Narrating Past Events Student PDF
Narrating Past Events Student PDF
Narrating Past Events Student PDF
Narrating
Past Events
Contents
1. Introduction 2
2. Time order and time phrases 4
3. Structures to narrate: past simple 10
4. Combing sentences 15
5. Biography 19
6. Structures to narrate: direct speech 22
7. Summarising 25
8 Writing assignment 29
9. Check your writing: spelling 30
Appendix: Irregular verbs 33
skills structures
- Telling a story in the past - Using signal words to show time order
- Using chronological (time) order - Using prepositions of time
- Researching and writing biographies - Revising past simple tense structures
- Writing dialogue - Combining sentences
- Idenitifying main points - Using conjunctions
- Summarising written texts - Using direct speech
- Identifying and using correct spelling - Recognising common spelling patterns
1
Part 1: Introduction
1.1 A Princess from Shan State
DISCUSSION a. Do you know the woman in the pictures? What do you know about her?
What can you infer about her from the picture?
2
EXERCISE c. Here are some short paragraphs about the text. Put the paragraphs in order.
1. The Burmese military took over the 4. Sao Nang Hearn Kham has had an
country and killed Sao’s husband. She fled interesting life. She is very important to
to Thailand. Shan and Burmese history.
2. The Japanese army came to Burma, and 5. The Shan signed the Panglong agreement.
spent three years in Sao’s palace. Burma got independence from the
British, and Sao’s husband became
3. Sao moved to Chiang Mai and organised Burma’s first president.
the SSA. Later she went to Canada, where
she died. 6. Sao didn’t want a traditional lifestyle,
but her family arranged for her to marry the
Prince of Yanghwe. She beame involved
in politics.
1.2 Questions
DISCUSSION a. In groups, think of five questions to ask about Sao Yawnghwe.
The answers must be available in the text.
Join with another group, and ask them your questions.
Give them 30 seconds to find the answer to each question. Do they get them correct?
ACTIVITY b. What else would you like to know about Sao Yawnghwe?
In your groups, think of some questions you could ask about her.
3
Part 2: Time order and time phrases
2.1 Story from pictures
Look at these pictures. They they tell a story, but they are not in the right order.
1. 2.
3. 4.
EXERCISE a. Number the pictures so they are in the right time order.
EXERCISE b. Write one or two sentences for each picture decribing what happened.
C.
____ They enjoyed working together very
much, and at the end of the year, they
got married.
Hakim had a busy morning. First, he cleaned his kitchen. Then he sat down and
wrote some letters on his computer. After that he went into town to go to the
post office, the market and the computer shop. Next, he went back home and
cooked some lunch. Finally, he sat down to rest.
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BRAINSTORM b. How many signal words do you know? Make a class list on the board.
The easiest signal words number the order things happen, e.g.
First , light a fire.
Second , wash your rice. .
Third , put water and salt into the pot with the rice.
Fourth , cook the rice.
Finally , eat your rice with some delicious curries.
b. Roi Nu’s shop is open. Write a paragraph explaining how she did it.
Roi Nu opened a small shop. First, she borrowed some money from her friend.
6
ACTIVITY d. Work in groups. Choose one of these situations:
1. Your group is planting a vegetable garden
2. Your group is organising a picnic
3. Your group is organising a concert to raise money for your school.
First, make a list of the steps you take to do this.
Second, put these steps in order.
After that, write them in complete sentences, with appropriate signal words.
Finally, write these sentences in a paragraph. Use the present tense.
ACTIVITY
e. Pretend it is one week after you did these things. One member of your group
tells the class what you did, and how you did it.
We planted a
vegetable garden last week.
First, we found some land...
2.5 Prepositions of time
BRAINSTORM a. What prepositions do you know that express time?
Read through the text on page 2 for ideas.
Prepositions of time
Prepositions show time order. Here are the basic ones:
Date Time
in March, in October at five o’clock, at 12.45
in the rainy season at midday, at night
on Saturday, on Tuesday in the afternoon, in the evening
on July 28, on the 3rd of May from 2.00 to 4.30
on New Year’s Day
at the end of the year
at the beginning of class
at Christmas, at Thingyan
from Monday to Friday
from 2002 - 2004
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EXERCISE c. Write your own gap-fill exercises like those in b.
Write five sentences with missing prepositions of time, and give them to another student.
How many did they answer correctly?
EXERCISE d. Identify and correct the mistakes in this paragraph. There are eight incorrect prepositions.
In Canada, he studied
for a PhD in Political
Science, which he fin-
ished on 1997. He was
an advisor to the
NCGUB and NRP. On Chao Tzang with his mother and siblings:
March 2004 he became L-R: Sao Ying Sita, Sao Harn, Sao Hso Hkan Hpa (Tiger), Sao Hearn
chairman of the Ethnic Hkam, Chao Tzang and Sao Myee. Seated are Sao Leun and Haymar.
Nationalities Solidary
and Co-operation Committee. He died three months later, of brain cancer.
“Our task is not only to say or show the world that the SPDC is BAD, BAD,
BAD, it is also to convince the world that we are the available alternative, that
we are smart, we get things done. ”
- Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, February 2004
8
ACTIVITY e. Look at this timeline. Here are some more events in the life of Sao Nang Hearn Kham and
her family. Read through the texts on page 2 and page 8. Work in groups. Add more information
to the timeline.
ACTIVITY b. Write the four time/dates on a piece of paper, and give it to your partner.
Look at your partner’s times/dates and ask ‘What happened...?’ questions.
DISCUSSION Do you believe her? Who do you think took the necklace? Why?
How do you know?
EXERCISE b. Circle all the verbs in the past simple tense. Classify them into regular and irregular forms.
Write them in the table.
re g u la r fo rm s irreg u lar fo rm s
lo ved was
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3.2 Forming the regular past simple tense
EXERCISE a. Complete the grammar box.
EXERCISE b. Do you know all the verbs in the box? If you don’t, look them up in your dictionary.
Fill the gaps with correct forms of the past simple.
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3.4 Irregular past tense verbs
DISCUSSION a. How do you learn irregular verb forms in the past?
Think back to when you first had to learn them.
What techniques did you use? Do you know any good ones?
BRAINSTORM b. Look at the verbs in the boxes. In groups, think of more verbs for each box.
Hint: focus on the sounds, not the spelling of the verbs.
f w e t n s h o o k u
l o s t b m x o p n n shake swim
e r r c c e n d e e d fly forget
w d a g f a c t d l e understand hold
o l n f o n y a i t r make tell
r h d i u t m u m i s lose mean
e y r m g e d g t e t kneel wear
k s a s h i w h h s o fight shoot
e w t r t o g t r j o stand become
s d a o i u t h e l d buy throw
a e h t o l d z w I n teach
y s s b u d s t a n g
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3.7 Negatives and questions in past simple
EXERCISE a. Complete the grammar box.
When we make negatives and questions in the past simple tense, we use the auxiliary
verb _______ .
_______ you see the newspaper this morning? No, I _______ see it. I was busy.
Where _______ you put my pen? I _______ touch it. Look, it’s on the table.
EXERCISE b. Write sentences that are true for you. Use the past tense (negative or positive).
e.g. you/wake up/at 5.00? I woke up at 5.00 or I didn’t wake up at 5.00
ACTIVITY b. Work in groups of three. Choose the best five questions. Make sure you know the answers!
Ask your questions to another group. They are not allowed to look at their books - try to answer
from memory!
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3.9 Word association story lie
BRAINSTORM a. In turns, everyone in the class says a noun or verb.
The teacher will write the words on the board.
arrange
tree
buffalo
ACTIVITY b. Write a story. You must use all the words on the board, in the past tense.
The first sentence - It’s raining, and the wind is blowing - is a compound sentence, as there are
two separate s/v combinations.
The second sentence has a simple subject and a simple verb.
The third sentence, We stayed and studied late at school - has a compound verb.
The fourth sentence has a simple subject ‘I’ and a simple verb ‘am’.
The fifth sentence, has a compound subject: shirt and jacket.
The sixth sentence is a compound sentence, as there are two separate s/v combinations.
The last sentence, My brother and I hate and fear the dark - has a compound subject - My
brother and I - and a compound verb - hate and fear. It is not a compound sentence, as the
subjects and verbs are together, (SSVV) rather that mixed (SVSV).
In this module, we are not looking at compound sentences. You’ll meet them in Module 5.
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EXERCISE b. Underline the subjects and verbs in this text, and write an S or a V above them.
s v
My great-uncle had his eighty-fifth birthday last week. He is very
fit and healthy, and exercises every day. He doesn’t smoke or
drink alcohol. Every day, he walks for an hour and lifts weights.
He likes to have parties and invite all our family to his house.
Twenty or thirty people can sit in his house and eat. He never gets
tired and is always the last to go to bed. Last summer my great-
uncle and his friends organised a big football competition.
Grandchildren were in one team, grandparents were in the other
team. Old people and young people ran around and kicked the
ball all afternoon. In the end, the grandparents’ team won 5-4!
EXERCISE c. Which are simple sentences, and which are compound sentences?
ACTIVITY d. Think about your own family. Write one sentence with a compound subject, one sentence
with a compound verb, and one sentence with a compound subject and a compound verb.
Make two sentences true, and one sentence false.
e.g. My brother and sister have three aeroplanes.
My mother speaks and writes Pa-O language.
My cousins and their friends buy and sell used cars.
Give your sentences to a partner. Can they guess which sentence is false?
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4.3 Conjunctions
BRAINSTORM a. How many conjunctions do you know? Make a class list on the board.
EXERCISE b. Complete the grammar box. Which conjunctions are used in simple sentences?
Conjunctions
a. and joins similar things. I like bananas and oranges.
5. You can have pork curry. You can have chicken curry. (you must choose one).
6. Saw Htoo watched a video last night. Jenny watched a video last night.
I watched a video last night.
8. Do you want to leave now? Do you want to stay here? (you must choose one).
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4.4 Practice with combining sentences
DISCUSSION a. What is the best way to join these sentences?
Laila, an English language graduate from Burma, lived in Bangkok.
Laila, an English language graduate from Burma, worked as a servant for the Maneewans.
John, an ugly, dishonest man, lived in Bangkok.
John, an ugly, dishonest man, worked as a servant for the Maneewans.
1. Yesterday, I had a horrible day. 7. A football team was waiting for the bus.
Yesterday, I had a difficult day. A high school class was waiting for the bus.
Twenty monks were waiting for the bus.
2. I got up late.
I washed quickly. 8. I missed the next bus.
I had to wait for two hours.
3. I didn’t eat any breakfast.
I didn’t drink any coffee. 9. I was hungry and dirty.
I was late for the meeting.
4. I had an important meeting.
The meeting was in the city. 10. At the meeting, I didn’t speak well.
I didn’t give my opinions.
5. I could get a bus.
I could get a taxi. (only one) 11. When I returned, my boss was very angry.
My boss said I was stupid.
6. I decided to take a bus
I went to the bus station. 12. I hope she doesn’t fire me.
The bus station is far from my house. I hope she doesn’t reduce my salary.
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Part 5: Biography
5.1 What’s in a biography?
BRAINSTORM a What information can you find in a biography?
.
Look at the biographies of Sao Nang Hearn Kham and Chao Tzang Yawngwe for ideas.
In groups, write a list of information you can find in a biography.
Date of birth
Family
education
BRAINSTORM b. You can use the ‘questions’ formula to think of things to write in a biography.
In groups, think of all the questions you can ask about someone - ‘X’.
Make a ‘biographical questions’ mind-map.
biography
what
ACTIVITY c. Work in pairs - work with someone who is not in your group. If possible, work with someone
you don’t know very well.
Ask each other the questions, and write down their answers.
What other things are interesting about your partner? Ask and write as much as you can.
EXERCISE d. Choose some of the most interesting information about your partner.
Write this information into a short biography.
Remember to use the correct tenses:
- If you write about something that happened in the past, use the past tense.
In 5th standard, Naw Naw won a prize for best English student.
- If you write about something that is true now, use the present tense.
Naw Naw likes reading. She reads every night before she goes to sleep.
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5.2 Some biographical details
DISCUSSION a. Look at the photo of Naw Louisa Benson
What do you know about her?
What can you guess about her?
ACTIVITY b. In pairs, read these details about her life. Put them in chronological order.
1 . She married Glenn, and had three 6. She took command of
children. She spoke out many times her husband’s unit, and
about the situation in Burma, the led them back to the
student uprisings in 1988, and the plight jungle. She stayed in the
of the Karen people. jungle for a while, but she
suffered badly from
2. When she returned home, she became malaria.
an actress. She became very famous and
popular. General Ne Win hired her to 7. Louisa Benson was
teach his children acting skills. born to a Karen mother and a Jewish
father. They lived in Rangoon, where her
3. She spent a year in America, studying father owned a trucking company.
at Tufts University. In America she
made many friends, including Glenn 8. Two years later, she married Brigadier
Craig, another student. Lin Tin, of the KNU. He was killed when
he went to attend peace talks in 1965. “I
4. Now she is working on behalf of the don’t know how he was assassinated,”
villagers who were displaced to make Louisa said quietly. “The only thing I
way for the Yadana Gas Pipeline. She know is that he never came back.”
says that Unocal, the US oil company, is
guilty of using forced labour to build 9. Louisa enjoyed sports and beauty
the pipeline. contests. In the early 1950’s, she won
‘Miss Burma’ twice.
5. Her old student friend, Glenn Craig,
contacted her. He persuaded her to 10. In 1962, the military seized power.
move to the United States. Her father, Her father supported the Karen armies
brothers and sisters were already in fighting the Burmese military, so he was
the States. sent to jail for three years.
BRAINSTORM c. Look at your questions in 5.1 b. How many of these questions does the text answer?
AC TI VI TY d. Cover the text. Spend two minutes writing as much about Naw Louisa Benson as you can.
Now join in a group of three or four. As a group, write Naw Louisa’s biography.
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5.3 Putting information together
BRA INST ORM a. Look at the picture of Thakin Kodaw Hmaing.
What do you know about him?
What can you guess about him?
chairperson Doburma organisation. 1948 civil war. Called for peace in Burma
AC TI VI TY c. Compare your group’s writing with another group. Have you got the same facts?
Now look at or listen to the teacher’s version. Are the facts the same?
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BRA INST ORM b. Where could you find out more information about Naw Louisa Benson or Thakin Kodaw
Hmaing? In groups, brainstorm two lists of information sources.
EXERCISE b. Make notes for the biographies of Naw Louisa Benson and Thakin Kodaw Hmaine.
Naw Louisa Benson Thakin Kodaw Hmaine
Education: Education:
EXERCISE
c. Think of another famous person. Make biographical notes like the notes above.
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Part 6: Structures to Narrate - direct speech
6.1 How is he talking?
EXERCISE a. Look at these cartoon pictures of Bo Bo talking.
Fill the gaps below with the phrases in the speech bubble.
DON’T touch
Be careful -
my bag!
somebody might
hear us.
Keep away
from that dog
- it bites!
Are you a new
teacher here?
BRAINSTORM c. How many synonyms do you know that mean similar to ‘said’? asked
Brainstorm a class list on the board. shouted...
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6.2 Dialogue After the chickens
EXERCISE Read the comic. disappeared, the villagers
discussed the problem. One
old woman made up a song...
Wait close to
From now on, anyone who the houses, and
catches a chicken thief, whether Later that night... don’t make any noise.
soldier or villager, send him to me. Shout if you see
Do you all understand? the thief.
THIEF, THIEF!
Stop, chicken thief!
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6.3 Using speaking words
EXERCISE a. Look at the text version below of the cartoon in 6.2.
Look at all the underlined said s. What words could you use to replace each said?
25
Part 7: Summarising
7.1 A short summary of summarising
D ISCU SSION Why do people write summaries?
When do people write summaries?
What information do you write in summaries?
Summarising
A summary gives only the main ideas. It does not give details.
c. In the first half of the twentieth century, f. In her youth, she played sport and won
this writer fought for independence from the beauty contests. Then she married a Karen
British. When Burma got independence, he soldier. When he was killed, she joined his
fought for peace in Burma and the world. army and fought in the jungle in Karen
State. Now she lives in America.
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7.3 What are the main points?
Main points
Main points answer who, what, where, when, how and why questions.
old one satang coin (Thailand), one New Zealand dollar, two pounds (England), old Burmese
coins, ancient Egyptian coin, 10 cents (US), one Singapore dollar, 500 Euros, old Chinese coins,
one Hong Kong dollar (1958), new Iraqi notes, new east Timorese coins, old ten rupee note (India)
No one knows exactly when people started using metal coins for
money. The oldest coins dicovered are from 600 BC, but maybe
there are older ones. At first, people used precious metals, such
as gold and silver, to make coins. They put a picture on the coin
to indicate its value.
In the 13th century, people in China used iron coins. These coins
weren’t worth very much, so people needed a lot of coins to buy
things. They were very heavy and inconvenient to carry
everywhere. The government started printing paper receipts. They
were easy to carry, and people could trade them for coins. This
was the first example of paper money.
Stones were the heaviest money ever. They were used on the
island of Yap, in the Pacific Ocean. Some weighed over 200 kgs.
The lightest money ever used were feathers. They were used on
another Pacific Island, Santa Cruz.
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AC TI VI TY b. In groups, complete the mind map with the main points from the article.
what
who
money
why when
Remember:
- When you write a summary, only include information from
the original text. Do not add your own ideas or opinions.
- Only include main points, not small details!
REVIEW d. Check your summary. Have you included too much information?
Are your sentences in a logical order?
Compare your paragraph with another student.
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Part 8: Writing assignment
8.1 Choose an assignment
A S SI G N M E N T Select one of the three assignments below.
A. Choose a famous person from your B. Tell a story of something that happened
culture, or an internationally famous when you were at primary school. Make
person. Write their biography. sure you tell it in a logical order, and include
appropriate signal words.
Start by making notes as in
exercise 5.5 b. Include a timeline putting the events in
your story in order.
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Part 9: Check your writing: Spelling
In Module 1 (Describing Pictures) you looked at mistakes with subject / verb
agreement.
In Module 2 (Describing People) you looked at mistakes with incorrect parts of
speech, and missing words.
In this module, we will look at spelling mistakes, and techniques you can use to
improve your spelling.
There are some spelling rules in English. However, there are many words that don’t
obey these rules. Improving your spelling involves:
- checking spelling in a dictionary if you are not sure
- learning to recognise patterns
- memorising ‘problem’ words.
30
9.2 Spelling rules
DISCUSSION a. Here is an a spelling rule:
I before E except after C .
What does this rule mean?
BRAINSTORM b. How many examples of this rule can you think of?
believe, thief
BRAINSTORM c. How many exceptions to this rule can you think of?
foreign
DISCUSSION b. How can you remember these words? What techniques do you use?
EXERCISE a. Read this text carefully. Circle the letter sequences you think are difficult.
Laila was a young Muslim woman from Rangoon. Although she was
an English language graduate, she couldn’t find a job in Burma, so she
went to Bangkok in 1996. She was lucky, she soon found a job as a
maid for a wealthy family, the Maneewans.
DISCUSSION b. Compare your text with a partner. Did you circle the same words?
31
9.5 Be your own spell checker: Does it look right?
EXERCISE
When you are familiar with words, you will recognise mistakes more easily.
Read this passage quickly - you have one minute.
Underline each spelling mistake, and write the letters sp beside it.
Her jobbspwas not so bad - she looked after the baby, cooked and
cleaned. She loved the baby, and the coking and cleening were OK. She
erned quite good money, and safed most of it. The only problem was
John, the family’s driver. He said he was in loue with Laila. He rote her
letters, gave her presants and asked her to marry him. One day, he tryed
to kiss her when nobody was looking. Laila hated John. ‘I will NEVER
marry you! Now go away and leive me alone!’ she shoutted.
AC TI VI TY b. Fast Writing. Write as much as you can about this topic in five minutes.
Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.
Exchange writing with a partner.
How many spelling mistakes can you see? Underline each mistake, and mark it with sp.
9.7 Revision
REVIEW Check your partner’s writing for other mistakes:
- wrong words ww (Parts of Speech, Module 2)
- missing words (Parts of Speech, Module 2)
- subject/verb agreement mistakes (Subject / verb agreement, Module 1)
Take your own fast writing back from your partner. Correct your mistakes.
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Appendix: Irregular verbs in past simple
be was/were grow grew shoot shot
bear beat hang hung show showed
begin began have had shrink shrank
bend bent hear heard shut shut
bet bet hide hid sing sang
bite bit hit hit sink sank
blow blew hold held sit sat
break broke hurt hurt sleep slept
bring brought keep kept slide slid
broadcast broadcast kneel knelt speak spoke
build built know knew spend spent
burst burst lay laid spit spat
buy bought lead led split split
catch caught leave left spread spread
choose chose lend lent spring sprang
come came let let stand stood
cost cost lie lie steal stole
creep crept light lit stick stuck
cut cut lose lost sting stung
deal dealt make made stink stank
dig dug mean meant strike struck
do did meet met swear swore
draw drew pay paid sweep swept
drink drank put put swim swam
drive drove read read swing swung
eat ate ride rode take took
fall fell ring rang teach taught
feed fed rise rose tear tore
feel fled run ran tell told
fly flew say said think thought
forbid forbade see saw throw threw
forget forgot sell sold understand understood
forgive forgave send sent wake woke
freeze froze set set wear wore
get got sew sewed weep wept
give gave shake shook win won
go went shine shone write wrote
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