This is my life

In this ESL grammar lesson, students will review all Verb Tenses and practice the skill of using them in writing and conversation.

Introduction

The lesson starts with a message the student needs to read in order to identify as many tenses as possible (The Present Simple, The Present Continuous, The Past Simple, The Present Perfect Simple, The Present Perfect Continuous, The Future Continuous, and The Future Perfect). Then, they revise the use of the identified tenses.

Present tenses: The Present Continuous and The Present Simple tense

These two present tenses are contrasted and exemplified. In the exercise that follows, the student reads a short bio and decides which of the two tenses to use in each sentence.

Present Perfect tenses: The Present Perfect Simple and The Present Perfect Continuous

Both tenses are briefly explained and exemplified. Then, the student decides which of the two tenses to use in different sentences.

Past tenses: The Past Simple, The Past Continuous, and The Past Perfect

The Past Simple and Continuous as well as the Past Perfect are contrasted and exemplified along with the time adverbs. Next, the student reads Barack Obama’s short biography and fills in the gaps using the correct past tense.

Future forms

First, will and going to are contrasted and explained. The student practices the use of these two forms by circling the correct form in sentences.

Next, the future use of the Present Continuous and Present Simple is explained, followed by the Future Continuous and the Future Perfect.

In a future form exercise, the student reads and completes a story using the future forms they revised earlier.

Conditionals

First, real conditionals are explained (zero and first), followed by unreal conditionals (second and third). The student practices all the conditional forms by matching halves of sentences.

Video: Oprah Winfrey – mini bio

After watching a video about Oprah Winfrey’s personal and professional life, the student fills in the gaps with the missing information. New words are extracted from the video and put into a matching exercise for the student to match them with their meanings.