ESL Connect - History | A1 English Lesson

Start

People and events from history

Talk about what happened in the past.

Warm-up questions

Do you like history?
Who is a famous person from history?
What historical place do you know?
Did you visit a museum last year?

Key language

Shakespeare lived in England.

He wrote many plays.

He didn’t live in France.

Did he write poems?

Vocabulary

History words

Drag each word to the correct description.

king queen castle battle statue museum

1. A male ruler.

2. A female ruler.

3. A large old building where rulers lived.

4. A fight between two armies.

5. A model of a person made from stone or metal.

6. A place where people see objects from the past.

Reading

William Shakespeare

Read the text and answer the questions.

William Shakespeare was an English writer. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. He moved to London and worked as an actor and writer. He wrote many famous plays and poems. People watched his plays at the Globe Theatre. Shakespeare died in 1616, but people still read and perform his work today.

1. Where was Shakespeare from?

France England Italy

2. When was he born?

1564 1616 1664

3. Where did he move?

Oxford London York

4. What did he write?

plays and poems newspapers letters only

5. Where did people watch his plays?

the Globe Theatre a museum a school

Grammar 1

Past simple affirmative

Use the past form of the verb for completed actions in the past.

Type	Present	Past
Regular	work	worked
Regular	live	lived
Irregular	go	went
Irregular	write	wrote
Irregular	be	was / were

1. Shakespeare ______ in England.

lives lived living

2. He ______ many plays.

wrote write written

3. They ______ to the museum yesterday.

go went gone

4. The castle ______ very old.

were was is

5. The streets ______ quiet.

was were are

Grammar 2

Past simple negative

Use didn’t + base verb. With the verb be, use wasn’t / weren’t.

He didn’t live in France.

They didn’t visit the castle.

It wasn’t open.

The streets weren’t busy.

1. He ______ a novel.

didn’t wrote didn’t write not wrote

2. We ______ to the museum.

didn’t go didn’t went weren’t go

3. The castle ______ open.

didn’t wasn’t weren’t

4. The rooms ______ large.

wasn’t weren’t didn’t

Grammar 3

Past simple questions

Use Did + subject + base verb.

Question	Short answer
Did he write plays?	Yes, he did. / No, he didn’t.
Did they visit London?	Yes, they did. / No, they didn’t.
Was the castle old?	Yes, it was. / No, it wasn’t.

1. ______ Shakespeare write plays?

2. Yes, he ______.

3. Where did he ______?

4. ______ the castle open?

5. No, it ______.

Speaking

Talk about the past

Ask and answer simple questions about a historical person or place.

Student A asks

Who was the person?
Where did they live?
What did they do?
When did they live?
Why are they famous?

Student B answers

He/She was...
He/She lived in...
He/She wrote / built / travelled...
He/She lived in the...
He/She is famous because...

Write a short history profile

Review

Final check

Drag the jumbled past simple forms into the correct gaps.

went wrote didn't visit was Did

1. Shakespeare ______ an English writer.

2. He ______ many plays.

3. We ______ to the museum yesterday.

4. They ______ the castle.

5. ______ he live in London?