S2E01 - Been a While
Episode of the series Golden Bay
The episode
It's the end of summer in Golden Bay, and Tiago is back for good — while Stella says a harder goodbye than anyone around her realizes, and the whole town buzzes about their mystery street artist.
Episode worksheets (2)
- Student sheet In your teacher account
- Teacher sheet In your teacher account
Teaching guide
Objective & content
Stella, Mika, Tiago, Neil and Elena meet on the last afternoon of summer. The opening goodbye misleads the listener: the friend leaving Golden Bay is Mika, not Tiago, who has just come back from São Paulo. Learners hear the friends catch up ("What's everyone been doing?", "I've been packing") and focus on the present perfect continuous for recent activity, contrasted with the present perfect simple for results. The main skill is listening comprehension, followed by a short pair speaking task.
Pedagogical guide
This 45-minute lesson for a 3eme class (B1-) builds on one twist: students first assume Tiago is leaving, then discover it is Mika. Let them voice their first idea before revealing the answer. The grammar contrast comes from the script itself: "I've been making smoothies at my parents' café all summer" (an activity over time) against "I've made about eleven thousand of them" (a result). Some words (ghosted, socials) are for recognition only.
Suggested procedure
- (4 min) Write "the last day of summer" on the board and ask how students feel. Pair talk, then share.
- (6 min) Preview seven words: for good, dream job, relaxed, curse, it's been a while, obsessed, to fill (someone) in.
- (5 min) First listen, without stopping. Ask who is leaving Golden Bay.
- (10 min) Second listen with four pauses: whose goodbye it is, why Tiago says he is back this time, whose summer news is saddest, and what news appears on the phones.
- (5 min) Comprehension check on five questions.
- (4 min) Vocabulary matching, then one true sentence about their own summer.
- (6 min) Grammar focus on three lines from the episode: which describe an ongoing activity, which a finished result.
- (5 min) Pair role-play on the first day back at school, at least three sentences with the present perfect continuous.
Materials & prerequisites
- The student sheet and the teacher sheet in `printables/`.
- The lesson plan of the episode.
- Audio or the Academy app, speakers, board, strips of paper or mini whiteboards.
- Prerequisite: present perfect simple and past simple.
Curriculum alignment
3eme (cycle 4): the axes "Encountering others" and "Travel and migration".
Possible adaptations
- Lower levels: Offer segmented listening and additional visual aids.
- Advanced levels: Encourage an oral summary and a debate in English on the theme.
- Large groups: Organise group work with differentiated roles.
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