Random Past Tense Grammar Lesson

So I made this lesson for two kids I teach who are referred to as native speakers because they each have at least one English parent.
It went over fairly well, the two students are in gr. 5 at a Gymnasium and as of yet they haven't learned their irregular verbs.
But of course since they do speak some English at home they are able to guess the verbs, and also the tenses.
It was interesting watching them figure out the different forms :)

Anyways here are the activities that I made up, feel free to use or improve! Message me if you use it, let me know how it goes for you, or how you improve it, I would love to know!

Activity:

Present or Past?

Read these sentences carefully. First underline the verb. Then in the space provided write present or past to show the tense!

1. Yesterday, I ate a big juicy red apple at lunch. ___________
2. I want to go to bed! __________
3. Who's calling? _________
4. That wasn't a cat, it was a dog! ___________ ___________
5. How'd you know that? ____________
6. I'm doing the dishes. ___________
7. Sorry she's not here right now. ____________
8. What's your name again? _________
9. Stop doing that! ___________
10. Today, was the worst day of my life. ___________
11. How could you do that? ___________
12. How'd you do that? ____________
13. What'd you get on the test? ____________
14. Is it hard to play the piano? ____________
15. Didn't he say he wanted to go home? ___________
16. How's the weather in London? ___________
17. No, I don't know where he is. ____________
18. What's your cat's name again? ____________
19. Have you seen my pet penguin? His name's Bill. ___________ ___________
20. Are you sure you don't want to come in? It's raining pretty hard. ___________ ___________

Mix and Match verbs in the past

First unscramble the words in the present and past columns.

Then match the verbs in the present with the verbs in the past.

Present Tense	Unscrambled	Match	Unscrambled	Past Tense
og	go			was
tea				etm
ese				letf
od				tea
ylf			went	wnte
meoc				owre
rewa				dah
lavee				idd
hvea				wefl
teem				cmea

Write the story again!

Read the following story and re-write it in the past! Underline the verbs so you can see them! Watch out for words that describe time and make sure to change them as well!

I am going to school today like every other day. Something is different though. The teacher is eating chips in class! I don't know why. He sees me and waves, I wave back, but I am still confused. The window is open and out of nowhere comes a bird! It flies right through the window towards the teacher and his chips. Luckily the teacher is wearing his winter gloves. He quickly grabs the bird with both hands and says, “Sorry Mr. Bird, you have to leave!”. Amazingly, the bird leaves, it flies right back out the window! I have never seen anything like that. The bell rings and I meet my friends in the schoolyard to tell them the crazy story. Suddenly I wake up and realize it's just a dream.

Use the space below to re-write the story in past tense!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Podcasting Project Update

So, after some minor technical difficulties we finally made it!
The students have all recorded two attempts at the Tongue Twister activities. Most of them even practised!
We also practised as a class one day, we had a Tongue Twister contest. There were five groups of four students, and each team member was responsible for four tongue twisters, there were 16 in total. Then for each tongue twister the teams sent up one person, then we had the twist off. They were given generally two chances, since it can be hard to tell right off the bat whose the best! Generally, after the first round two or three students would be left, then just two, then a winner! Each time a team's contestant won the team got a point. And obviously at the end we added the points and there was a winner. Of course there was a tie, so they had to do a hard tongue twister to win. 'Twas amazing, they were all so riled up, and I also gave some good Canadian prizes (maple leaf pins, magnets, stickers, and pencils). I was iffy about the prizes, teenagers sometimes think being cool is better than a prize, but I guess I shouldn't have been so worried they kept coming up after class asking if I had any more pencils! :)

"Please pass me a serviette. I've spilled poutine on the chesterfield."

gr 10 student to me: Are you from America?  
Misty: Nope, Canada.  
Student: How did you change your accent?
Misty: ?!?!?  
Student: Well, you say about, not aboot.  
Misty: ah yes…..ABOUT that...


Thanks Bob and Doug Mckenzie...
P.S In Canadian English a serviette is a napkin, a chesterfield is a sofa, and poutine is delicious!

Los now!

Ok,
just to be clear the title of this blog is more of a joke for myself and friends...the longer we live here the less English we are able to speak...although I am supposed to teach it....
Some examples:
1) instead of saying the Canadian 'eh' at the end of our sentences we find ourselves saying 'or'
2) frequently used German words are just put into the English sentence, or if the word sounds nicer in German depending on the speaker: I'll meet you at the hauptbahnhof or?, So the Klatmiete for this place is...
3) the way I tell time is changing, I find myself thinking in 24 hour time and saying things like: Let's meet up at half 19!
4) It is enjoyable to me (talking about why i liked doing something)

Anyways just wanted to let that be known...hopefully I can find some more time to make this blog actually interesting!
Bis dann!