The Past Perfect

Activity type: this is a grammar focused activity in which students use the past perfect.

Level: Intermediate and above


Teacher's notes:

1. Begin this lesson by bringing in pictures of events in your life to class. Try to make sure that they are photos and show various events and ages.
   
2. Ask the students, as a class, to identify what is happening in each picture e.g. a graduation, a marriage, a birthday party, a Christmas party etc.
   
3. Place them in chronological order on the floor of the class or stick them to the whiteboard.
   
4. Once you have shown the students the pictures, write dates next to each picture.
   
5. Elicit from the students a sentence using the past simple e.g. I got married on February 2nd 2004; I had a baby on December 2nd 2004 etc.
   
6. Then draw a timeline on the board and ask the students to guess what you are trying to express i.e. sequencing.
   
   Timeline:
   
   --------got married-----------had a baby ---------now--------->
   
   
7. Ask the students what happened first - had a baby or got married. The students will say got married. Therefore elicit:
   
   I had got married before I had my baby.
   
   i.e. elicit the past perfect. Highlight the pronunciation and the contraction of the form i.e. I’d got married…
   
   
8. Make sure that the students understand that this form represents an event which happened before another event. Both events are in the past.
   
9. Once you have drilled this sentence a few times, put the students into pairs and ask them to make other sentences using the pictures which show events which happened before other events.
   
10. Ask for class feedback, once the students have talked for a while.
    
11. Introduce the question form at this point i.e. What had you done before you got married? Drill this and also add the negative. I hadn’t had my baby before I got married.
    
12. Change pairs and ask the students to discuss their own lives and events. Make sure that they use the past perfect.
    
13. Again ask for class feedback. Once the students have done this hand out an occupation (listed below) to each student in class.
    
14. Ask the students to create a life for these occupations i.e. they have to imagine what this person has done in his/her life. Remind them to be creative! They can make notes.
    
15. Allow a few minutes for this. Tell the students to stand up and pretend that they are the people that they have just created and that they have done the things that the students have noted down.
    
16. Tell the students to meet everyone in class introducing themselves. They need to ask questions and ask about the sequencing of events.
    
17. Monitor and ensure that the students are using the past perfect.
    
18. At the end of the activity, ask the students to sit down and give you a little feedback on their characters.
    
19. Correct as you feel necessary.
    

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