Week 24 – Experiences vs finished actions

Week 24 – Experiences vs finished actions (Present Perfect vs Past Simple intro, A2)

Theme: Talking about life experiences vs finished past actions with a clear time.

Main grammar & functions:

• Present Perfect (have/has + past participle) for life experiences:
  • I have been to Poland., She has never flown.
• Contrast with Past Simple for finished actions with a specific time:
  • I went to Poland last year., We saw that film yesterday.
• Use of ever / never / just / already / yet (only ever/never obligatory at this stage; others optional/light).

CEFR link:

A2 → A2+: Can talk about experiences and contrast them with specific past events, using simple Present Perfect structures (CEFR: “Can describe past activities and personal experiences, including experiences and events, using simple grammatical forms.”)

1. Lesson objectives (for students)

By the end of the week, students can:

1. Use Present Perfect with ever / never to talk about life experiences:
   • “I have never been to London.” / “Have you ever flown by plane?”
2. Understand and use the basic difference between:
   • general life experience (Present Perfect) and
   • finished action with time (Past Simple):
     • “I’ve been to Italy.” vs “I went to Italy last year.”
3. Ask and answer simple experience questions.
4. Use short answers correctly: Yes, I have. / No, I haven’t.

2. Grammar focus (with Ukrainian‑speaker notes)

a) Present Perfect – basic form for experiences

Form:

• have / has + past participle (V3)
  • I / you / we / they have visited Italy.
  • He / she has visited Italy.

Contractions:

• I’ve / you’ve / we’ve / they’ve
• he’s / she’s (he’s = he has OR he is – clarify in context only)

Irregular participles:

Use a small, high‑frequency set first:

• be → been
• go → gone
• have → had
• see → seen
• do → done
• eat → eaten
• drink → drunk
• write → written
• speak → spoken
• make → made

Ukrainian issues:

• Form confusion with Past Simple:
  • I have went → I have gone / I went.
  • I have saw → I have seen / I saw.
• Omitting have/has:
  • I been to Poland → I have been to Poland.

At A2 level, keep focus on a few common participles and clear models; do not overload.

b) Present Perfect for life experience with ever / never

Use:

• To talk about whether something has happened in your life (no exact time).

Key adverbs:

• ever (in questions): Have you ever…?
• never (in negatives): I have never…

Patterns:

• Have you ever been abroad?
• Have you ever travelled by plane?
• Have you ever eaten sushi?

Answers:

• Yes, I have. / No, I haven’t.
• Yes, I’ve been to …
• No, I’ve never been to …

Ukrainian issues:

• Using Past Simple with ever/never (not terrible for meaning, but focus on Present Perfect model):
  • Did you ever go to London? → teach Have you ever been to London?

c) Contrast: Present Perfect vs Past Simple (basic)

Very simple rule for this week (no deep theory):

• Present Perfect → life experience (no specific time):
  • I’ve been to Italy.
  • She has visited Lviv many times.
  • I’ve never flown.

• Past Simple → finished action with specific time:
  • I went to Italy last year.
  • She visited Lviv in 2020.
  • We flew to London two years ago.

Use a time marker test for students:

• If you say yesterday, last year, in 2018, two years ago → Past Simple.
• If you mean in your life, some time before now (no time word) → Present Perfect.

Ukrainian issues:

• Ukrainian often uses one past tense for both; learners may overuse Past Simple:
  • I was in Poland for I’ve been to Poland.
• Accept some L1 transfer, but model the English distinction clearly with many examples.

3. Vocabulary sets

Experience verbs (base form → Past Simple → Participle):

• be → was/were → been (be to…)
• go → went → gone
• travel → travelled → travelled
• visit → visited → visited
• see → saw → seen
• try → tried → tried (e.g. try sushi)
• eat → ate → eaten
• fly → flew → flown
• live → lived → lived
• meet → met → met

Experience topics:

• countries / cities: Poland, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Lviv, Odesa, etc.
• activities: fly in a plane, travel by train, go camping, sleep in a tent, climb a mountain, swim in the sea, try Japanese food.

Time expressions for Past Simple (recycle):

• yesterday, last week, last year, in 2019, two years ago, when I was a child.

4. Lesson skeleton (60–90 minutes)

1) Warm‑up – Quick experience quiz (10–15 min)

• Write 4–5 experience questions on the board:
  • Have you ever been to another country?
  • Have you ever travelled by plane?
  • Have you ever eaten sushi?
  • Have you ever slept in a tent?
• Students stand / raise hands / answer Yes/No.
• Do this first as a spoken drill – no deep explanation yet.

2) Presentation – Form of Present Perfect (have/has + V3) (15–20 min)

1. Show a table with I/you/we/they have and he/she has + past participle.

• • I have been to Poland.
  • She has flown by plane.
  • We have travelled abroad.

2. Point to the three parts: have/has + Past Participle (V3).
3. Give a short list of irregulars (be–been, go–gone, see–seen, eat–eaten, fly–flown) and a few regulars.
4. Controlled drill:
   • Students complete sentences:
     • I have _ (be) to Italy. → been.
     • She has _ (see) that film. → seen.

Keep the focus on accurate form in a few examples.

3) Present Perfect with ever / never (15–20 min)

1. On the board, write Q&A patterns:

• • Have you ever been to London?
  • Have you ever eaten sushi?
  • Have you ever flown in a plane?

2. Underline:
   • Have you ever + V3 (experience question).
   • I have / I haven’t … / I’ve never …

3. Controlled speaking practice:
   • Students walk around (or in breakout rooms) and ask each other Have you ever…? questions from a worksheet.
   • They note Yes / No answers.
4. Feedback:
   • Ask a few: "Who has flown in a plane?" – "Oksana has flown in a plane."
   • Practise he/she has… briefly.

4) Contrast with Past Simple – time words (15–20 min)

1. Present pairs of sentences:

• • I’ve been to Turkey.
  • I went to Turkey last year.

• • She’s seen that film.
  • She saw that film yesterday.

2. Ask students: which sentence talks about life experience (no time) and which about a finished action with a specific time?
3. Board the simple rule:

• • Present Perfect → experience in life (no time word).
  • Past Simple → finished action with time word.

4. Controlled exercise:
   • Students choose between Present Perfect / Past Simple in gap‑fill sentences, based on presence/absence of time expressions.

5) Freer practice – My life experiences (15–20 min)

Students talk about experiences and give details with Past Simple.

1. Give a worksheet with Have you ever…? prompts (travel, food, activities).
2. Students interview a partner:
   • "Have you ever been to another country?"
   • If Yes: ask When? Where? What did you do? (Past Simple follow‑up).
   • If No: "Where do you want to go?"
3. Each student then presents one interesting experience of their partner to the class:
   • Present Perfect for experience:
     • "Oksana has been to Italy."
   • Past Simple for details:
     • "She went there last year and visited Rome and Florence."

This naturally reinforces the contrast.

5. Homework / revision ideas

Choose 1–2:

1. Writing – My life experiences
   • Students write 6–8 sentences:
     • 3–4 Present Perfect (with ever/never) about experiences:
       • "I’ve never flown in a plane." / "I’ve been to Poland."
     • 2–3 Past Simple sentences with time for details:
       • "I went there in 2019." / "I travelled by train."

2. Experience survey summary
   • Based on the in‑class interview, students write a short paragraph at home about one classmate:
     • "I interviewed Andriy. He has visited three countries. He has been to Poland and Germany. He went to Poland last year with his family."
   • Focus on mixing Present Perfect + Past Simple.

3. Irregular verb card extension
   • Students add 5–10 new verbs to their irregular verb list with three forms (go–went–gone, see–saw–seen, etc.) and Ukrainian translation.