ESL (English as a Second Language) Reading Lesson: Past Tense with Regular and Irregular Verbs

Another is to use the anecdotes as an exercise in recognizing the past tense through verbs ("had", "went" etc.,) and past tense indicator phrases ("last week,", etc.). Thus you can ask students, after they have read the anecdotes, to underline, circle or otherwise extract the past tense verbs.

Last week Trefry had a problem. She went to LiLi's house for dinner. LiLi cooked Vietnamese food. The food was good. Trefry ate fast, because she liked LiLi's food.

Trefry ate too fast. She ate a big piece of fish. The fish got caught in her throat. Trefry couldn't breathe. She was choking. Her face was blue. She pointed to her throat.

Emergency!

LiLi was scared! LiLi wanted to help. LiLi stood on a chair behind Trefry Trefry is tall, LiLi is short. LiLi made a fist. She put her fist on Trefry's stomach, below the rib cage. She used her other hand to pull her fist hard into and up towards Trefry's rib cage. LiLi pulled and pulled. Finally the food came out of Trefry's throat. Trefry could breathe again.

Two weeks ago, Jambo had a big problem. Jambo is a pca. He takes care of an old man. He helps the old man get dressed. He helps the old man eat. One afternoon, the old man fell down. He was in the living room. When he fell down, he hit his head on the coffee table. He was breathing, but he was unconscious. His eyes were open, but he could not hear Jambo saying,

"Are you ok? Are you ok?"

Jambo was worried. This was an emergency. He decided to call 911.

The 911 dispatcher said, "What is your address?"

Jambo gave the address. He waited. Ten minutes later he heard the ambulance siren. The EMT's came into the house. The EMT's gave CPR to the old man. He is okay today, but his head is bruised.

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