentences, and read to the class:

A dog is ______ .

An elephant is _____ .

A tiger is __________ .

Erase the adjectives from the board, leaving only the first letter.

Ask the weaker students to say the adjective, which they should have written down and repeated (several times).

Example: What adjective begins with ‘a’ ?

If the student is unable to answer, homework is to write the word five times and to use it in a short sentence:

A lion is angry

Young Learners, level 6: It’s festival time

3rd September 2022

Many countries have festivals that can be:

colourful / dangerous / exciting / fun / noisy / peaceful / traditional / unusual

Question 1:

What festivals do you have in your country ?

What do people do ? What are the customs ?

Is there special or traditional food ?

Complete this piece:

In Vietnam, the biggest festival is Tet Holiday. At Tet the custom is for parents to give …

Vietnamese eat special food such as …

People wear beautiful, colourful … and watch …

Festivals around the world

Tell me about these festivals. Use the new adjectives to describe them. Would you like to go ? Why or why not ?

Do you think these people are crazy or brave or just having fun ?

First, to Europe, and this famous festival in Spain:

Staying in Europe, we go to the UK:

Now we are off to Africa, to the country of Niger:

Now let’s cross the Atlantic and head to Mexico:

Time to head back to Asia, stopping at Thailand:

Young Learners, Level 3: Sentence building using the Past Tense

24th August 2022

Last week, we learnt some adjectives and used them in a short piece of writing.

Can you remember the adjectives ?

The adjectives:

old / young / beautiful / handsome / ugly / happy / angry / sad / healthy / unhealthy / amazing / clever / cute / dangerous / exciting / great / intelligent / interesting / lazy / talented

This week, we are going to write another short story, but this time using Past Tense (Verb 2).

To start, here is a list of verbs in the Present Tense (Verb 1). What is the Past Tense ?

buy // drink // eat // go // listen // make // play // read // say // see // take // watch

bought / drank / ate / went / listened / made / played / read / said / saw / took / watched

What did you do last week ?

Use Past Tense (Verb 2) and the new adjectives. I want three sentences with at least three verbs and three adjectives.

EXAMPLE:

On Saturday I watched an interesting video on YouTube. A young girl played drums very well. She was so talented. On Sunday, I read an exciting book and listened to some old music.

Now … your turn.

What did you do, what did you see, what did you eat and drink ? Did you … ?

Kindergarten: Student as teacher

14th August 2022

Objectives:

Develop speaking skills

Encourage students to speak in sentences

Use of contractions i.e. I’m, it’s etc

Show English syntax by example rather than by formal teaching e.g. adjective before the noun

Have the students interact with each other in English

Make basic phrases part of the student’s natural speaking

The students have been making short sentences, looking at flashcards, such as, “It’s a yellow book.” To make sure the students are able to switch colours and adjectives, and not just think that all books are yellow, here’s a little exercise.

Have one of the students be Teacher, and then ask, “What is it ?”

Teacher can also ask individual students; that way, we can monitor progress, and see where help is needed.

Rotate Teacher so all students are given a chance.

Now … What is it ?

It’s a blue book. It’s a big, blue book.

Young Learners, level 2: be clever and wonderful

23rd July 2022

Lesson aims:

Encourage students to answer in sentences

Introduce the ‘a’ or ‘an’ article

Correct use of adjectives and sentence structure

Today we learnt six adjectives:

clever / cute / dangerous / scary / wild / wonderful

Part 1: What are these animals ?

What is it ? It a ________ or It’s an _________

We use ‘an’ if the word begins with a / e / i / o / u

Example: What is it ? It’s a dog.

What is it ?

Part 2: Use the new adjectives

What is it ? It’s a wild lion

What is it ? It’s a ______ ________

Young learners, level 6: Adjectives and grammar review

5th July 2022

First, let’s build a word bank of incredible, useful and unusual adjectives:

amazing / beautiful / Chinese / colourful / cute / dangerous / difficult / energetic / English / famous / fantastic / generous / greedy / great / hard-working / healthy / intelligent / interesting / Japanese / kind / lazy / loud / messy / naughty / nervous / outgoing / popular / quick / quiet / rich / rude / selfish / talkative / top cat / unhealthy / unusual / valuable / wealthy /

Game 1 – say are these adjectives positive (good) or negative (bad) or neutral (neither good nor bad)

Game 2 – make sentences using present continuous and two adjectives

EXAMPLE: She is reading a heavy, interesting book.

I ___ play ___________________ , ______________________ music.

You ___ watch a _______________ , ________________ film.

He ___ talk to a ____________ , _____________ film star.

She _____ study every day because she ___ __________ and ___________.

Ms H ____ smile because she is so _________ and ___________ .

The fat cat ___ not share her food because she is ______ and _________ .

We ___ learn ________ grammar but it is _____________ .

President __ wear a _________ dress. She ____ very _________ .

The boy ___ leave school because he was __________ and _____ to the teacher.

The teacher ___ laugh because the ________ , _________ student was sent home !

Adjectives for Young Learners. Level 1

24th June 2022

This short blog introduces young learners to adjectives, and how they can start to build longer sentences.

First, let’s start an adjective word bank:

big // small

cute // dangerous

strong // clever

yummy // healthy

plus colours

Game 1:

Who can tell me a colour beginning with the letter y ?

Letter b ? Letter o ? g ? r ? p ? Letter w ?

Game 2:

Tell me an animal begins with the letter d Letter g Letter e Letter s Letter l Letter c Letter w Letter z

Game 3:

What is it ? Tell me about these animals. Use 2 adjectives.

EXAMPLE

It’s a cute white sheep

Now … your turn

Finally – tell me about the food

Screen Test Compilation: Video clips for classroom games

23rd June 2022

Contents:

1 Summer Holiday

2 World’s tallest buildings

3 Egyptian Gods

Here’s a compilation of video clips that can be used in class for listening skills, observation, collecting information, and for fun.

‘Screen Test’ was a children’s TV show on the BBC from 1970 – 1984. A group of children were shown short clips of films, then asked questions about what they had seen.

First up is a clip I’ve used several times, ‘Summer Holiday’ starring Cliff Richard and his backing band The Shadows.

1 Summer Holiday

What colour was the first car behind the bus ?

red // white // blue ?

2. What was the number of the bus ?

9 // 19 // 28 ?

3. What was the road sign at the beginning of the clip ?

London // Berlin // Paris ?

4. How many children wore a hat ?

1 // 2 // no children ?

5. How many men were riding bicycles ?

3 // 4 // 6 ?

6. What did Cliff, the driver, eat ?

a sandwich // a biscuit or cookie // nothing ?

BONUS POINTS – Can anyone sing the song – just two lines

“We’re all going on a summer holiday // we’re all going for a week or two.”

2 World’s tallest buildings

Questions

1) How tall was the Philadelphia City Hall ?

2) Where was the Singer Building ?

3) What year was the Bank of Manhattan Trust finished ?

4) How tall is the Chrysler Builder ?

5) The Empire State Building has two different heights – why ?

6) In what year did Chicago have the tallest building ?

7) What was the first tallest building in Asia ?

8) How tall is the Dubai Creek Tower planned to be ?

Answers: 1) 167m / 548 ft 2) New York City (NYC) 3) 1930 4) 319m / 1046 ft 5) first is height of building, second is height to the tip. 6) 1973 7) Petronas Tower in Malaysia 8) 1321m / 4351 ft

3 Ancient Egyptian Gods

https://youtu.be/cdXTkO1hado

Questions

1) What was the name of the Sun God ?

2) Which God was a writer ?

3) Anubis had the head of which animal ?

4) Would you see Nut in the day or night, and why ?

5) What was the name of the lioness ?

6) What animal was Bastet ?

Answers 1) Ra 2) Thoth 3) a jackal 4) night because she was the star goddess 5) Sekmet 6) a cat