Amazing Animal Abilities — Lesson Plan

Lesson plan Classy Tutoring

Week	Level	Theme	Grammar focus	Duration
2	B1 Intermediate	Nature	Past Simple	60 minutes

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, learners can:

retell three animal stories from the reading using Past Simple verbs correctly.
choose the correct Past Simple form of regular and common irregular verbs in written sentences.
form questions and negatives in Past Simple using did and didn't + base form.
write a short paragraph of 6–8 sentences about an animal experience using Past Simple throughout.

The core idea

Past Simple is the tense for actions that started and finished in the past. Some verbs add -ed (regular), others change their shape completely (irregular). When you ask a question or make a negative about the past, you use did or didn't and then the base form of the verb — never the past form after did.

Prior knowledge

Learners already know some common irregular past forms from earlier exposure (went, saw, had). They can form negatives and questions with do/does in Present Simple. What they do not yet control is the rule that after did/didn't the verb reverts to its base form, and they often over-apply -ed to irregular verbs.

Materials

Chalkboard and chalk. Leave the board clear for the verb table.
Exercise books and pencils for every learner.
Handout (supplied separately) — one per learner.
If available, three animal pictures (octopus, elephant, pigeon) to support the reading; if not, describe them aloud.

Lesson outline

Reading (10 min)

Teacher reads the passage aloud once while learners follow on the handout.
Learners read it a second time silently and underline every Past Simple verb they find.
Teacher asks: which verbs describe actions that happened and finished? Note answers on the board.

Comprehension (5 min)

Learners answer the five questions in pairs, in their books.
Teacher takes answers from four different pairs, one question each.
Correct answers are confirmed on the board; wrong answers are noted, not judged.

Speaking (15 min)

Pairs work through the four discussion questions.
Teacher circulates and listens for Past Simple attempts rather than interrupting.
Whole-class share-back: two or three pairs report, teacher feeds back on one good sentence per pair.

Grammar (20 min)

Teacher elicits the Past Simple forms from the reading passage before naming the rule.
Board work: the regular and irregular verb tables, then the question/negative structure.
Exercise 1 (six sentences) written in books, then checked as a class with reasons.
Exercise 2 (mini-story) completed individually, then checked against the answer key.

Writing (10 min)

Learners write 6–8 sentences about an animal experience they have had or seen.
Teacher circulates and checks that Past Simple is used throughout — no full correction yet.
Two volunteers read theirs out if time allows.

Grammar focus

	Regular	Irregular
What it does	Actions finished in the past	Actions finished in the past
How to form	add -ed (watch → watched)	change shape (see → saw, go → went)
Spelling notes	study → studied (y→ied), stop → stopped (double)	memorise the common ones
Question/negative	Did they escape? / They didn't escape.	Did she know? / She didn't know.

Signal words: last month, last year, yesterday, in 1995, when, after, then — words that place the action firmly in the past.

Assessment

During the lesson: after the board work, ask each learner to give one Past Simple sentence about an animal; listen for correct irregular forms during circulation in the writing block.
Exit task: on a slip of paper, learners write one Past Simple sentence about something an animal did — hand it in at the door. Check before the next lesson for irregular verb errors.

Differentiation

Stretch: ask stronger learners to write a sentence that combines Past Simple with a time clause (When the octopus saw its friend, it opened the tank.) and explain why both verbs are in Past Simple.
Support: give weaker learners a list of the eight irregular verbs from the lesson (be, have, do, see, know, find, teach, get) with their past forms, and let them use it while writing. Accept a correct three-sentence answer where six were asked.

Homework

Research one amazing animal fact (use your phone or just think of one you already know). Write four Past Simple questions about it, then answer them in full sentences.

Example:

Where did the scientists find this animal? — They found it in Australia.
What did it do? — It used a stick to get food.

Links

Builds on: Week 1 (Festivals) — the classroom routine and the comprehension/writing structure are the same; learners now apply Past Simple instead of the present tenses.

Feeds into: Week 3 (Street Food Stories), which adds the Present Perfect and asks learners to choose between it and the Past Simple.