What changed since Lesson 1
In Lesson 1 you talked about four places with no preparation and no past tense to speak of. Say, in one sentence, what you would do differently today.
One question before the assessment.
1. The A2 can-do for this unit is: talk about your hometown and places from your past, describe past journeys briefly, and ask others about their origins. Which part are you least sure of?
Five irregulars, named
The syllabus asks you to identify five or more irregular pasts in your own work. So read your draft as a reader would.
Take your Lesson 7 draft. Underline every past-tense verb. Then circle the irregular ones.
Write the circled ones in the margin with their base form beside them: went (go) · slept (sleep) · thought (think).
If you have fewer than five, that is the first thing to fix in the final version — not by forcing them in, but by telling the story more specifically.
Six irregular past forms from typical drafts. Match each to its base form. Two of them are easy to get backwards.
The proofreading pass
Four checks, in this order
| Check | Look for | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Irregulars | Any -ed on a verb from the thirty | Use the real form |
| 2 · Double marking | Every did and didn't | Main verb goes bare |
| 3 · Spelling | -y verbs, -e verbs, doubled consonants | Lesson 3's five rows |
| 4 · Word count | The number at the bottom | 110–130, or cut |
Do them in that order, one pass each. Proofreading for four things at once finds none of them. Four passes of thirty seconds beats one pass of two minutes, every time.
Six sentences from real A2 drafts. One error each, all from the four checks above. Rewrite each in full.
1. We leaved the village in 2006.
2. I didn't knocked on the door.
3. She studyed there for six years.
4. My father buyed the house in 1990.
5. We stoped at a village on the way.
6. Did you went back after that?
The two pieces
Task card · Assessment · Portfolio
A three-minute spoken narrative, recorded. Then the final 120-word written version.
Both go into your portfolio. The spoken piece is assessed on the Lesson 5 shape; the written piece on the Lesson 7 rubric. Five or more irregular pasts in each.
- Part 1 (8 min). Record three minutes on your place. Four sections, no notes, no restarting. Do not use the Lesson 5 version — tell it fresh.
- Part 2 (12 min). Write the final 120 words, answering the three questions your reader asked in Lesson 7.
- Then (2 min). Run the four proofreading checks. Count your words. Write the number and list your five irregulars at the bottom.
Answer after the recording, before you write.
1. Did you fill the three minutes this time?
2. Compared with Lesson 5, what was different?
Against the can-do statements
A2 can-do — CEFR 2020 Companion Volume, adapted
| I can… | Not yet | With effort | Comfortably |
|---|---|---|---|
| talk about my hometown for three minutes | □ | □ | □ |
| use regular past forms with the right ending sound | □ | □ | □ |
| use at least five irregular past forms correctly | □ | □ | □ |
| sequence past events with connectors | □ | □ | □ |
| ask someone three questions about their past | □ | □ | □ |
| write 120 words about a place that matters | □ | □ | □ |
Mark yourself, then compare with your teacher. The rows where you disagree are the interesting ones.
1. Irregular past forms —
2. The -ed ending sound —
3. Compared with Unit 1's two minutes, three minutes felt —
Into the portfolio. Two files: the three-minute recording and the final 120-word text, with the word count and the five irregulars listed at the bottom. Label them Unit 3 and date them.
Term 1 ends after Unit 4. Units 1, 2 and 3 are the three written pieces that go into that review.
Into Unit 4
Eight lessons, four rules. Match each to the lesson that taught it.
Unit 4 — Last Week. The past tense stays, but it turns into questions and negatives: did you…, I didn't…. And the first sweep of false friends arrives — the words that look like Portuguese and are not.
Before Lesson 1 of Unit 4: one All Ears English episode on weekend small talk. Note every question the hosts ask each other about the weekend. Copy them exactly.