DRAFT - Sample Lesson 3: "A Day at the Farm" - Past Simple Through a Story

STATUS: DRAFT for adult review only. Not published. Original material. Terms (Tutor, human tutor, safeguarding lead) are defined in parent-in-the-loop-design.md, section 1. In this file "T:" means Tutor (or the safeguarding lead using Tutor).

SAFEGUARDING AND PRIVACY BOX (read before every lesson) - Children use first name, nickname or an avatar only. Never ask for or write down full names, addresses, school names, phone numbers, emails, social media names or photos. - The speaking and writing tasks use invented characters (Tomo and Dara, or a character the child invents). Children are not asked to describe their own weekend, family, home or school. If a child chooses to say something real and simple (for example "I played a game"), that is fine, but do not ask follow-up questions about home or people. - No photos or screenshots of children. Recording follows parent-in-the-loop-design.md, section 7 (Option A / Option B, to be chosen by the programme lead), and always needs the parent's separate recording consent. - Never arrange contact outside the lesson channel. - Safeguarding: follow child-session-rules-and-escalation.md (the master file). Check the preconditions there before any session (named channel to the safeguarding lead, "without delay" defined, named deputy safeguarding lead). Path A (distress, "Pause please", unwell): tell the adult in the room. Path B (harm, fear, unsafe, or an adult or older person asking for secrets, pictures or off-platform contact): end neutrally, do not repeat the child's words to the adult in the room, write the incident note, tell the safeguarding lead at once. Do not ask leading questions. Do not promise secrecy. - Tutor may miss distress. The adult in the room is the first line (see the master file, "What Tutor can and cannot perceive"). - No medical, legal or counselling advice.

1. Objective

By the end of the lesson, each child can: 1. Understand a short story in the past (about 127 words) and put the events in order. 2. Use regular past simple verbs (visited, walked, looked) with the right -ed sound. 3. Use at least 6 common irregular past forms (got, found, saw, said, ran, had, made, ate, sat). 4. Retell the story in 4-6 sentences, and say 3 sentences about an invented character's day.

2. Target language

• Regular past (-ed): visited, walked, wanted, opened, looked, smiled, laughed.
• Irregular past: get - got; find - found; see - saw; say - said; run - ran; have - had; make - made; eat - ate; sit - sat; be - was.
• Time words: last Saturday, yesterday, then, after that, in the end.
• Questions (understand and use): "What did they find?" / "Did Tomo catch a fish?" "No, he didn't."
• Pronunciation of -ed: /t/ (walked, looked, laughed), /d/ (opened, smiled), /id/ (visited, wanted).

3. Materials

• The story (Section 5, Stage 2), as a slide and as a printout.
• Six picture cards of the story (hand-drawn or owned images).
• Verb cards: present on one side, past on the other.
• Two dice (or a lesson-platform random-number tool) for the game.
• The worksheet (Section 8). Pencil.
• A one-minute timer.

4. Lesson timings (total 45 minutes)

5. Stage-by-stage plan with Tutor script

Stage 1. Warm-up (5 min)

1. Greet (1 min). "Hello, [first name]! How is your day?"
2. Mime and guess (3 min). Tutor mimes an action. Children say the present: "You are eating." Then ask: - T: "Look. Yesterday, a robot (an invented character) ate an apple. What did the robot do?" Write "ate" on the board. - Show 3-4 verbs this way: walk - walked, make - made, see - saw.
3. Flash (1 min). Show verb cards quickly. Children say the present. Hide the cards and say the past if they know it. Do not correct at this point; just notice.

Stage 2. Presentation (12 min)

The story: "The Tin Box" (127 words, A2, original, invented characters)

Last Saturday, Tomo and his sister Dara visited their grandmother's farm. They got up early and walked to the river. Tomo wanted to catch a fish, but he found a small blue boat instead. "Look!" said Dara. "There is a bag in the boat." They opened the bag and saw a map. The map showed a big tree on a hill. The children ran up the hill and looked under the tree. They found an old tin box. Inside the box, there was a note: "Well done! Now come and eat lunch." Behind the tree, their grandmother smiled. She had a basket of bread, cheese and apples. "I made the game for you," she said. They sat down, ate lunch and laughed. It was a lovely day.

1. Pre-listening (2 min). Show a picture of a river, a boat and a hill. - T: "Look. What can you see? Who do you think is in the story?"
2. Listen (2 min). Read the story aloud once at a natural, slow pace. Books closed or text hidden. - T: "Listen. Who is in the story? Where are they?" Take 2 answers.
3. Read and check (3 min). Show the text. Read together. - T: "What did Tomo want?" (to catch a fish) / "What did they find in the boat?" (a bag, then a map) / "Who made the game?" (the grandmother)
4. Find the verbs (3 min). Children find 5 verbs in the past on the screen. Use the lesson-platform highlighter. Sort in two boxes: -ed verbs and different verbs.
5. The rule (2 min). Write on the board: - "Regular: add -ed. walk - walked. look - looked." - "Irregular: new word. see - saw. find - found." - Questions and "no": "Did he catch a fish? No, he didn't catch a fish." (verb stays the same: catch, not caught.)

Stage 3. Practice (12 min)

1. Sound link (3 min). See Section 7.
2. Irregular cards (3 min). Show the present on the card. Child says the past. Turn it over to check. Keep a pile of "ones I know" and "ones to practise".
3. Worksheet A (gap fill) (3 min). Do the first 3 items together; children finish the rest.
4. Worksheet B (order the events) (3 min). Do together in pairs or with Tutor. Check by retelling.

Stage 4. Game (8 min)

Game A: "Story Chain" (4 min). - Start the story with "Last Saturday, a dragon (an invented character called Bix) went to the park." Each child adds one sentence in the past. Rules: use a past verb; add a new thing; keep it friendly and silly. The next child repeats the last sentence and adds a new one. - If a verb is not in the past, Tutor recasts: "Yes, he ran to the park!" and the game goes on.

Game B: "Verb Snap" (4 min). - Cards are shown with a present verb. Children race to say the past form. First correct answer gets a star. Add a bonus: "Make a sentence." - Use at least 8 verbs: get, find, see, say, run, have, make, eat, sit.

Stage 5. Speaking task and review (8 min)

1. Speaking task (4 min). See Section 10.
2. Worksheet C (short writing) on paper (3 min). Begin together; finish at home if there is no time.
3. Wrap-up (1 min). - T: "Today we learned the past. What can you say now?" Child: "Yesterday I ... (invented example)." Praise strongly and specifically: "I liked 'ran up the hill'. That was clear."

6. Expected mistakes and gentle correction

Use recasts and self-correction prompts. First, recast. If the child does not hear it, ask "Walk or walked?" with a pause. Never say "wrong".

7. Pronunciation link: the three sounds of -ed

1. Write three columns on the board: /t/, /d/, /id/.
2. Say words and let the children sort them: - /t/: walked, looked, laughed - /d/: opened, smiled, showed - /id/: visited, wanted
3. Practice: "Listen: walked. Can you hear 'tuh' at the end? Say it."
4. Fun check: say a word; children show the number of fingers for sounds: /t/ = 1, /d/ = 2, /id/ = 3. - This helps with hearing, not with rules to remember. Do not expect perfect results.

8. PRINTABLE WORKSHEET (child-facing)

Text size at least 14 pt. Leave plenty of room to write.

==========================================
   THE TIN BOX      (A2 worksheet)
   My name: ______________   (first name only)
==========================================


A.  GAP FILL.  Write the verb in the past.

    Last Saturday, Tomo and Dara ____________ (visit) their
    grandmother's farm. They ____________ (get) up early and
    ____________ (walk) to the river. Tomo ____________ (want)
    to catch a fish, but he ____________ (find) a small blue
    boat. They ____________ (open) the bag and ____________
    (see) a map. The children ____________ (run) up the hill.
    They ____________ (find) an old tin box. Their grandmother
    ____________ (smile). "I ____________ (make) the game
    for you," she ____________ (say). They ____________ (sit)
    down and ____________ (eat) lunch.


B.  ORDER THE EVENTS.  Write 1 to 6.

    ___  They opened the bag and saw a map.
    ___  Tomo found a small blue boat.
    ___  The children ran up the hill.
    ___  Tomo and Dara walked to the river.
    ___  They sat down and ate lunch.
    ___  They found an old tin box under the tree.


C.  SHORT WRITING.  Write 4 to 5 sentences.

    Tomo and Dara have a new adventure.  What did they do
    on Sunday?  Use the past.  Use these words if you like:

      (they) went    saw    found    made    laughed

    Sunday:

    ______________________________________________
    ______________________________________________
    ______________________________________________
    ______________________________________________
    ______________________________________________

    (Check: Did you use the past?  Did you use "and" or "then"?)

==========================================
          WELL DONE!
==========================================

9. ANSWER KEY (TUTOR ONLY - do not show children)

A. Gap fill (in order): visited, got, walked, wanted, found, opened, saw, ran, found, smiled, made, said, sat, ate. (Check the spelling: visited, walked, wanted, opened, smiled. Accept small spelling slips, such as "opend", if the child chose the right verb; note it for feedback.)

B. Order of events: 1. Tomo and Dara walked to the river. 2. Tomo found a small blue boat. 3. They opened the bag and saw a map. 4. The children ran up the hill. 5. They found an old tin box under the tree. 6. They sat down and ate lunch.

C. Short writing (sample answer, ~50 words, A2): "On Sunday, Tomo and Dara went to the park. They saw a big kite in a tree. Tomo climbed the tree and got the kite. Then they made a new kite and laughed. It was a good day." Marking guide (to share with the child as stars, not scores): 1 star for the past tense in most verbs; 1 star for at least 4 sentences; 1 star for a linking word (and, then, but); 1 star for a clear idea. Praise first, then give one thing to improve.

10. SPEAKING TASK (about 4 min)

"Tell Bix's Day" (invented character) - Set-up: Show a picture of Bix, a friendly green dragon (invented). Give three picture prompts: a park, a kite, a sandwich. - Task: The child tells what Bix did yesterday, using 3-5 sentences. The child may change Bix or invent another character (an animal, robot or explorer). - Prompts if stuck: "Where did Bix go?" "What did Bix see?" "What did Bix eat?" "Was it a good day?" - Support: A sentence starter on screen: "Yesterday, Bix ______ (went / saw / ate / made) ..." - Challenge: Add "because" or "but" (for example, "Bix wanted a sandwich, but he found an apple"). - Quick feedback rubric for Tutor (not shown to the child):

Success check (tick list): - [ ] Uses -ed correctly for at least 4 regular verbs - [ ] Uses 4 or more irregular past forms - [ ] Orders the story events correctly - [ ] Says a negative in the past once ("didn't") - [ ] Says -ed endings with some different sounds

Next lesson idea: questions in the past ("What did you ... ?") and "was / were".

Draft teaching and safeguarding resources. Not legal advice. Check local law before use.