© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

Activitat de competència comunicativa oral i escrita

2on ESO

“The story of my life”

In this activity you are going to explain part of your past life with the help of some pictures

Which memories do you have from your childhood? Did you have a happy childhood? Did any
of these events made an impact in your life?

event When did it happen?

1. Losing a tooth
2. Losing a pet
3. First school day
4.Special holidays
5. Christmas present
6. Learning to ride a bike

I Do you remember the first time you lost

a tooth? Did you ever think where this tooth
went? Listen to and read the story of the Teeth
Witch:
Then answer these questions:

a. What was the Teeth Witch job? _________________________________________________

b. Did she like her job? _________________________________________________________
c. What did the witch do with the bag of teeth? ______________________________________
d. How did Abra Cadabra help the Teeth Witch? _____________________________________
e. Why do witches work at night? ________________________________________________
f. What did Abra Cadabra do every time she collected a tooth? __________________________
g. Why did the Teeth Witch need a vacation? ________________________________________
h.What did Abra Cadabra become at the end of the story? ______________________________
i. Who took your tooth out when you were a child? _____________________________
© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

Do you always use “ed” when talking about the past? The story of this witch mentioned the
following verbs:
Call, leave, throw, want, send, laugh, light, need

Are they regular or irregular? Watch and read the story again and find the past of these verbs.
When you find them write the complete sentence you found each verb in.
REGULAR OR
SENTENCE IRREGULAR?

Practice the past tense doing this dictation: Write 4 irregular verbs you listened to:
_______________ ________________ ________________ ____________________
And you?? What did you do yesterday?? Watch this video and answer the quiz. Did you do
any of these things yesterday? Which ones? _______________________________________

Listen to “You're beautiful”, by James Blunt with Lyrics training. Follow the instructions:
• Select a game mode (beginner/intermediate/expert, depending on your level)
• Write the missing words as you listen to the song
• Click on help to know how to play; on Withdraw or karaoke to see the complete lyrics
• Repeat as many times as you like and sing the song
Which score did you get?___________ Now, complete the lines of this song.

I ______ an angel
She ________ at me on the subway
She _________ my eye as we walked on by
She _______ see from my face that I ______ flying high
I ______ your face in a crowded place
But we _______ a moment that will last till the end
When she ________ up that I should be with you
© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

II Many children love pets and they usually have one at

home. The bad thing of having a pet is that sometimes they
die, and this is a very sad day. Read the text “Two sisters
and the cat”, do the three exercises and write the score.

Quiz: right answers _______________

Building the story: score__________
Completing the text: score ________

Now write 5 or 6 sentences about a sad day you can remember. You can talk about you, your
parents, your friends, brothers, etc.

You can use the past simple of some of the following verbs:

arrive come die get know see

take visit wake lose bury go

You can choose some of these words to complete your sentences:

hospital, campsite, church, cemetery, school, road, town, room, kitchen, garden, school...

REMEMBER!!!! the order of the words in a sentence is:

Subject + Verb + Complement

I visited my grandmother.
She was at the hospital.
She died the following day.

A very sad day

One day...
© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

III Do you remember your first day

at school? What kind of activities did
you do when you began to go to
school?.

Listen to Emily talking with her dad about

her day at school, and do all exercises

a. Listen to the conversation and answer the questions. Score: _____________

b. Listen to the conversation again as you read the Quiz Script.
c. Vocabulary exercises:
Multiple-Choice and Short-Answer Questions Score: ________
Mixed-Up Sentence Score: __________

Sentence and Vocabulary Matching Score: __________

Text Completion Quiz Score: ________

You are going to ask him/her questions about his/her family and his/her past.
Before writing the dialogue practice simple past yes/no questions and WH questions.

REMEMBER!!! Verb TO BE in questions goes before the subject!!

Where were you born?
What was the name of your first school?

We use DID for questions with other verbs:

What did you do at school?
When did you celebrate your first communion?

Some questions begin with DID. They are yes/no questions

Did you go to school? Yes, I did
Did you play the computer? No I didn't

Here is a list of things you can ask for. Complete the questions and write the dialogue:
Where he/she was born
If he/she had a pet and which one
If he/she went to the nursery school
When he/she began secondary school
If he/she had got many friends
If anyone in his/her family had died
When he/she learnt to ride a bike. If “Perez Mouse” brought him/her a
present when he/she lost a tooth
What his/her favourite TV
Where he/she spent his/her best holidays
programmes/songs/films were.
© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

Dialogue
Write your questions and answers here and
ask your teacher to check them over. Practice
in pairs and perform the dialogue.

1. When were you born?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _

2. Did you go to ____________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _

3. Did you _________________________________________________

________________ _ ___ _______ __ ______

4. What were_______________________________________________

________________ _ ___ _______ ________

5. ________________________________________________________

________________ _ ___ _______ ________

6. _______________________________________________________

________________ _ ___ _______ ________

7. _______________________________________________________

________________ _ ___ _______ ________

8. _______________________________________________________

________________ _ ___ _______ ________

9. _______________________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ __ _ _ __

Get more practice on Irregular Verbs I, Irregular Verbs II

Yes/no questions , Past Tense - Negative and WH questions

© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

IV Can you remember any special

holidays? Have you ever been abroad?

Go to "Where did I go last summer?"

Repeat what they say and practice with
irregular and regular tenses. How many
mistakes did you make in avalua't? ___

What do you usually do during holidays? Let's remember some vocabulary related to holidays.
Go to Bridging the gap. Do the following exercises:

Listen 1 time:______ Read 11 score: Write 17 correct answers _____

Listen 2 Read 13 Write 18 Print it!
correct answers_____ correct answers____
Listen 3 Read 14 Write 19 Print it!
correct answers_____ correct answers____
Listen 4 Read 15
correct answers_____ correct answers____

Now write 3 paragraphs talking about the best holidays you can remember.
Paragraph 1 tells where, when, who you went with.
Paragraph 2 tells about what you did there.
Paragraph 3 gives your opinion about the holidays.

My best holidays
_____________I went to _____________ I went there with my___________________,
© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

V. FINAL TASK: The story of my life

You are going to write the story of your life and illustrate it with
pictures. You are going to record your voice reading the story and
upload the pictures using voicethread.

Read Miki's biography to get an idea of what you have to do. Pay attention to the underlined
words and to the topic of each paragraph. Then, follow the instructions

The story of my life

I was born in Barcelona in August 1997. My parents and me lived in a small flat

near the Sagrada Familia. 4 years later, my brother Joan was born, my parents

didn't like to live in the city and we moved to a little town called Collsuspina.

When I was 6, I went to the primary school of the town. I met many friends

there and we used to play in the street after school. I loved that, but in winter it

was very cold! I lost my first tooth when I was 5 years old!! I remember there was

a little present under my pillow when I woke up in the morning. It was a little mouse

inside a box!! We never had a real pet at home, but we usually had hamsters or

water turtles. We never buried them when they died.

Until I was 11 years old I spent my summer holidays in Port de la Selva, near

"Cap de Creus". We slept in a caravan in the campsite and we were in the swimming

pool or on the beach all day making sand castles. I had a good time there and made

many friends. At the age of 10, I went to Rome with my parents. I visited the

Coliseum and Fontana de Trevi. They were the best holidays of my life. Two years

later, my grandfather died. This was a very sad day. My mother and my aunts cried

a lot. I always watched the football matches with my grandfather and now I miss

him a lot.

Last year I came to this secondary school. The first day I was very

nervous but I met many teachers and a lot of new friends. It is big and modern.

Now, I love it!.

© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

Instructions
1. Write your biography. You may use some of the ideas in the unit.
2. Check your narration and make sure there aren't mistakes. You can do this with a partner.
Ask your teacher for help if you need it. Have a look at sections a and b in the self
assessment.
3. Look for different photographs to illustrate the events you explain.
4. Use your text to explain your past life to the rest of the class with the help of the pictures:
a. Paste the pictures in a power point presentation and explain your life to the others while
you show the pictures. Have a look at section d in the self assessment.
b. Record your voice in VoiceThread and upload the pictures. Then, embed it in your class
wiki or blog. Have a look at sections c and e in the self-assessment.
5. Watch your friend's presentation and comment on their pictures

Click here to know how to use VoiceThread

© Dolors Permanyer The story of my life - 2nd ESO

SELF-ASSESSMENT YES NO

Before doing a and b make sure you can answer these questions with a “YES”
I.- Content
Did you talk about what you did at different times in your life?
Did you talk about important and interesting events in your life?
Did you order the events chronologically?
Did you use different paragraphs?
II.- Accuracy
Did you use the correct sentence structure (subject-verb-complement)?
Did you use the past simple tense correctly?
Did you use most of the words you listened to or read doing the unit?
Was pronunciation and intonation understandable?
Did you pronounce the “ed” of the past tense correctly?
III.- Fluency
Did you speak clearly: not too quietly or too fast?
Did you talk about your past life without stopping?
Did you show enthusiasm?
IV.- The visual (VoiceThread or Powerpoint)
Were the images related to the information given?
Were the images or the slides appropriate to the context?
Was there few or no words?
V.- The oral presentation (Powerpoint or voiceThread)
Did you stand up in front of the audience?
Was your posture appropriate for an oral presentation?
Did you help the audience to understand you with gestures?