Past and Present Tense — Year 2 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: English Appendix 2 — Grammar: correct and consistent use of present and past tense — Year 2
Overview
Pupils learn to use the past and present tenses consistently in their writing, understanding that tense shows when an action happens. They explore both simple past and present tenses and the progressive forms (-ing), and practise maintaining the correct tense throughout a piece of writing.
Learning Objectives
- Understand that tense tells us when an action happens.
- Use simple present tense correctly in sentences.
- Use simple past tense correctly, including irregular verbs.
- Maintain consistent tense throughout a piece of writing.
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Act out an action (e.g. jump). Ask: 'What am I doing?' (present). Then sit down: 'What did I do?' (past). Write both sentences. Ask: what changed in the verb?
Introduce present and past tense. Regular past: add -ed (walk → walked, jump → jumped). Irregular past: go → went, run → ran, see → saw, eat → ate — these must be learned. Introduce progressive: 'is/are + -ing' (present progressive), 'was/were + -ing' (past progressive). Stress: don't mix tenses mid-piece.
Pupils change a present-tense passage into the past tense, identifying which verbs change and how. Highlight irregular verbs. Discuss: which ones needed special attention?
Pupils write a recount of what they did last weekend (past tense) and a description of what they usually do at the weekend (present tense). Keep them clearly separated.
Read a piece of writing with inconsistent tense ('We went to the park and we play on the swings...'). Pupils spot and correct the tense errors.
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils often mix tenses within a piece of writing, especially in recounts — reinforce: start in a tense and stay there.
- Applying -ed to irregular verbs: 'goed', 'runned', 'eated' — maintain a class list of common irregular past tenses to refer to.
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Ability to write sentences using common verbs.
- Awareness from speech of present and past time.
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