Unit 1 — First Day Back

Track G+M · Klasse 7 · Niveau G/M

Template: Activate → Input → Practise → Produce → Reflect.
Niveau: G/M parallel. The Activate and Input steps are shared; Practise and the class test (“Klassenarbeit”) have G and M variants.

Learning objectives Link to heading

By the end of this Unit, students can:

  • I can introduce myself and ask a partner three questions about their summer using past simple.
  • I can understand the gist of a short classroom dialogue and pick out two specific details I am asked about.
  • I can write a short text (60–120 words depending on Niveau) about one thing I did during the summer.

Bildungsplan alignment Link to heading

  • 3.2.1 Soziokulturelles Orientierungswissen / Themen — school life, peer groups, daily routines.
  • 3.2.3.1 Hör-/Hörsehverstehen — understand short classroom exchanges.
  • 3.2.3.3 Sprechen – an Gesprächen teilnehmen — hold a short exchange about familiar topics.
  • 3.2.3.5 Schreiben — write short, coherent texts about personal experiences.
  • 3.2.4 Text- und Medienkompetenz — read a short narrative and identify speaker/setting.

(Sources: https://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/SEK1/E1)

Lead-in story Link to heading

Aisha drags her schoolbag up the corridor. It is heavier than she remembers. The summer was six weeks of bike rides, late breakfasts, and a heat wave that made the asphalt sticky in the afternoons. Now her shoes squeak on freshly polished floors and a small, hopeful poster says Welcome back, Year 7! in three different colours. Ben is already in the classroom, adjusting his chair twice and pretending to read the timetable. Their new homeroom teacher, Ms. Reyes, looks up from her desk, smiles, and says, “Right. Tell me one good thing about your summer — one. Then we start.” Aisha takes a breath. She has many things. The trick is choosing.

1. Activate Link to heading

Pair work — two minutes. Turn to your partner. You have two minutes only. Each of you tells one thing you did during the summer holidays. Your partner listens and asks one follow-up question.

Sentence starters (use them if you need them).

  • Last summer I …
  • One day I went to …
  • I really enjoyed … because …

Signal. When the teacher rings the bell, swap partners. Tell the new partner what your first partner told you. Use He / She went to … because …

This step warms up past simple (“went”, “saw”, “had”), trains listening for one specific fact, and recycles vocabulary you have not used since June. No correction yet — that comes in Practise.

2. Input Link to heading

A short classroom dialogue Link to heading

Read the dialogue silently first, then listen to the teacher read it aloud. Pay attention to the questions Ms. Reyes asks.

Ms. Reyes. Welcome back, Year 7. Aisha, you go first. One good thing about your summer — go.
Aisha. I went to my grandmother’s village for two weeks. We made bread every morning.
Ms. Reyes. Bread every morning? That sounds like work. Did you enjoy it?
Aisha. Yes, but my arms got tired.
Ms. Reyes. Ben?
Ben. I, um — I built a bike ramp in the garden. With my cousin.
Ms. Reyes. And did it work?
Ben. It worked twice. Then it broke.
Ms. Reyes. Twice is enough for a story.

Language focus — past simple Link to heading

Past simple in English uses two patterns.

  • Regular verbs add -ed: work → worked, enjoy → enjoyed, play → played. Spelling: drop final e (bake → baked), double a final consonant after a short vowel (stop → stopped).
  • Irregular verbs change form: go → went, see → saw, make → made, have → had, get → got, build → built, break → broke.

For questions and negatives, use did / didn’t and the base form:

  • I went → Did you go? / I didn’t go.
  • She built → Did she build it? / She didn’t build it.
Common transfer error from German: “I have made bread every morning” sounds odd in English when there is a clear past time marker. English prefers simple past with a finished time ("yesterday", “last week”, “every morning that summer”). Use present perfect only when “now” is part of the meaning.

3. Practise Link to heading

Niveau G — gap-fill Link to heading

Fill in the past simple form of the verb in brackets.

  1. Last summer Aisha __________ (go) to her grandmother’s village.
  2. She and her grandmother __________ (make) bread every morning.
  3. Ben __________ (build) a bike ramp with his cousin.
  4. The ramp __________ (work) only twice.
  5. After that, it __________ (break).
  6. Ms. Reyes __________ (smile) and __________ (say), “Welcome back.”

Niveau M — transformation Link to heading

Rewrite each sentence in the past simple. Keep the meaning.

  1. Aisha goes to her grandmother’s village every summer. → ___
  2. They bake bread together. → ___
  3. Ben builds a bike ramp. → ___
  4. The ramp breaks after two jumps. → ___
  5. He does not give up, though. → ___
  6. Ms. Reyes asks the class one simple question. → ___
Answer key

Niveau G

  1. went, 2. made, 3. built, 4. worked, 5. broke, 6. smiled / said.

Niveau M

  1. Aisha went to her grandmother’s village every summer.
  2. They baked bread together.
  3. Ben built a bike ramp.
  4. The ramp broke after two jumps.
  5. He didn’t give up, though.
  6. Ms. Reyes asked the class one simple question.

4. Produce Link to heading

Writing task. Write a short text titled “One Day in My Summer”. Tell the reader one day, not the whole summer. Use past simple. Include at least:

  • one place you went,
  • one person you were with,
  • one thing you ate, made, saw, or played,
  • one feeling you had.

Niveau G — 60–80 words. Niveau M — 100–120 words.

Sample student response (Niveau M, 112 words) Link to heading

One day in August, my cousin and I went to the lake near our grandmother’s village. The sun was hot and the water was cold, which was a good problem to have. We took bread and cheese in a small bag. My cousin can swim better than me, so I followed her across to the small island in the middle. We sat on a flat stone and ate everything in five minutes. On the way back, I lost one of my flip-flops. We laughed for a long time, and then we searched for it under the water until we found it.

Strong moves: one clear day, simple past throughout, named place and person, a small problem (“I lost a flip-flop”) that creates shape. Improve by varying connectives (“then”, “after that”, “while we were eating”) rather than only “and”.

5. Reflect Link to heading

Tick what you can do now, not what you could do in June.

  • I can introduce myself and ask three past-simple questions about a partner’s summer.
  • I can pick out two specific details from a short classroom dialogue.
  • I can write a short text about one summer day with consistent past simple.

One sentence in your notebook: What is one thing I want to revise this week?

Exam example Link to heading

class test ("Klassenarbeit") — Niveau M (45 minutes)
Materials allowed. A monolingual dictionary (Niveau M only).
Time. 45 minutes.
Total. 60 points.

Task 1 — Listening (12 BE) Link to heading

The teacher reads the dialogue Welcome back, Year 7 (printed in the Unit article for revision; learners will hear a version with two extra exchanges in the actual class test (“Klassenarbeit”)). Answer in full sentences.

  1. Where did Aisha spend two weeks of her summer? (2)
  2. What did she and her grandmother do every morning? (2)
  3. What did Ben build? (2)
  4. What happened to the thing Ben built? (2)
  5. Why does Ms. Reyes say “Twice is enough for a story”? (4)

Task 2 — Reading (10 BE) Link to heading

Read the short text below.

Maja’s family did not go on holiday this summer. Her mother started a new job in July, and the family decided to stay home and paint the kitchen. Maja was sad at first. Then her best friend Nina came over for two whole days. They painted one wall bright yellow because Maja’s little brother said yellow is “the happiest colour”. Maja’s mother laughed when she saw it and said, “You are right. We keep it.”

  1. Why did Maja’s family stay home? (2)
  2. Who came to help? (2)
  3. What colour did they paint one wall, and why? (3)
  4. How did Maja’s mother react? (3)

Task 3 — Use of English (10 BE) Link to heading

Put the verb in brackets into the past simple.

  1. Maja __________ (be) sad at first.
  2. Her best friend Nina __________ (come) over for two days.
  3. They __________ (paint) one wall yellow.
  4. Maja’s brother __________ (say) yellow is the happiest colour.
  5. Maja’s mother __________ (laugh) and __________ (decide) to keep it.

Task 4 — Mediation (8 BE) Link to heading

Your German cousin sends you this WhatsApp message:

“Heute haben wir die Küche gestrichen, weil Mama keinen Urlaub hatte. Es war eigentlich ganz lustig, vor allem mit Nina.”

Write two or three sentences in English to your English-speaking friend, telling them what happened. You do not have to translate every word.

Task 5 — Writing (20 BE) Link to heading

Write 100–120 words about one day in your last summer holiday. Use past simple. Include a place, a person, an action, and a feeling.

Expected answer key — class test ("Klassenarbeit")

Task 1 (12 BE).\

  1. She spent two weeks at her grandmother’s village. (2)
  2. They made bread together every morning. (2)
  3. Ben built a bike ramp in the garden, with his cousin. (2)
  4. It worked twice, then it broke. (2)
  5. Ms. Reyes means that “two times” is already a small story with a beginning, a middle, and an end — so it counts as something worth telling. (4 — accept any answer that grasps “two events are enough for a narrative”).

Task 2 (10 BE).\

  1. The mother started a new job, so the family stayed home. (2)
  2. Maja’s best friend Nina came over for two whole days. (2)
  3. They painted one wall bright yellow because Maja’s brother said yellow is the happiest colour. (3)
  4. She laughed and said, “You are right. We keep it.” — she accepted the choice cheerfully. (3)

Task 3 (10 BE).\

  1. was, 2. came, 3. painted, 4. said, 5. laughed / decided.

Task 4 (8 BE). Sample: “Today we painted the kitchen because my mum couldn’t take any holiday this year. It was actually quite fun, especially with Nina.” Award for: gist (4), addressee-fit (2), correct past simple (2).

Task 5 (20 BE). Inhalt 10 / Sprache 10. See per-Unit rubric sheet.

Rubric — grading scale (Notenschlüssel)
Punkte (von 60)Note
56–601
49–552
40–483
30–394
18–295
0–176

Writing (Task 5) splits Inhalt 10 / Sprache 10 with the BW house weighting (Niveau M).

Downloads Link to heading

**Slide deck timing.** 45 minutes total.
  • Title + Lead-in (5 min). Picture-prompt: corridor, bag, poster. Ask “Who is Aisha? Look at the bag — what does it tell you?” Build interest before language.
  • Activate (8 min). Strict two-minute partner talk; bell; one-minute swap. No correction yet.
  • Input — dialogue + grammar (12 min). Read once silently, once aloud. Then short past-simple board map: regular vs. irregular. Flag the German-Perfekt-vs.-English-past-simple contrast explicitly.
  • Practise (8 min). Niveau G in left column, Niveau M in right column on the slide. Pairs from same Niveau if possible; otherwise mixed pairs check each other’s answers.
  • Produce (10 min). Writing time is silent. Collect.
  • Reflect (2 min). Self-tick on the three Can-do statements.

Differentiation. For Niveau G: provide a printed verb list (go/went, see/saw, make/made). For learners above Niveau M: ask them to use while or because at least once in their writing.

Common pitfalls Link to heading

  • I have made bread every morning — the time marker “every morning that summer” pulls toward simple past. Reserve present perfect for present relevance.
  • Spelling of regular -ed: doubling consonants (stopped), dropping the final e (baked), and y → ied (tried).
  • Mixing did + past form in questions: Did you went? → ✗ / Did you go? → ✓.
  • Capitalisation of common nouns (“the Garden”) carried over from German.

Further reading / listening Link to heading

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