Talking About the Recent Past (Intermediate)

Practice on Your Own

• How does one talk about the past in the language you are studying? Are there one or more past verb tenses? Do you need to include a word or phrase that indicates the time, such as “yesterday,” “last week,” etc.? Are there distinctions between the recent past and the distant past, or between events that happened at a specific time and things that happened regularly or habitually in the past?
• In these activities, you will practice talking about the recent past. Make sure to review days and times if necessary.
• Practice talking about the recent past out loud. For example:
  • Can you describe what you did yesterday, including specific times?
  • What did you do this morning? What time did you get up, have breakfast, go to class, etc.?
• Also practice talking about what other people did in the recent past. Do you know what your friends did yesterday, or your parents? If not, make it up.
• Practice saying what you or others did NOT do in the recent past as well.
• Keep practicing throughout the week. Each day, practice saying what you did the day before.

Practice in Conversation Session

• You may do a number of different activities to practice talking about the recent past. Possibilities include:
  • Describing what you did yesterday, including specific times
  • Talking about what you did earlier today
  • Telling what someone else did this morning
  • Making up a story about what someone did yesterday (perhaps based on a photo or drawing)
  • Role play explaining to your professor why you missed an exam yesterday
  • Role play arriving at your study abroad destination, meeting your host family, and telling them about your trip. Maybe you had a delayed flight, missing luggage, etc.
  • Role play reporting a crime to the police, giving as much detail as possible
  • Role play a news reporter interviewing someone about a breaking news story
  • And there are many other possibilities…
• You may be asked to listen to your conversation partner or another student tell about what they did yesterday or earlier today and then repeat that information to someone else.
• To practice comprehension, your conversation partner may say different sentences or paragraphs and ask you to identify when something takes place (recent past, distant past, present, or future).