Simple past 3

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In this unit we are talking about the past, what has happened to people in their lives, we are writing biographies, singing songs about the past, learning the past simple and past participle of irregular verbs...
To continue with that practise, I strongly recommend this worksheet by Cambridge University Press. You can have a look at the answers too.

Jane Austen's biography.

Wikipedia

We are starting to write short biographies in our 2nd of ESO classes and the two examples we have in our course book are male. That is the reason why I am giving you the model and the information to write about this woman called JANE AUSTEN.

Model:

v  Jane Austen was a _____________________________.   She wrote _____________. v  She was born in  _______________________________. Ø  When she was a child, ______________________________. Ø  When she was older, _______________________. v  In ______________________, she _______________________________. Ø  The next year, she ______________________________. She died in ____________.

Information to fill the biography:

• Date and place of birth: 1775, Hampshire, England.
• Early life: quite life, educated at home (did not go to school) after typhus illness, liked writing poems and short novels.
• Later life: Never got married, attended family meetings and read aloud her novels.
• Date of illness and death: Beginning of 1816 started to feel ill, July 1817 died.

There is a huge number of Jane Austen's fans and many of them have created websites and blogs about her and her works, you can find more information about here in those pages.

Now, it's your turn: Write Jane Austen's biography in a short comment in the blog!

Simple past and Shrek

In order to practice the simple past, we are going to listen to and sing this song which appears in the film Shrek. It is a very good song because you see many past forms and also the past of can, the modal verb could. 

I am going to write here the lyrics to have them at hand and work with them in class, but the best part of this lesson is that you get to sing a very funny song:

I thought love was

Only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else
But not for me
Love was out to get to me
That's the way it seems
Disappointment haunted
All my dreams

And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried

I thought love was
More or less a giving thing
The more I gave the less
I got, oh yeah
What's the use in trying
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine
I got rain

Do you like this song? 

I guess it is one of those that helps me get happier and energizes me. Does it also work for you?

Simple past: Irregular verbs 2.

Anglais-facile.com

This is the last part of the entry of 10.2.2013. In this post, we find the charts of the three words verbs.

The first chart is that of three different words for the infinitive (in this case base form), the simple past and the past participle are different, the last form always ends in the suffix -en:

Spanish	Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
Ser, estar	Be	Was/were	Been
Romper	Break	Broke	Broken
Elegir	Choose	Chose	Chosen
Hablar	Speak	Spoke	Spoken
Robar	Steal	Stole	Stolen
Despertarse	Wake	Woke	Woken
Morder	Bite	Bit	Bitten
Esconderse	Hide	Hid	Hidden
Conducir	Drive	Drove	Driven
Montar	Ride	Rode	Ridden
Escribir	Write	Wrote	Written
Caerse	Fall	Fell	Fallen
Olvidar	Forget	Forgot	Forgotten
Comer	Eat	Ate	Eaten
Dar	Give	Gave	Given
Coger	Take	Took	Taken
Ver	See	Saw	Seen
Helarse	Freeze	Froze	Frozen

Now, the same thing but ending in -wn:

Spanish	Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
Crecer	Grow	Grew	Grown
Saber	Know	Knew	Known
Lanzar	Throw	Threw	Thrown
Volar	Fly	Flew	Flown
Dibujar	Draw	Drew	Drawn

In the following case the three forms of the verbs undergo vocalic change, we find -i- for the base form, -a- for the simple past and -u- for the past participle:

Spanish	Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
Empezar	Begin	Began	Begun
Beber	Drink	Drank	Drunk
Sonar	Ring	Rang	Rung
Nadar	Swim	Swam	Swum
Cantar	Sing	Sang	Sung

The last one is a miscellaneous:

Spanish	Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
Hacer	Do	Did	Done
Ir	Go	Went	Gone/been
Llevar puesto	Wear	Wore	Worn

And that is all! Do you think it is useful?

 If you want to, you can download it at the Resources for my Colleagues page in this blog.