ESL: Past, Present, and Future

Sample Lesson Plan 2

Goal: Differentiating between past aspects

Objectives (SWBAT):
Students Will Be Able To
synthesize historical information by creating a timeline.
describe past events using the simple past.
use the past perfect to explain a sequence of past events.

Essential Question(s):
1. How are your past experiences similar to people who are from different cultures?
2. What makes a past event worthy of remembering?

Theme: Biographies

Extensions: Connecting biographies


Stage/Aim Activity/Procedure Interaction Time
Warm up
Hula skirt Wh-question
review game

Transition to 1: Lets
continue todays lesson by
using our timelines that we
made yesterday.

-T divides class into teams. Each team
is assigned a piece of paper that has
strips of paper attached and is posted
on the wall. Each strip of paper has one
answer.

-Ss take one strip of paper and bring it
back to group. Ss must form a WH-
question that would be an appropriate
question for the response, then bring it
to T to check. Ss take another strip of
paper if correct. The team who finishes
first wins.

-T reviews any difficult question types.


T-Ss





Ss-Ss







T-Ss

1-2
min




8-10
min






5 min

Activity 1:
Listening/Speaking



Transition to 2:
Now that weve had a

-T instructs Ss to take out their
timelines.

-Ss walk around and ask other Ss what
is on their timelines using appropriate
WH-questions. Ss take notes about
similar types of events that happened in

T-Ss

1 min


8-10
min


chance to look at some of
our own past events, lets
look at some prominent
immigrants in NYC.
their lives and in their peers.

-In small groups, Ss review the kinds
of timeline similarities that were
common. Ss discuss why these events
consistently showed up and why others
did not.



5-7
min

Activity 2:
Reading/Writing/Listening
Biography J igsaw Part I





Transition to 2: Now were
going to add a further layer
by incorporating the past
perfect.


- T divides Ss into four groups. Each
group moves to one corner, where
biography materials have been laid out.

-Ss work together to read, listen to, and
watch materials. Ss fill out jigsaw
handout with relevant information.

-Ss share their information with
another group using the simple past
form.


T-Ss



Ss-Ss



Ss-Ss

1-2
min


15-20
min


12-15
min

Activity 3:
Reading/Writing/Listening
Biography J igsaw Part II






- T asks Ss if they remember past
perfect from previous lesson. T reviews
the past perfect form by drawing a
timeline on the board and explaining
how to use past perfect when
discussing to past points in time.

- Ss share their information with a
different group, using the past perfect.

3.3 Post-Stage:
- Ss fill out the Venn diagram of the
three prominent immigrants in small
groups.

T-Ss






Ss-Ss



Ss-Ss

7-9
min





12-15
min


10-12
min


Wrap-up


- Exit ticket: T asks Ss to write two
sentences. The first sentence
summarizes when to use the simple
past. The second sentence summarizes
when to use the past perfect.



T-Ss

10-12
min


Materials:
Hula skirt sheet
Timelines
Biography materials
Jigsaw handout
Venn diagram

Accommodations:
To assist with students of different abilities, biography materials include images,
text, video, and audio.

Contingency Plans:
If there is extra time, the last group pairing for the jigsaw can be allowed.

Post-Lesson Reflections: