image
Beginner English (A1) Lesson 23 - Past Tense

SEA Travels

Abidemi talks about her trip to Thailand and Myanmar.


Todd: Abidemi, what did you do for summer break?

Abidemi: For summer break, I went to visit some countries in Asia.

Todd: Oh, what countries?

Abidemi: I visited Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

Todd: Oh, great. What did you do in each country?

Abidemi: In Thailand, I was there for about a week. I ate a lot of delicious food and I met a lot of many nice people. I loved Thailand, so I hope to return again.

Todd: What foods did you eat?

Abidemi: I don’t remember the names but I just remembered that they were all good.

Todd: Thai food is so good.

Abidemi: Yes.

Todd: Did you go anymore in Thailand like the beach or the forest?

Abidemi: I was more interested in nature, so I traveled from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Chang Rai, and I went trekking and rode elephants. So that was one of the highlights of my trip.

Todd: Oh nice. How long was the trek?

Abidemi: The trek was about a day. It was a trek for 2, 3 hours but then we also stayed overnight in a community in the hills. And then the next day, we trekked for a little bit to come back to the city.

Todd: Nice. So was Thailand the first stop?

Abidemi: Yes. It was my first stop. It was supposed to be the shortest stop but I loved it so much that I spent more time there.

Todd: After Thailand, where did you go?

Abidemi: From Thailand, I moved on by land to Laos.

Todd: And what did you do in Laos?

Abidemi: In Laos, I mainly was in the northern part of the country, and I went zip-lining.

Todd: Oh fun!

Abidemi: It was fun. So—

Todd: So zip-lining is going flying from tree to tree?

Abidemi: That’s correct. So that was about two days’ worth of zip-lining, and we stayed overnight in a big tree house.

Todd: Oh, how fun.

Abidemi: It was quite an experience.

Todd: Nice.

Abidemi: I really enjoyed it.

Grammar Focus

Past tense verbs usually end with an -ed ending but only for affirmative sentences. For questions and negative statements we use did to express the past. See below.

(Q) Where did you work?
(A) I worked in an office.
(N) I did not work in the city.

There are three ways to pronounce the -ed ending.

-ed = /t/

I washed the dishes
I walked to work.
I worked at my desk.
I talked to my friend

-ed = /d/

I cleaned the room.
I enjoyed the movie.
I mowed the lawn.

-ed = /id/

I wanted to go.
I decided to stay.
I needed to sleep.

Negative

I did not work.
I didn’t sleep much.

(do not = didn’t)

Answer the following questions about the interview.

Study the vocabulary in the lessons. View on Quizlet.

Free Courses from ELLLO

One Minute English Videos

Free Courses from ELLLO