The Simpsons - The Springfield Files: Simple Past x Past Continuous

This excellent activity was provided by a reader from Argentina, Anahi Pesce. Thanks for sharing such an effective activity.

The Springfield files

Act. 1: Complete the sentences in the past simple or past continuous.

a.   

    It ___________ (HAVE) big eyes. It ________________ (GLOW) with a green light and it ___________________ (WALK) in the forest. (   )

b.    

  He ________________________ (RUN) when he _______________ (SEE) the word “die” and ____________________ (SCREAM). (   )

c.      

 They ____________________ (HAVE) breakfast when he ________________ (TELL) his family that the creature ____________ (BE) an alien. (   )

d.      

 He __________________ (WALK) in the forest when he ______________ (HEAR) a strange sound. (   )

A bus _________________ (COME). It ________________ (BE) the Springfield Orchestra. (   )

e.      Homer _________________ (BE) at Moe’s bar. He __________________ (DRINK) some beer. (   )

f.        He _______________ (TRIP) over. He ______________ (FALL) to the ground. (   )

g.       He ________________ (SEE) a very strange creature.(   )

h.      He _________________ (GET) home. When he _________________ (ENTER) the bedroom, Marge _____________________ (WAIT) for him. It ________________ (BE) 2 am. (   )

i.     

    It ____________________ (SAY) “Don’t be afraid”. Homer _______________ (RUN) away. (   )

j.         

He ________________ (BE) drunk. He ________________ (DECIDE) to walk home. )   (   )

Act. 2: Watch the video segment. Put the events (a-j) in the correct order (1-10).

 

Act. 3: Write Homer’s full story. Use the words in the box to connect the sentences.

One evening,...           so…                  because….                 Next,…       Suddenly…            After that,…             In the end,…

 WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE SIMPSON'S SPRINGFIELD FILES

Batman - The Dark Knight Rises: Simple Past x Past Continuous

This awesome activity was provided by Antonella Amen from a country I love, Argentina. I hope you enjoy it. 

My name is Antonella Alem. I'm from Entre Ríos, Argentina. I've been teaching to students of different ages since 2012. Right now, I am working at a private school of English and I have a group of kids, two groups of teenagers and a group of adults.

      Th)

A.        Watch the video and answer these questions.

THE JOKER

1.         How many robbers were there? _______________________

2.        How did the get to the bank? _________________________

3.        What were they wearing to hide their faces? What type? ____________     

4.        What did one robber put in a man’s hands? ____________________

5.        Where did they put the money? __________________________

6.       How did the Joker leave the bank? ________________________

B.         Watch the video again and complete these sentences using the simple past or past continuous form of the verbs .

1.         A man _____________ (break) a window and then ______________ (shoot) his weapon.

2.        A man _________________ (wait) in the street when a car ______________ (arrive) and he ____________ (get) in it.

3.        Three men ___________________ (travel) by car while they _______________ (talk) and_____________ (load) their guns.

4.        While the three men __________________ (enter) into the bank, one of them _____________ (start) shooting.

5.        One robber _____________ (kill) another one while he __________________ (disconnect) the bank alarm.

6.        While a robber _________________ (try) to open the bank vault door, he _____________ (be) electrocuted.

7.        One robber _________________ (shout) at the people when the bank manager __________ (shoot) him.

8.        The bank manager ______________ (shoot) at the robbers while they ________________ (run) and ____________ (hide).

9.        When a robber __________ (open) the vault, the other one ____________ (kill) him and ___________ (entered) to the room where the money was

10.      While two robbers ________________ (argue), a bus _____________ (hit) one of them.

11.        The Joker ___________ (put) a bomb in the manager’s mouth, ___________ (get) into the bus and _____________ (leave) the bank

3. Now is your turn to write your own story about a robbery. Use the following questions as a guide and don’t forget to use both past tenses as well as WHEN and WHILE. Write between 80 to 100 words.

ü  Where was the robbery?

ü  When did it take place?

ü  How many robbers were there?

ü  Were they wearing disguises?

ü  Were they armed?

ü  How many robbers were there?

ü  What did the workers and customers do?

ü  Was anybody injured?

ü  What did the robbers take?

ü  How did they get away?

ü  Who called the police?

ü  When did the police arrive?

ü  Have the robbers been caught yet?

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 MOVIE SEGMENT AT YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqvbv-SB4bg

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD

Hugo: Past Continuous x Simple Past

I simply loved this movie. It is made for movie lovers. I used this scene because it clearly shows the difference of the past continuous and simple past tenses. Besides, it is also kinesthetic.


I. Watch the movie segment and write down all the activities that people were doing at the the train station at 7:00 am. Then share your sentences with two partners and come up with as many sentences as possible.


Ex: Some people were carrying traveling  suitcases.









II. Work with the same partners. Watch the segment again and write down what Hugo did while those people were doing the thing that you mentioned in exercise I.

Ex: He ran through very narrow corridors.


III. Role-Play those activities to the students in the other groups. Check out if they can identify the actions and come up with correct sentences either in the past continuous or the simple past tenses.


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MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - HUGO

The Pacifier: Simple Past x Past Continuous

This activity was provided by Bruno Dias. Thank you, Bruno, for your great contribution. Don't forget to visit his blog, a great resource for English teachers. Here's his short bio data:

My name is Bruno Dias Gonçalves and I´m a 28-year-old English teacher. I´ve been teaching for 9 years basically for adults, but recently I´ve started teaching elementary and high school students. I am also the owner of the blog http://teacherbruno1.blogspot.com where I post many video classes teaching grammar rules and contexts, song classes and video classes.  

I´m graduated in English Language and Specialized in Applied Linguistics on English Language. 

A class by @TeacherBrunoGon


Watch the scene and complete the sentences using Simple Past or Past Continuous:

a- He ____________________________ (teach) the girls how to fight.

b- While he ________________________ (read) the book, he _________________ (take care) of the baby.

c- He _________________ (say) the girl to go and she ________________ (start) driving at the parking lot.

d- He __________________ (make) 2 different groups of people crawl on the floor.

e- He __________________ (run) and when he _______________ (enter) the classroom the girl _________________ (present) a piece of homework.

f- He ________________ (observe) the play cast ____________________ (rehearse).


g- He ________________ (challenge) the girl to drive by back gear.



Discuss the questions:


Do you know how to fight? If so, what? If not, would you like to learn it?
Do you know how to drive? Are you learning how to? How does it feel?


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MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE PACIFIER

Greenberg: Simple Past x Past Continuous

Although this movie is not a master piece, it has great moments and the story is appealing. Stiller has one of his best dramatic roles in his career, though. I used this beautiful scene to practice contrasting the use of the simple past x past continuous.



I. Watch the movie segment and then fill in the blanks with the simple past or the past continuous form of the verbs in parentheses:









1. When Roger _________ (enter) the bar, Florence ________ (sing) a song in the bar.


2. Roger ________ (listen) to Florence singing when Gina _________ (order) four beers.


3. Gina ___________ (introduce) herself while she ____________ (wait) for the bartender to bring beer.


4. They ___________ (talk) to each other when Gina _________ (invite) him to sit with her friends.


5. Florence ___________ (talk) to with her friends when she _________ (wave) to Roger.

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MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - GREENBERG

Answer key:

1. entered / was singing
2. was listening / ordered
3. introduced / was waiting
4. were talking / invited
5. was talking / waved

Sex and the City: Past Continuous x Simple Past

Activity provided by Carina Fragoso. Visit her handy site teachercarinafragozo.blogspot.com for really great ideas.
ENGLISH IN BRAZIL.Thanks Karina for sharing such an effective activity.

Movie Activity

Before watching the video:


1. Fill in the blanks using words from the Box:

her - affected - examined - their - American - focused

Sex and the City is an _________ cable television series. Set in New York City, the show _______ on four women (Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda), three in ______ mid-thirties and one in _____ forties. The series specifically ________ the lives of big-city professional women in the late 1990s/early 2000s and how changing roles and expectations for women ________ the characters.


Watching the video:



2. Carrie is a writer and her boyfriend Big has bought an apartment for them. She is thinking about selling her apartment to help him pay the new one. Based on the following scene, write T for true and F for false (10min-14min):





a) ( ) Big doesn’t want to get married to Carrie.


b) ( ) Carrie is surprised because he asked her to get married.


c) ( ) Carrie got Botox.


d) ( ) Samantha is disappointed because Carry is getting married.



3. Carrie’s boyfriend didn’t get married with her because he didn’t feel ready. He left her at the church. Based on the following scene, answer the questions (51min-55min):







a) Why did Big stop the car?
_______________________________

b) What was Carrie feeling?
_______________________________

c) Why didn’t Carrie say she felt he was strange?
_______________________________

d) Where were they going on honeymoon?
_______________________________



4. The girls decide to take the honeymoon that Carrie had booked. Based on the following scene, write T for true and F for false (57min-1h):






a) ( ) The receptionist was waiting for the girls.


b) ( ) Carrie thinks everything was a bad dream


c) ( ) Carrie didn’t sleep a lot.


d) ( ) Charlotte was afraid to eat the food because they were in Mexico.



After watching the video:


Based on the scenes we watched in class, write an ending for the story using the Simple Past and the Past Continuous.


Ex: Carrie found another boyfriend and she decided to travel to Brazil. When she was going to the airport, ...


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MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - PART 1

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - PART 2

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - PART 3


Adapted from Wikipedia.

The Lovely Bones: Simple Past x Past Continuous

You can't miss this film. A great story, great acting, and amazing ending. Although the movie is suitable for adults only, this scene can be used with students of all ages.



I. Work in groups. Read the activities below and guess which activities the character in the movie did NOT do while smoking cigarettes BEFORE VIEWING THE SEGMENT. You have to choose 4 activities. The winner is the group who guesses most activities.

1. ( ) Vacuum the house
2. ( ) Drink whiskey
3. ( ) Water the plants
4. ( ) Sweep the flo0r
5. ( ) Put a mask on someone's face
6. ( ) Break some eggs on someone's hair.
7. ( ) Do the laundry
8. ( ) Sleep
9. ( ) Kick the dog
10. ( ) Read a book
11. ( ) Dance
12. ( ) Talk on the phone
13. ( ) Kiss the children



II. Watch the segment now and check your guesses. Which group is the winner?


III. Now write affirmative and negative sentences about the activities in exercise I. What did she do while she was smoking?

Ex:

1. She vaccumed the house.
2 ................................................
3 ................................................

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MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE LOVELY BONES 


Answer Key:

The incorrect items in exercise I are 9, 10, 12, 13

X 2 - X-Men Reunited: Past Continuous x Simple Past

The X-Men series of movies is one of the best cartoon adaptations I know. The mutants have very appealing powers and the story is really clever. I enjoyed it a lot. I used the scenes in which one of the mutants use his power to stop the time to practice both the past continuous tense and the simple past tense in a contextualized, fun way. My students loved it. I hope you do too.




A. Watch the movie segment and write down what the people in the shopping mall were doing when the mutant paused the time. Write down at least five sentences describing them. Make sure you use the past continuous tense.




Ex: A lot of people were walking around the mall.


1. _____________________


2. _____________________


3. _____________________


4. _____________________


5. _____________________





B. Work with a partner and share the sentences you have written. Are there any different activities?





C. Now watch the second segment from the same movie. Now write down at least 5 things that happened while the president was speaking live to the American citizens. Make sure you use the simple past tense.


Ex: The president asked the reporters a question about the incident.


1. _____________________


2. _____________________


3. _____________________


4. _____________________


5. _____________________




D. Now check your sentences with a partner. Did you write the same sentences? Can you think of other activities?


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 MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - X-MEN REUNITED