Moments in Time - What were you doing?

• newEditor
• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Moments in Time - What were you doing?

You will learn how to describe past events, contrast actions,

and tell stories using English tenses.

What were you doing when your alarm went of this morning?

What were they doing?

You get 2 minutes to describe what people were doing in a picture. You can choose any number to start with, just try to get as many as you can. You have to work alone for this part of the exercise.

For the next 2 minutes work together with the person sitting next to you to complete your lists.

2

m

00

s

+30 s

While watching:

Write down what the people were doing when the lights went out

Why do you think the power went out?

A

Because of the heavy rain

B

Because there was a party at the power company

Read

The day everything changed

Answer the questions on p.

If you finish early write 5 - 6 sentences about a funny or surprising day in your own life.

🧠Grammar Focus

Past Continuous

The past continuous tense describes actions or situations that were ongoing at a certain moment in the past. It’s especially useful for showing the duration of a past event, background activity, or when another action interrupts it. Here are the most essential uses:

• interrupted past actions

• parallel actions in the past

• settiong the scene or background

• describing temporary past habits or routines

Time expressions

• at that moment / 7 o'clock / 10 AM

• when / while

• all night / all morning

• during the meeting

• the whole time

The Storm

Last Sunday evening, the weather was terrible. It was raining hard, and the wind was blowing. My family and I were sitting in the living room watching a movie when suddenly the lights went out.
My dad was looking for candles, and my mum was calling the electricity company. I was helping my little sister find her teddy bear. After a few minutes, the lights came back, and we laughed because the teddy bear was in my bag!

was raining

was blowing

were sitting

watching

was looking

was calling

was helping

Exercise 1

1. was

2. weren't

3. was

4. were

5. wasn't

6. was

7. was

8. wasn't

Exercise 2

1. was reading

2. weren't listening

3. Was it snowing

4. Were walking

5. wasn't reading

6. were you doing

7. were playing

8. was studying / was watching

Workbook answer key

Exercise 3

1. We were watching a film.

2. She wasn't listening to the teacher

3. The boys were playing football

4. I was reading when the phone rang

5. Sarah was cooking all morning.

Exercise 4

1. was walking / saw

2. were writing / rang

3. wasn't watching / called

4. was raining / left

5. were you doing / arrived

Workbook answer key