Lesson 7: Talking about Your Life (Past Tense)

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Lesson 7 Talking about Your Life (Past Tense)
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Quick Conversation Simple Past and Present Tense

• What did you do on the weekend?
• I played basketball and ate a lot of good food.
• Talk about (a) your weekend, (b) what you did
  last Spring Festival.
• What do you usually do on weekends?
• I go grocery shopping, I watch tv, and I sleep
  in.
• Talk about (a) what you usually do for Spring
  Festival, (b) what clothing you usually wear to
  work (and explain why).

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Jazz Chant Personal Questions

• Where were you born?
• Id rather not say.
• Where are you from?
• Id rather not say.
• How tall are you?
• How old are you?
• How much do you weigh?
• Id rather not say.
• How much rent do you pay?
• Id rather not say.
• How much do you make?
• Id rather not say.

Why arent you married? Id rather not
say. Why dont you have children? Id rather
not say. Where were you last night? Why werent
you home? Did you stay out late? Did you come
home alone? Did you have a good time? Did you
see a good play? Did you go to a concert? Id
rather not say.
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Personal Questions

• I hope you dont mind my asking, but (how old
  are you)?
• May I ask,(how old are you)?
• Can I ask, (how old are you)?

• Id rather not say.
• (Im sorry/If you dont mind,) Id rather not
  talk about that.
• Im sorry, Id prefer not to answer that.
• Im sorry, thats a hard question for me to
  answer.
• Sorry, I dont know much about (politics).

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Practice Personal Questions
In pairs, take turns asking and answering 1
personal question, and then change partners. You
must talk to 5 different people, and ask a
different question each time.

• Suggestions
• weight
• boyfriend/girlfriend
• how much money your parents make
• how much you spend on (clothes/shoes/other
  things)
• like another person in the class?

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Jazz Chant Bankers Wifes Blues

• Where does John live?
• He lives near the bank.
• Where does he work?
• He works at the bank.
• When does he work?
• He works all day
• and he works all night,
• at the bank, at the bank,
• at the great, big bank.
• Where does he study?
• He studies at the bank.

Where does he sleep? He sleeps at the
bank. Why does he spend all day, all night, all
day, all night, at the bank, at the bank?
Because he loves his bank more than his
wife, and he loves his money more than his
life.
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Simple Past
I studied my English last night.
Past Progressive
I was studying when they came.
Past Perfect
I had already studied Chapter 1 before I began to
study Chapter 2.
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• Identify the following as simple past, past
  progressive or past perfect
• They were walking home when it began to rain.
• He ate the whole cake.
• From 2007 to 2008, she was traveling around
  Europe.
• By the time I arrived, you had already left.
• Did he finish his homework?
• What was she looking at when you were there?
• Had she found a present by the time his birthday
  came?

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September 2002
January 2007
October 2007
July 2012
X
X
X
X
I came to China
My son was born
I started my job as a high school teacher
I started my job as a research scientist
Simple Past I came to China in July 2012.
Past Progressive I was working as a high school
teacher when my son was born.
Past Perfect I had worked as a research
scientist before I became a high school teacher.
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Sharing Your Life Timelines

• You were supposed to prepare a timeline for
  homework with at least 4 events from your life
• In groups of 3 or 4, you will share your timeline
  
• You will explain the events on your timeline, and
  then make 3 statements about the timeline using
  (1) simple past, (2) past progressive and (3)
  past perfect
• Your group members must listen carefully and
  correct you if necessary

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The Autobiography Game

• Groups of 3 or 4
• Each group will be given 6 cards
• Read the question on 1 card each person will
  answer the question (group members must listen
  and correct the tense if necessary)
• Do the same for the other 5 cards

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Homework

• Review speaking with the simple past, past
  progressive and past perfect.
• Make two lists of words to describe your
  hometown. In the first list, write adjectives
  which describe the (a) food (b)
  downtown/countryside, (c) weather (d)
  transportation (e) houses or buildings, (f)
  roads, (g) restaurants or hotels, (h) the
  people. In the second list, write the names of
  any special places you can visit there.

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My Hometown - Toronto

• food - international, multicultural
• downtown - noisy, fairly clean
• weather long, cold winters
• transportation crowded, expensive, convenient
• houses or buildings tall, fairly new
• roads busy, wide
• restaurants or hotels inexpensive, numerous,
  clean
• the people helpful, busy
• Special places CN Tower, Royal Ontario Museum

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• (simple past) Who was your best friend in
  middle school?
• (My best friend was _____ .)
• (simple past) Where did you spend the last
  Spring Festival holiday?
• (I spent the last Spring Festival holiday in/at
  _____ .)
• (past progressive) What sports did you enjoy
  playing when you were in middle school?
• (I enjoyed playing _____ when I was in middle
  school.)
• (past progressive) What activities did you
  enjoy doing during the last summer holiday?
• (I enjoyed verbing _____ .)
• (past perfect) Where had you lived before you
  came to university?
• (I had lived in _____ .)

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More Past Tense Practice

• Use the following information to practice simple
  past, past progressive and past perfect
• October 2007 Joel was born in Toronto
• January 2010 Joel broke his leg
• September 2011 June 2012 Joel at kindergarten
• October 2011 Joel turned 4 years old
• July 2012 Joel came to China
• September 2012 now Joel at Chinese
  kindergarten
• October 2012 Joel turned 5 years old
• E.g. What was Joel doing when he turned 5 years
  old?
• E.g. Had Joel come to China when he turned 5
  years old?

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• How many types of movies can you think of?
• comedy, action, drama, costume drama,
  romance/love story, mystery, thriller, horror
  (scary!), documentary, sports, martial arts (kung
  fu), biography, war, concert, science fiction,
  space, propaganda, childrens, animated or
  cartoon
• What kinds of music can you think of?
• Classical, Chinese classical, pop(ular), rock,
  jazz, folk music, Peking opera, rap or hip-hop,
  childrens, rhythm and blues, blues, hymns
  (traditional church music)

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Opinions about Movies and Music

• What kind of movies/music do you like?
• What (kind of) movies do you watch?
• What (kind of) music do you listen to?
• I especially like _____.
• I like _____ best.
• My favourite is _____.