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Lesson planA245 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
We Missed the Bus! The past simple
Students practise the past simple, including irregular verbs, to talk about trips and transport, then write about a journey they took.
Past simple · Travel · Transport · Holidays
Or download everything as a ZIP (4 PDFs)This lesson plan and its PDFs are free.
Plan at a glance
Aims
- Use past simple accurately
- Learn and use 22 words and phrases in 3 sets: Transport, Travel verbs, Holidays
- Read for detail: A camping trip
- Writing task: A journey
Stages · 45 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about travel and share ideas with the class.
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 15 minControlled practice: Ex. 2–4
- 5 minReading: Ex. 5
- 10 minWriting: Ex. 6
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 4 PDFs)Grammar notes
Regular and irregular verbs
- Regular verbs: + -ed: miss → missed, travel → travelled, arrive → arrived.
- Irregular verbs: leave → left, take → took, catch → caught, get → got, come → came, go → went.
Negatives and questions
- didn't + verb: We didn't catch the bus (not didn't caught).
- Did + subject + verb: Did you go abroad? Where did you stay?
- With be: was / were: The flight was long. Were you tired?
Travel phrases
- go camping, go abroad, come back home (no to): We went abroad last year.
Study tips
- Tell the story of your last journey in five sentences. Check every verb: regular or irregular?
- Learn the irregular verbs in pairs: leave – left, catch – caught, take – took.
Glossary
- Transport7 items
- Travel verbs8 items
- Holidays7 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Travel and transport
Choose the correct word or phrase.
- a
What time does the plane ___? — At 6 a.m. We need to be at the airport at four.
- b
It was a long ___ — fourteen hours from London to Tokyo.
- c
Hurry up or we're going to ___!
- d
I usually ___ at 7.30. It takes me to work in twenty minutes.
- e
Press the button when you want to ___ the bus.
- f
Hi Mum! I'm in Paris. I'm going to ___ home on Sunday.
2
Past simple forms
Choose the correct past simple form.
- a
We ___ home at five in the morning.
- b
We ___ a taxi to the airport.
- c
The plane ___ in Lisbon at nine.
- d
We ___ the last bus by one minute!
- e
I ___ abroad for the first time last year.
- f
We ___ the train in Porto.
- g
We ___ back home by plane on Sunday.
- h
I ___ the early bus to the airport.
3
Negatives and questions
Choose the correct words.
- a
We ___ the bus because we got up late.
- b
___ you go camping last summer?
- c
The traffic was terrible, so we ___ to the airport on time.
- d
Where ___ you stay in Italy?
- e
___ the flight long? — Yes, nine hours.
- f
We ___ tired after the trip. We went out for dinner!
- g
How ___ you get to the campsite? — By taxi.
4
Find the mistake
One sentence has a mistake. Choose the correct sentence.
- a
Choose the correct sentence.
- b
Choose the correct sentence.
- c
Choose the correct sentence.
- d
Choose the correct sentence.
- e
Choose the correct sentence.
- f
Choose the correct sentence.
- g
Choose the correct sentence.
- h
Choose the correct sentence.
- i
Choose the correct sentence.
- j
Choose the correct sentence.
- k
Choose the correct sentence.
- l
Choose the correct sentence.
5
Read: A camping trip
Read the text. Then choose the correct answer.
Last August, Leo and his friend Sam went camping abroad for the first time. They took a plane from Manchester to Nice, in France. Things went wrong on the first day. The traffic to the airport was terrible, and they nearly missed their flight. In Nice they wanted to catch the bus to the campsite, but they missed it by two minutes. The next bus was at six o'clock in the evening, so they took a taxi. It was very expensive! At the campsite they put up their tent next to a river. In the evenings they cooked dinner outside and looked at the stars. They swam in the river every day. They came back home on 20th August. "It was the best holiday of my life," says Leo. "But next time I'm going to leave home earlier!"
- a
How did Leo and Sam travel to France?
- b
Why did they nearly miss their flight?
- c
Why did they take a taxi in Nice?
- d
Where did they put up their tent?
- e
When did they come back home?
6
Write: A journey
Write about a trip.
Write about a trip or a journey you took. (6–8 sentences) Where did you go? How did you travel? Did anything go wrong? When did you come back? Use the past simple. Word box: leave · plane · miss the bus · catch the bus · get off · taxi · traffic · abroad · camping · come back Example: Last summer I went camping with my family. We left home at six in the morning. There was a lot of traffic, so the journey was very long.
Suggested minimum: 40 words
0 words · aim for at least 40
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 22 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 3 sets.
Transport
- plane
- a vehicle that flies
- train
- a vehicle that travels on rails
- bus
- a big vehicle for a lot of passengers on the road
- taxi
- a car with a driver; you pay to go somewhere
- flight
- a journey by plane
- airport
- the place where planes arrive and leave
- traffic
- the cars and buses on a road
Travel verbs
- leave
- to go away from a place
- arrive
- to get to a place
- get on
- to go into a bus, train or plane
- get off
- to leave a bus, train or plane
- catch the bus
- to get on a bus in time
- miss the bus
- to arrive too late for a bus
- take a taxi
- to travel by taxi
- come back
- to return to a place
Holidays
- holiday
- time away from work or school, often in another place
- trip
- a short visit to a place and back
- journey
- travelling from one place to another
- abroad
- in or to another country
- beach
- land with sand next to the sea
- camping
- staying outside in a tent
- tent
- a small house for camping. You can carry it.
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