Back in the day… (used to vs would)

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Grammar - used to and would

used to and would

This is a standalone lesson but it can also be used as part of the set titled:

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • talk about past times and childhood;
  • learn and practise used to and would for past situations;
  • watch part of a video on childhood memories.

Students talk about their childhood, compare past and present habits, and practise using ‘used to’ and ‘would’ to describe repeated actions or states in the past. They watch a video about people’s childhood memories and explore grammar points on how to use the structures. Students also work in pairs and discuss life changes using the target structures.

B1 / Intermediate
B2 / Upper Intermediate
60 minStandard LessonPremium Plan

WARM-UP AND GRAMMAR

This lesson begins with a warm-up. Students look at different categories (e.g. a film, a food, a game) and give an example from their childhood for each. They explain their choice. Moving on, students look at leisure activities (e.g. play with building blocks, go skateboarding, play chess) and discuss questions about their childhood. Afterwards, they watch part of a video (to 02:20) where people discuss things they did when they were children. Students tick the activities from the previous task they hear. Next, they match pairs of sentences from the video that were said by the same speaker. Students then watch the video again to check their answers. After that, they look at examples of used to and would in sentences and complete a table with √ or X to show the use of each structure.

GRAMMAR PRACTICE AND DISCUSSION

In this part of the lesson, students read sentences about past situations and choose the correct option between used to and would. After that, they read statements and complete gaps with the correct form of used to and would (e.g. People didn’t use to stress as much in the past. Now there are too many worries to consider). Afterwards, students look at the statements from the previous task again and discuss whether they agree or disagree with them. They give reasons. Finally, students work in pairs. They choose a situation (e.g. before you had your first pet) and share how their life was different before it happened. Students use different forms of used to and would. Their partner asks them follow-up questions using used to. Students then swap roles.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This lesson plan also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students find and correct mistakes in sentences. They then make one of the sentences true for them. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.

WORKSHEETS

Comments

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Leave a Reply

  1. Dedene Nelson-Court

    This is a good grammar point and the video is challenging. However, I don’t seem to be able to download the student’s version or the teacher’s version. I could download the e-lesson plan. Can you check the tech on this? Thanks!

    1. Stan

      Apologies for that! There was some issue with the files but we’ve fixed it so you should be able to download them now!

      1. mystiq A

        Thanks Stan!

  2. mystiq A

    Hi, same issue. Lesson seem very interesting but i’m unable to download the SV/TV files

    1. Stan

      Fixed! Check it now!

  3. LesleyR

    The PDF lessons will not download.

    1. Stan

      Should work now!

  4. Dedene Nelson-Court

    Thanks, Stan, for your help!!

  5. elisa kone

    I’ll sometimes show my (adult) students the video from Pretty Woman where Vivian’s speaking about her childhood, where she uses “used to” once and “would” a lot
    https://youtu.be/k-cOWuVutcE?si=9uOQvRYrJyMDjN-0

    1. Joe

      This is a fantastic idea and a great use of authentic material. Thanks for sharing!

  6. John Mork

    Very good lesson- thanks!

    1. Joe

      Thanks for the feedback – glad you enjoyed it!

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