Summary
Anna discovers a festival - the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall. What does she learn there about Basque culture?
Speaking
Learn to pronounce the new words for this lesson. You also learn about the words people use in English when they cannot remember a word, or they do not know a word.
Pronunciation
Use this video to learn about three ways to pronounce the past tense ending of regular verbs.
Conversation
Anna: Yesterday was the most amazing day. I want to tell my friend back home about it. So, I am writing her a letter!
Writing
Tell about a party or festival in your town. Write to us by email or in the Comments section. Click on the image below to download the Activity Sheet and practice with a friend.
Learning Strategy
Learning Strategies are the thoughts and actions that help make learning easier or more effective.
The learning strategy for this lesson is Substitute. When we are speaking a second language, we often do not know a word. That is the time we can substitute a phrase or another word, and continue speaking.
In the video, you can hear Anna telling about the game. She does not remember the name at first.
They are playing a game. It’s a kind of handball. What do they call it? They call it pilota!
Anna uses a phrase, "It's a kind of handball," to tell about the game. She is substituting that phrase for the Basque name. Then she remembers the name, pilota.
How about you? Do you sometimes substitute a word or phrase for an English word you do not know? Write to tell us how you use this strategy in an email or in the Comments section. Teachers, see the Lesson Plan for more on how to teach this strategy.
Quiz
Listen to short videos and test your listening skills with this quiz. This week's quiz also tests your learning strategy knowledge.
Quiz - Lesson 24
Bilgi testine başlayın
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New Words
Past tense verbs
start - started
want - wanted
walk - walked
dance - danced
play - played
call - called
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Free Materials
Download the VOA Learning English Word Book for a dictionary of the words we use on this website.
Each Let's Learn English lesson has an Activity Sheet for extra practice on your own or in the classroom. In this lesson, you can use it to practice the past tense.
For Teachers
See the Lesson Plan for this lesson for ideas and more teaching resources. Send us an email if you have comments on this course or questions.
Grammar focus: Regular past tense verbs
Topics: Festivals and cultural traditions
Learning Strategy: Substitute
Speaking & Pronunciation Focus: Voiced and voiceless past tense pronunciations; Substituting one word for another
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Now it's your turn. Send us an email or write to us in the Comments section below or on our Facebook page to let us know what you think of this lesson.