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Lesson Plan February 20, 2026

Topic: Past Continuous

In this lesson we will learning about using the past continuous to talk about the past.

Section A

Read the text and pay attention to the phrases in bold.

What was everybody doing when the clock struck midnight?

Anna was laughing at something and her sister, Helen, was sleeping in a chair. Helen's husband was drinking a glass of lemonade and his brother was dancing with his wife. Helen's two children were watching a film on TV.

We use the past continuous to describe continuous actions in the past

• (I / he / she) + (was / wasn’t) + (verb + -ing) all night.

• (You / we / they) + (were / weren’t) + (verb + -ing) all night.

• Was (I / he / she) + (verb + -ing) all night?

• Were (you / we / they) (verb + -ing) all night?

Section B

You can use the past continuous with the past simple to compare two actions. You use the past continuous when you describe the longer action.

• William was running to catch a bus when he fell over. (‘was running’ is the longer action)

You can compare the two actions using when, while and as.

• I was swimming in the sea when it started raining.

• I texted my friend while I was waiting for the bus.

• As I was leaving home, the phone rang.

You can put the two parts of these sentences in a different order.

• When it started raining I was swimming in the sea.

• While I was waiting for the bus I texted my friend.

• The phone rang as I was leaving home.

Remember: We use when before the past simple and while or as before the past continuous.

Lesson Notes

Words & Phrases

• I biked up to Jindai Botanical Garden.

• “Bike up” suggests uphill movement

• “Bike down” suggests downhill

• “Bike over” suggest movement across to somewhere

Grammar

• In English, we use THE with river, ocean and sea name. We do not use THE with lake names

• the Tama River

• the Nile

• the Amazon

• the Pacific Ocean

• the Mediterranean Sea

• Lake Biwa

• Lake Ontario

• Exception; lakes that are grouped together like “The Great Lakes”

Appropriate Language

In spoken English, we sometimes repeat adjectives to emphasize meaning:

• My grandson saw an old old house when he was walking through the forest. (= a very old house)

• This happened a long long time ago. (= a very long time ago)

• She had a tiny tiny baby. (= a very tiny baby)

• There was a big big accident on the train today. (= a very big accident)

Past Continuous

• Examples using “as”

• As we were eating our meal, we heard a loud noise in the next room.

• As I was getting on the train, I fell and hurt my knee.

• She gave me a small present as we were saying goodbye.

• "They were watching TV at 8pm yesterday."  (We use this to show what was happening at a point in the past)

• “He was studying all evening yesterday.”

• “They were playing cards at 10pm last night.”