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The following story will help you practice the past simple and past
continuous tenses. This story is good practice for all levels of
English but it has been written with lower level learners in mind.
While reading the stories look for verbs in the past simple and the
past continuous tense. I have included notes at the bottom to help you
with this, highlighting the tense and why it has been used.
Another good exercise is to read the story out loud. This gives you
some good pronunciation practice. Please refer to the following
articles to help you with the past tenses.
Key Vocabulary for the story
Travel company
Boarding pass
Abroad
Peanuts
Student exchange
Atmosphere
Romance
My Trip to the UK.
My name is Pedro and I'm from Spain. As a teenager I always wanted
to go to the UK (1). In English classes at school my teacher talked
about the UK a lot. She talked about how beautiful the cities are and
how friendly the people are. But she also told us that the food is
awful! When I was in school I was very shy (1) and although I wanted to
ask more questions about the UK I couldn't.
When I was 20 I was working at a travel company and I saved up
enough money for a trip abroad. There was only one place that I wanted
to go and that summer I travelled around the UK for 3 weeks (2). Before
my trip I was very excited and I read about the cities that I was going
to visit; London, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh.
I took the metro to get to the Valencia airport and it only took me
20 minutes from my house (2). While I was waiting for my boarding pass
someone shouted my name (3). I stopped, looked back and Sara, an old
friend from school, was standing 10 metres behind me. I went over to
her and we chatted while waiting for our boarding passes. She was also
going to London and we decided to travel together. I always liked Sara
and thought that she was looking really good. I also thought that there
might be some romance on my trip!
It was a short journey and during the flight we ate some peanuts and
drank some beer. The sun was shining when we landed in London (3) and
everything looked so green. We quickly collected our bags and went to
find a taxi to take us to a hostel. While we were waiting for a taxi we
both saw someone else that we knew. Paul, who we knew from a student
exchange 4 years ago, was talking with two friends. He wanted to join
us as he was travelling too. He and Sara talked a lot before we all
caught our taxi. I think she liked him. After a 15 minute taxi drive we
arrived to a lively and friendly hostel close to the centre of London.
After we put our bags in our room I went to find a computer. While I
was sending my family an email, Sara and Paul were drinking beer in the
bar (4). She definitely liked him! My thoughts of romance soon went
away and I decided to start thinking about the trip.
I had a great trip! London was beautiful and I went to see 3 shows
in the West End. I also went to Buckingham Palace, rode the London Eye
and I walked around the centre and by the river. I really enjoyed
Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh also. The northern cities were a lot of
fun and the people were very nice. I was very lucky because I managed
to get tickets and watch a football game. Manchester City against
Blackburn Rovers. The atmosphere was fantastic.
The one thing that surprised me the most was the food. It was
excellent. I ate a lot of different foods from all over the world. I
now love Indian food and I cook it all the time. I also ate fish and
chips, sushi, and some wonderful pub food.
I also met a lot of people and I want to go back again very soon.
Sara has now moved to London and she and Paul are now a couple. I liked
Sara but I am happy for them. Although there wasn't any romance, my 3
weeks in the UK was fantastic. In fact, this time 2 years ago, I was
drinking beer in a bar in Leeds! (5)
Notes from the story
1. Past Simple – past facts or generalizations.
2. Past Simple – completed actions at a specific time in the past.
3. Past Simple and Past Continuous Together – the past simple action interrupts the past continuous action.
4. Two Past Continuous Actions – two actions happening at the same time.
5. Past Continuous – action in progress at a specific time in the past.
Jack Askew is the owner and head teacher at JDAenglish - English classes and courses online which offers private English one to one classes and group courses. He
also writes blogs about learning English online along with grammar
resources at Learning English Online Blog
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