March 4, 2010
Topic: “A moment in time”
Language focus: Past Simple vs. Past Continuous
Focus on pronunciation: final ‘ed’ (cont’d) & introduction
to consonant sounds
Look at the photos and answer the following
questions:
1. Where are they?
2. What do you think is happening?
Photo A
Photo B
Photo C
Read the text about the photographer who
took these photos and match paragraphs
1-3 with the photos:
Harry Benson spent 50 years taking dramatic
and memorable photographs for national
newspapers and magazines. Here he talks
about three of his best-known pictures:
1.
2.
3.
In 1989, I was working in London when
suddenly I heard the news that the
Russians were planning to make Berlin an
open city. So I got on a plane. When I
arrived in Berlin many people were
attacking the wall with stones. The woman
in the photo was shouting: “I hate it!”.
When I took this photo we were in a hotel
room in Paris in 1964. John and Paul were
at the piano and it seemed that nothing
was happening. But suddenly they
became completely focused. First the
melody came, then the words. They were
composing their song I feel fine.
I took this picture on Aug. 9th 1974. He was
saying goodbye to his cabinet and the
White House staff after the ‘Watergate’
scandal. All his family were standing round
him. You can see from their faces what
they were feeling.
Answers:

Photo A – text 3

Photo B – text 1

Photo C – text 2
Some more info:

Photo A shows the American President Richard Nixon. He was a
Republican and was forced to resign after several men broke into
the Watergate Hotel in Washington (the Democratic Party’s
headquarters) and tried to bug the phones. The men had been paid
by Nixon’s election committee.

Photo B shows the Berlin Wall which divided East and West Berlin. It
was built in 1961 to prevent East Germans escaping from the
communist rule. It was knocked down in 1989.

Photo C shows the Beatles in a room of the George V Hotel in Paris
in 1964. Here they composed one of their most famous songs. The
photo is known all over the world as ‘the Beatles composing in
Paris’.
Vocabulary matching:
1. To bug the phones
2. To resign
3. To break into smth.
4. To prevent so. from doing
smth. or to prevent so. doing
smth.
5. The communist rule
6. To knock smth. down
a. To destroy, to demolish
b. The control of the population
by a political system
c. To officially leave a job
d. To put a special device
somewhere in order to listen
secretly to other people’s
conversations
e. To enter a building by force; to
open a car by force
f. To stop so. from doing smth.
Answers:
1–d
2–c
3–e
4–f
5–b
6–a
Now read the texts again and try to remember
what was happening when Harry Benson took the
photos:

When he took the photo in Berlin people………..

When he took the photo in Paris the Beatles……

When he took the photo in Washington President
Nixon…….
Look at the verbs in red in the following
paragraph:
In 1989, I was working in London when suddenly I
heard the news that the Russians were planning to
make Berlin an open city. So I got on a plane. When I
arrived in Berlin many people were attacking the wall
with stones. The woman in the photo was shouting: “I
hate it!”.


What tense are they?
What’s the difference between the verbs in red and the
simple past forms in black?
Answers:

The verbs in red are in the Past Continuous
tense.

We use the Past Continuous to describe an
action in progress at a specific moment in the
past whereas we use the Past Simple to talk
about finished actions in the past.
Language Focus 1
Look at these two sentences and say what is
the difference in meaning:
1. When my friend arrived, we had dinner.
2. When my friend arrived, we were having
dinner.
Answers:

In sentence 1 we had dinner after my friend
arrived.

In sentence 2 we were in the middle of dinner
when my friend arrived.
Now match sentences 1&2 with two
suitable timelines. One is not suitable here:
1. When my friend arrived, we had dinner.
2. When my friend arrived, we were having
dinner.
1.
past
2.
past
3.
past
Answers:
Sentence 1 = timeline 2
Sentence 2 = timeline 1
 Why is timeline 3 not suitable here?
Answer:
Because timeline 3 shows an event that
occurred several times in the past. It can be
expressed by the past simple or the form
‘used to’.
Look at this photo. What can you see?
Where are they? What are they doing?
Willy Ronis talks about his most famous photo. Read what
the photographer says and check your answers.
‘It was March 1957 and I was taking photographs in Paris. One afternoon I went
up the Bastille and I saw two lovers on a balcony. They were standing very near
each other. They were talking. I took just one photo and they didn’t hear me. I
called it Lovers at the Bastille. Luckily for me this photo became very popular in
France. Soon posters and postcards with my picture of the two lovers were
everywhere. But I never knew who the two young people were. They never
contacted me’.
’30 years later I had an exhibition of my photos in Paris. I was talking to some
friends when suddenly a man came up to me and said “I know your two lovers.
They live near me. I can take you there if you want”.
I immediately decided to go and meet them. This was their story’.
Now answer two more questions:


What happened to the photo?
What happened 30 years later?
Answers:

It became very popular in France and it was
seen everywhere on postcards and posters for
many years.

The photographer met a person who knew the
two lovers and decided to get to know them.
Now listen to Marinette and Henri talking about
their photo and answer this question:

Are they still in love?
Now listen again and and decide if the sentences are True
(T) or False (F):
1.
They always knew that their photo was famous.
2.
Marinette saw the book with their photo in a bookshop.
3.
When the photographer took the photo they were laughing.
4.
Marinette wanted Henri to stand near her.
5.
They didn’t know that the photographer was taking a photo of
them.
6.
Henri was trying to kiss Marinette.
7.
Henri thinks they were arguing about their wedding.
8.
They got married a year after the photo was taken.
9.
Marinette and Henri work together every day.
10. She says that they are very similar.
Answers:
1.
They always knew that their photo was famous. F
2.
Marinette saw the book with their photo in a bookshop. F
3.
When the photographer took the photo they were laughing. F
4.
Marinette wanted Henri to stand near her. F
5.
They didn’t know that the photographer was taking a photo of
them. T
6.
Henri was trying to kiss Marinette. T
7.
Henri thinks they were arguing about their wedding. T
8.
They got married a year after the photo was taken. F
9.
Marinette and Henri work together every day. T
10. She says that she and Henri are very similar. F
Language focus 2
Complete the rules by filling in the gaps with a suitable word:
We form the Past Continuous with the _____ ______ of the
verb _____ and the _____ form of the main verb.
In negative sentences we use ________ or _______.
In questions we use ______ or ______ + Subject + _____ form
of the main verb (no _____!!)
While or When?
We use _______ + Past _______ to talk about smth. that was
__________ at the time smth. else happened/interrupted it.
We use ______ + Past ______ to describe two things which
happened one after the other.
Answers:
We form the Past Continuous with the PAST SIMPLE of
the verb BE and the - ING form of the main verb.
In negative sentences we use WAS NOT (WASN’T) or
WERE NOT (WEREN’T).
In questions we use WAS or WERE + Subject + -ING
form of the main verb (not DID!!)
While or When?
We use WHILE + PAST CONTINUOUS to talk about
smth. that was IN PROGRESS at the time smth. else
happened/interrupted it.
We use WHEN + PAST SIMPLE to describe two things
which happened one after the other.
Further reflection on topic & language:




You can find explanations and further practice on Past
Continuous in “Working with Grammar Gold”
(Longman) – Unit 10 ‘The past’ (from 10.5 to 10.6)
You can also find lots of practice on the following
websites:
www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_pastcontinuous.htm
http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/tensepastcont.htm
You can find info on Harry Benson’s life, career and his
photos on www.digitaljournalist.org entering the name
Harry Benson in the search box.