what were you doing last night? - basic grammar sentences

Copyright 2014, Red River Press Inc. For use by members of ESL-library.com in accordance with membership terms. 1

What were you doing last night?Basic Grammar Sentences

VocabularyWhat were all these people doing last night at 7:00 pm?Write the -ing form of the verb below each image.

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11 12



Target StructureUsing today’s target structure, write one question and one answer for each image below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

(he, 9:00 pm)

Q:

A:

(you, on Tuesday)

Q:

A:

(she, 6:00 pm)

Q:

A:

(he, yesterday)

Q:

A:

(she, last night)

Q:

A:

(they, 7:00pm)

Q:

A:

What was he doing at 9:00 pm?

He was relaxing.



9:00 am 11:00 am 2:00 pm 4:00 pm 6:00 pm

6:30 pm 7:00 pm 8:00 pm 9:30 pm 10:00 pm

Work in Pairs – Partner A

Now Work Alone

George is a very busy guy. He’s always doing something. What was he doing yesterday throughout the day?

After you’ve finished the pair work above, try answering the questions below on your own.

1. What was George doing at 9:00 am?

2. What George 4:00 pm?

3. Was George making dinner at 6:30 pm?

4. What was he doing at 6:30 pm?

5. Were you swimming last night at 8:00 pm?

6. What were you doing at 8:00 pm?



9:00 am 11:00 am 2:00 pm 4:00 pm 6:00 pm

6:30 pm 7:00 pm 8:00 pm 9:30 pm 10:00 pm

Work in Pairs – Partner B

Now Work Alone

George is a very busy guy. He’s always doing something. What was he doing yesterday throughout the day?

After you’ve finished the pair work above, try answering the questions below on your own.

1. What was George doing at 9:00 am?

2. What George 4:00 pm?

3. Was George making dinner at 6:30 pm?

4. What was he doing at 6:30 pm?

5. Were you swimming last night at 8:00 pm?

6. What were you doing at 8:00 pm?



Listening

Group Work

Listen to what your teacher did last week. Write what she/he did in the boxes below each day of the week.

What was everyone doing throughout the day yesterday? Conduct this survey to find out.

Now write four sentences from your answers above.Example: My teacher was making dinner at 8:00 pm last night.

7:00 am 9:00 am 12:00 pm 5:30 pm 8:00 pm 10:00 pm

NAME 4:30 pm 7:30 pm 9:30 pm

Me

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.



Review and Fun

A. Complete the Phrases

Complete the phrases below by writing a noun that goes with the verb. Try not to look at your notes.

B. What Were You Doing?

What were you doing yesterday? Answer the questions below. Make some of your answers silly! (Example: I was barking like a dog at 9:00 pm.)

1. reading

2. talking

3. walking

4. washing the

5. making

6. sweeping

1. What were you doing at 9:00 am yesterday?

2. What were you doing at 10:00 am yesterday?

3. What were you doing at 12:00 pm yesterday?

4. What were you doing at 5:00 pm yesterday?

5. What were you doing at 7:00 pm last night?




7. doing the

8. eating

9. taking



Teachers’ Notes

Aim

The aim is to introduce students to the past progressive.

Teaching the Class (before the handouts)

Use the flashcards to elicit and check your students’

understanding of the vocabulary and target structures.

Example: �walking�the�dog�

What was she doing last night?

She was walking the dog.

After you’ve elicited the vocabulary, hand out the worksheets. Write

all the new phrases on the board and have your students copy them

down on page 1. Then elicit the questions and answers from page 2.

Write them on the board and have students copy them down.

Target Structure

Examples:

What were you doing last night?

I was reading a book.

New Vocabulary

Verbs:

walking the dog, making dinner (or cooking), eating dinner, washing

the dishes, talking on the phone, taking a bath, doing the laundry,

reading a book, sweeping the floor, vacuuming, relaxing, exercising

Work in Pairs

Have your students work in pairs to complete the information

gap. They’ll need to ask each other about what George was doing

throughout the day yesterday.

Listening

For this task you’ll need to tell the students about what you

were doing throughout the day yesterday. Students have to listen

and write down what they hear. Use the verbs from today’s lesson,

or use other verbs that your students are familiar with. To make

the task more student-centered, have your students call out

the questions.

Student: What were you doing at 7:00 am?

Teacher: I was making breakfast.

Group Work

Students walk around the class finding out what everyone was

doing at 4:30, 7:30, and 9:30 yesterday. Students should start

by writing down what they were doing at those times before

speaking to their classmates.

Now Work Alone

When they are finished the pair work, have your students try the

follow-up activity to review their writing skills for this structure.

(Make sure they are not doing the follow-up activity and pair work

activity at the same time. These are meant to be done separately.)



Work in Pairs

9:00 am – doing the laundry

11:00 am – exercising

2:00 pm – talking on the phone

4:00 pm – vacuuming

6:00 pm – making dinner

Review and Fun

A. COMPLETE THE PHRASES

1. reading a book

2. talking on the phone

3. walking the dog

4. washing the dishes

5. making dinner

Now Work Alone

1. He was doing the laundry at 9:00 am.

2. What was George doing at 4:00 pm? He was vacuuming.

3. No, he wasn’t.

4. He was eating dinner at 6:30 pm.

5–6. Answers will vary.

Listening

Answers will vary.

Group Work

Answers will vary.

Vocabulary

1. walking the dog

2. making dinner

3. eating dinner

4. washing the dishes

5. talking on the phone

6. taking a bath

7. doing the laundry

8. reading a book

9. sweeping the floor

10. vacuuming

11. relaxing

12. exercising

Target Structure

1. What was he doing at 9:00 pm? He was relaxing.

2. What were you doing on Tuesday? I was sweeping the floor.

3. What was she doing at 6:00 pm? She was eating dinner.

4. What was he doing yesterday? He was making dinner.

5. What was she doing last night? She was walking the dog.

6. What were they doing at 7:00 pm?

They were talking on the phone.

6. sweeping the floor

7. doing the laundry

8. eating dinner

9. taking a bath

B. WHAT WERE YOU DOING?

Answers will vary. Have students share their answers with a

partner or small group when they’ve finished writing.

Answer Key

6:30 pm – eating dinner

7:00 pm – washing the dishes

8:00 pm – walking the dog

9:30 pm – relaxing

10:00 pm – reading a book

Copy

righ

t 201

4, R

ed R

iver

Pre

ss In

c. F

or u

se b

y m

embe

rs o

f ESL

-libr

ary.

com

in a

ccor

danc

e w

ith m

embe

rshi

p te

rms.

what were you doing last night? - basic grammar sentences

Documents