Tenses - past simple/ used to

• Mentorles
• Speciaal Onderwijs
• Leerroute 4

Tenses

• Learning goal

I can recognise and use the correct tense (past simple or used to) in a life story.

• Success criteria
  – I recognise if something happened once or many times
  – I can choose the correct tense
  – I can explain why

Explicit EDI start

Read carefully…
Something is wrong with the grammar.

Don’t fix it yet, just read.

Dear Quinn,

Thank you for your letter. I am more than happy to tell you how I am starting acting.

Things are a bit different in the past. When I am young, everyone is looking for a job straight after they finish school. I am starting working as a paper boy. I am hating it.

One morning, a man is coming up to me and is saying: “I need you to audition for a role in a play I was directing.” I am surprised, but I decide to do it anyway.

I am ending up getting the part, and that is the beginning of my acting career.

Good luck with your future career, Quinn. Whatever you will choose to do, make sure you are enjoying it.

Mark Coen

What do you notice?
Write one thing you find strange or incorrect.

No grammar terms yet — pure noticing.

When does the story take place?
-The story is mainly about…

1. Now
2. The past
3. The future

Highlight 3 verbs that do not match the time of the story.

Dear Quinn,

Thank you for your letter. I am more than happy to tell you how I am starting acting.

Things are a bit different in the past. When I am young, everyone is looking for a job straight after they finish school. I am starting working as a paper boy. I am hating it.

One morning, a man is coming up to me and is saying: “I need you to audition for a role in a play I was directing.” I am surprised, but I decide to do it anyway.

I am ending up getting the part, and that is the beginning of my acting career.

Good luck with your future career, Quinn. Whatever you will choose to do, make sure you are enjoying it.

Mark Coen

What are verbs again?
> Walk around, listen to reasoning.

Which sentence sounds better?

1. When I was young, everyone looked for a job.
2. When I am young, everyone is looking for a job.

Why?

What’s the difference in meaning between:
1. I worked as a paper boy.
2. I used to work as a paper boy.

Let students struggle, this is the key inductive moment.

I worked as a paper boy.

→ fact about the past

I used to work as a paper boy.

→ true in the past, NOT true now

Choose the best explanation:
Used to is used for…

1. A single action in the past
2. Something that was normal for a long time and is different now
3. Something happening at the moment

The rule

Past simple

– finished actions in the past

– things that happened once

Used to

– past habits or situations

– not true anymore now

This is your EDI explicitering moment.

Past simple or used to?
When I was young, I ____ outside every day.

1. Played
2. Used to play

A man ___ up to me one morning.

1. used to come
2. came

Rewrite this sentence correctly:
-I am starting working as a paper boy. I am hating it.

Write 2 sentences about your childhood:
– one with past simple
– one with used to

Check your understanding:
When do we use used to instead of the past simple

Let's re-write the e-mail!

I can recognise and use the correct tense (past simple or used to) in a life story.

😒🙁😐🙂😃

– I recognise if something happened once or many times

😒🙁😐🙂😃

– I can choose the correct tense

😒🙁😐🙂😃

– I can explain why

😒🙁😐🙂😃