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Lesson planB295 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
B2 First Unit 7: People and Relationships
Students build vocabulary for personality and relationships, talk about the past with used to and would, and practise B2 First Reading and Use of English Parts 1, 4 and 5 and a Part 2 article.
Relationships · Personality · Used to
B2 First preparationTopic unit
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Plan at a glance
Aims
- Use used to, would and the past simple to talk about the past, and be used to / get used to for what is normal now
- Learn and use 29 words and phrases in 4 sets: Personality, Relationships, Growing up and the past, Easy to mix up
- Practise B2 First Reading and Use of English Parts 1, 4 and 5
- Writing task (Part 2): an article
Stages · 95 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs describe a friend or family member in three adjectives and say one thing that person used to do.
- 15 minVocabulary: Ex. 1–3
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes: used to, would and the past simple, then be used to and get used to.
- 10 minControlled practice: Ex. 4–5
- 20 minExam practice: Use of English: Ex. 6–7
- 20 minReading: Ex. 8
- 20 minWriting: Ex. 9
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 2 PDFs)Grammar notes
Past habits and states: used to and would
- used to + infinitive: past habits and states that are no longer true: We used to live by the sea. I used to play the piano.
- would + infinitive: repeated past actions only, often in stories: Every Sunday, Grandad would make pancakes. Not for states: I used to have long hair (not I would have long hair).
- Past simple: single events, and when you say how many times or how long: We moved in 2015. I lived there for six years.
- Questions and negatives: Did you use to…? I didn't use to… (no -d after did).
be used to and get used to
- be used to + noun or -ing: something is normal for you: I'm used to working at night.
- get used to + noun or -ing: something becomes normal: I'm getting used to the noise.
- Don't mix them up with used to + infinitive: I used to work at night (but I don't now).
Phrasal verbs about people
- Some have two particles and never separate: get on with, fall out with, look up to. I get on with my boss (not I get on my boss with).
- take after and bring up are about family: She takes after her father. I was brought up by my aunt.
Study tips
- Learn personality adjectives in pairs that are easy to confuse: sensitive and sensible, funny and fun.
- When you write about the past, use would for actions you did again and again, and used to for states as well as habits.
Glossary
- Personality8 items
- Relationships8 items
- Growing up and the past7 items
- Easy to mix up6 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Words that are easy to mix up
Choose the correct word or phrase to complete each sentence.
- a
We were best friends at school, and we've ___ ever since.
- b
If you'd like to join the choir, ___ with Mrs Hale in the school office.
- c
I ___ in a small fishing village, so I've always loved the sea.
- d
A ___ of mine, my mother's cousin, runs a café in Leeds.
- e
This song always ___ me of summer holidays at my grandparents' house.
- f
I don't ___ much about my first school, apart from the smell of the school dinners.
- g
My uncle is really ___: he can make anyone laugh.
- h
My ___ and I share an office, so we chat over coffee every morning.
2
What are they like?
Read about each person. Match each description with the adjective that describes them best.
Tap an item…
…then its match
3
Friends and family
Complete each sentence with a phrase from the box. There is one extra phrase.
Word box
Tap a gap, then a word, or type the answer.
- a
I all my flatmates, so we often cook dinner together.
- b
Everyone says I my mum: we have the same laugh and the same temper.
- c
It isn't easy to with the other children when you start at a new school halfway through the year.
- d
When you move abroad, it's easy to with friends from home, so call them often.
- e
Lots of people want to travel the world before they and buy a house.
- f
It isn't easy to three children on your own, so my grandparents helped my mum.
4
Looking back
Choose the correct answer.
- a
During my childhood, we ___ in a flat above a bakery.
- b
Every summer, my grandad ___ us ice creams on the beach.
- c
My grandmother ___ a little shop on the high street.
- d
We ___ to Australia in 2015.
- e
I've lived in Scotland for ten years, so I ___ the cold.
- f
At first I couldn't understand the local accent, but I'm slowly ___ it.
- g
___ you use to fight with your brother when you were kids?
- h
My dad ___ cook, but now he makes dinner every night.
5
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correction.
- a
When I was a child, I would have long hair down to my waist.
- b
I'm not used to get up so early, so I'm always tired on Mondays.
- c
My parents are always very kind with my friends when they come round.
- d
My cousin is going to get married with a Canadian engineer next spring.
- e
Did you used to walk to school when you were young?
- f
When I was young, I use to spend whole weekends reading comics.
6
Exam task: The man next door
Read the text. For each gap, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) that best fits. If more than one answer seems possible, choose the most natural one for the context.
Exam task: Reading and Use of English, Part 1
Tip: Read the words after the gap as well as before it. Many gaps test a verb that only works with a particular word or structure that follows it.
When I was nine, an elderly man called Mr Abelard moved into the house next door. My sister and I were a little afraid of him at first. He 1 most afternoons alone in his garden and hardly ever spoke to anyone. One day our football landed in the middle of his vegetables. Instead of telling us 2 , he invited us in to look at his tomatoes. He was a retired carpenter, and that afternoon he 3 us how to make a bird box.
After that, every Saturday we would 4 round to his house straight after breakfast. He was always patient with us, and he never 5 his temper, even when we ruined his best saw.
6 we moved to another town when I was fourteen, we still wrote to each other every month. He died when I was at university, but I still think of him 7 I pick up a hammer. More than anything, he taught me never to 8 people by how they look.
- 1
Gap 1
- 2
Gap 2
- 3
Gap 3
- 4
Gap 4
- 5
Gap 5
- 6
Gap 6
- 7
Gap 7
- 8
Gap 8
7
Exam task: Key word transformations
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first, using the word given. Do not change the word given. Use between two and five words, including the word given.
Exam task: Reading and Use of English, Part 4
Tip: Before you write, ask what the first sentence describes: a habit, a state, a single event or something that has become normal. Then check the form that follows the key word.
- a
Working at weekends doesn't feel strange to me any more.
GOT
I at weekends.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- b
My grandmother regularly took us to the park when we stayed with her.
WOULD
Whenever we stayed with my grandmother, she to the park.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- c
I hope Mia and her cousin don't stop being friends because of one silly argument.
FALL
I hope Mia her cousin because of one silly argument.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- d
My aunt is someone I really admire and want to be like.
UP
I really my aunt.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- e
My sister and I like very different things.
COMMON
My sister and I don't .
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- f
There isn't a cinema in our village now, but there was one years ago.
USED
There a cinema in our village.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
8
Exam task: The Thursday club
Read the text. For each question, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) that fits best according to the text.
Exam task: Reading and Use of English, Part 5
Tip: The questions follow the order of the text. For each one, check why the other three options are wrong.
When my university suggested volunteering at a day centre for older people, I signed up mainly because it would look good on my CV. I didn't expect to make a single friend. The manager paired each student with a regular visitor. Mine was Edwin, a former bus driver of eighty-seven with a loud laugh and very strong opinions. At our first meeting he asked whether I ever looked up from my phone. I was annoyed, mostly because he was right. Over the following weeks, I got used to Edwin's directness. He would ask me difficult questions about my course and then argue with my answers, not to win, but because he genuinely wanted to understand. He used to drive the night bus, and he said that his passengers at two in the morning had taught him more than any book. The biggest surprise was how much we had in common. When I told him I was thinking of leaving my course, he didn't try to change my mind. He simply asked me what I would do instead. I couldn't say, and that answered the question for me. The scheme ended after six months, but our Thursday afternoons didn't. Last week he taught me a card game he used to play with his brothers; this week I'm showing him how to make video calls. People sometimes tell me it's kind of me to spend time with him. I always correct them. If anything, he's the one who has been helping me.
- a
Why did the writer first join the scheme?
- b
How did the writer feel after Edwin's comment about her phone?
- c
According to the writer, why did Edwin argue with her answers?
- d
What does the writer say about Edwin's job as a bus driver?
- e
How did Edwin help the writer decide about her course?
- f
In the last paragraph, the writer suggests that
9
Exam task: Write an article
Write your article in 140–190 words.
Exam task: Writing, Part 2
Tip: Choose a plan that suits your story. Plan A tells it in order: how you met, what you did together, what changed. Plan B starts with who you are now and then goes back to show how the person changed you. Either way, give your article a title and speak to the reader at the start or the end.
You see this announcement on an English-language website for young people. The person who changed my life We want to hear about someone who has influenced you. Who is the person, and how did you get to know them? How did they influence you, and how are you different now? The best articles will be published on our website. Write your article. Word box: influence · encourage · believe in · used to · would
Suggested minimum: 140 words
Before you hand it in
- My title makes the reader want to read on.
- I say who the person is and how I got to know them.
- I explain how they influenced me, with one or two examples.
- I use used to and would for past habits, and the past simple for single events.
- I speak to the reader at least once, for example with a question.
0 words · aim for at least 140
Show a model answer
The teacher who never gave up on me Do you remember a teacher who believed in you before you believed in yourself? For me, that was Mr Rahimi, my maths teacher at secondary school. I used to hate maths. In lessons I would sit at the back, stare out of the window and hope that nobody asked me anything. Mr Rahimi noticed. Instead of getting angry, he asked me to stay behind one day and explained that he had found maths hard as a boy too. After that, he would give me five minutes at the end of every lesson to ask the questions I was too embarrassed to ask in front of the class. Slowly, the numbers started to make sense, and in my final year I got one of the best marks in my class. Mr Rahimi taught me more than maths, though. He showed me that being stubborn can be a good thing, as long as you are stubborn about not giving up. I still admire him, and when something feels impossible, I think of those five minutes.
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.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- 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 29 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 4 sets.
Personality
- reliable
- you can trust this person to do what they say
- generous
- happy to give money, time or help to other people
- stubborn
- refuses to change their mind, even when they should
- sensitive
- easily upset, and quick to notice how other people feel (not the same as sensible)
- sensible
- makes good, practical decisions (not the same as sensitive)
- easy-going
- relaxed; not easily worried or annoyed
- outgoing
- friendly and happy to meet and talk to new people
- ambitious
- has a strong wish to be successful
Relationships
- get on with
- have a friendly relationship with someone (get on well with)
- fall out with
- stop being friends with someone after an argument
- look up to
- admire and respect someone, often someone older
- take after
- be like an older family member in looks or character
- make friends
- start a friendship (make, not do)
- keep in touch
- stay in contact with someone you don't see often
- lose touch
- stop being in contact with someone
- have something in common
- share interests or opinions (have a lot / much / nothing in common)
Growing up and the past
- used to
- used to + infinitive: a past habit or state that is no longer true
- be used to
- be used to + noun or -ing: something is normal for you
- get used to
- get used to + noun or -ing: something becomes normal for you
- grow up
- spend your childhood somewhere and become an adult (I grew up in Leeds)
- bring up
- look after a child until they are an adult (I was brought up by my aunt)
- settle down
- start a calmer life in one place, often with a partner
- childhood
- the time of your life when you are a child
Easy to mix up
- relative
- one person in your family; family is the whole group
- colleague
- a person you work with; a classmate studies with you
- remind
- make someone remember something (This song reminds me of…)
- remember
- keep something in your mind (I remember my first school)
- funny
- makes you laugh; fun means enjoyable
- get in touch
- contact someone; keep in touch means stay in contact
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