The past continuous

Objective & content

This grammar sheet teaches the past continuous (was or were + verb-ing) for an action in progress at a moment in the past (At eight o'clock, my dad was cooking.), its negative (I wasn't listening to music.), questions (What were you doing?) and its use with when, while and the past simple (He was singing when everything went dark.). Pupils read Mabel's blog about the night of a storm, find the missing verbs and read the rule, given in a box. By the end, they can say what people were doing at a moment in the past and tell a long action from a short one.

Pedagogical guide

Page 1 is the blog, with a picture of Mabel: at eight o'clock, all the lights in her street went out. Her dad was cooking spaghetti, her mum and her grandma were watching a quiz show and her little brother was having a bath; while Dad was looking for candles, the dog was eating the spaghetti on the kitchen floor. Pupils find six missing verbs in sentences from the blog. Then they read the rule, given in a box in short lines: was or were + -ing, which subjects take was and which take were, the negative, the question, a long action + when + a short action in the past simple, and while + a long action. Page 2 has eight sentences where pupils tick the right answer, five verbs to write in the past continuous, four wrong sentences about the blog to make negative, so that each one becomes true, and four questions about the blog. Page 3 is the final task, a mystery: at eight o'clock, someone was playing the trumpet at the youth club and woke up the baby next door. Pupils use four clues to fill in a grid and find what each of the four friends was doing, write it, then circle the right words in the detective's report. Every exercise opens with a worked example, except the grid. The sheet uses only the past continuous, the past simple and the present simple.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask a few pupils "What were you doing at eight o'clock last night?" and write two answers on the board.
2. (10 min) Read the blog aloud; pupils find the missing verbs.
3. (5 min) Read the rule in the box with the class; pupils find a sentence with when and a sentence with while in the blog.
4. (15 min) Page 2: the right answer, the verbs in brackets, the negatives and the questions.
5. (10 min) Page 3: pupils solve the mystery in pairs, then write what each friend was doing and complete the report.
6. (5 min) Check with the answer key on pages 4 and 5.

Adaptations

[S] In pairs, pupils ask "What were you doing at eight o'clock last night?" and answer, before the tasks.

[A] Pupils write a comment for Mabel's blog: what were they doing when the lights went out?

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of pages 1 to 3 per pupil. Pages 4 and 5 are the answer key and teacher notes: keep them. Contracted and full forms are both right (wasn't or was not, weren't or were not). Pupils need the past simple of common verbs, the -ing form, and the words for the home, the family, food and free time. To take it further, groups write a mystery of their own with four suspects and swap it with another group.