Used to

Objective & content

This grammar sheet teaches used to + verb for past habits and past states that are not true now (I used to play football every day.), the negative didn't use to, questions with Did you use to ...? and short answers (Yes, I did. No, he didn't.), and there used to be. Pupils read a video call in which Naomi and her grandad, Grandad Delroy, compare life then and now, find the missing words and read the rule, given in a box. By the end, they can say how life used to be and compare it with life today.

Pedagogical guide

Page 1 is the video call, with a picture of Naomi and of Grandad Delroy: when he was her age, there was one phone in the hall, he used to write letters to his cousins in Jamaica, there were only three TV channels and no remote control, and there didn't use to be any computers at school. Pupils find six missing words in sentences from the video call. Then they read the rule, given in a box in short lines with the key words in bold: used to for every person, didn't use to with no d on use, questions with Did, short answers, there used to be, and no -s or -ed on the verb after used to. Page 2 has eight sentences with the right words to tick, six sentences to complete with used to and the verb in brackets, four wrong sentences about Grandad Delroy to make negative, four questions to make with Did ... use to ...? and four questions about the video call to answer with short answers. Page 3 is "Then and now": pictures of a letter, a radio, a newspaper, a smartphone, a laptop and a tablet, and a table of what Grandad did at thirteen and what Naomi does now, with a tick or a cross. Pupils write six sentences about Grandad with used to or didn't use to, then three sentences about a grown-up in their own family. Every exercise opens with a worked example, except the last writing task.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Tell the class "When I was ten, I used to ..." and ask a few pupils "Did you use to ...?"
2. (10 min) Read the video call aloud; pupils find the missing words.
3. (5 min) Read the rule in the box with the class; pupils find a negative and a question in the video call.
4. (15 min) Page 2: pupils tick the right words, write the sentences with used to, then make the negatives, the questions and the short answers.
5. (10 min) Page 3: the table about Grandad, then the grown-up in their family.
6. (5 min) Check with the answer key on pages 4 and 5.

Adaptations

[S] Pupils read the video call aloud in pairs, one as Naomi and one as Grandad Delroy, before the tasks.

[A] Pupils interview a grandparent or an older person at home and report three things he or she used to do.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of pages 1 to 3 per pupil. Pages 4 and 5 are the answer key and teacher notes: keep them. The key accepts didn't and did not. Pupils need the past simple, questions and negatives with did, and the words for the family, school and technology. To take it further, the class makes a "Then and now" wall display with old and new objects.