The Weather was –Simple past of verb to be

This resource (Weather Was -Simple Past of To Be- ESL Grammar Lesson) is found at this LINK ready to download: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weather-in-the-past-tense-4976066

Watch the video of the complete resource:

 The weather was — ESL lesson on the simple past of “to be” with weather vocabulary. Includes examples, games, worksheets, and speaking practice for beginner English learners. Understanding the **simple past of the verb “to be”** is essential for young ESL learners — especially when describing conditions like the weather. This lesson uses weather vocabulary (to help students practise **“was” and “were”** in meaningful sentences. 

There are several flashcards included in the resource to review the simple past of to be related to the weather for ESL learners.

Teacher: How was the weather?

Students: It was windy!

Here is an example on using them on the board to say how the weather was yesterday as new grammar point to teach. 

Teacher: What’s the weather?

Students: windy!

Teacher: Today is windy. (write in down and write each word in a different color.)

Teacher: What’s the weather?

Students: sunny!

Teacher: Yesterday was sunny. (write in down and write each word in a different color.)

Have the students contrast each weather weather in simple present and simple past using the worksheet.

Ask more questions using the flashcards.

     Yes/ No questions using the flashcards.

Weather vocabulary activity in the simple past tense for Questions and Sentence formation.

        Have the students write more sentences using the flashcards.

Days of the week strips to create the Forecast on the board along with weather cards.

Have the students talk about the weather yesterday. I used the days of the week to make a small calendar on the board.

Teacher: What day was yesterday?

Students: Tuesday!

Teacher: How was the weather on Tuesday?

Students: It was humid! (Underline was in each sentence)

I made weather strips to make a forecast on the board.

Write a Weather Forecast. Use all the small cards.

Have the students write sentences on their notebooks following the structure: On Wednesday it was wet. It wasn’t hot. Or It was a cloudy day on Wednesday. Use any structure that you are working on. Give out the small worksheet to create the forecast.

The weather goes on in other cities.

Teacher: What was the weather like in Mexico City?

Students: It was cold!

Or use the flashcards for other countries.

Teacher: What was the weather like in Venezuela?

Students: It was rainy!

I am including the country flashcards as I used in my other blog post about the weather and countries in Simple present. Check the blog post for more things that you can do with the resources. LINK: https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2018/02/weather-around-world-for-esl.html

Do the same sorting on a desk or on the floor. Students can check on the internet the weather yesterday and sort all the countries, I just did a small example.

Use the small cards for writing sentences on the notebooks.

I am trying to create game boards for every product. Print this weather ESL board game. 

Students love an extra time for playing on their own. I tape a bended clip behind each game marker to make it stand. The game board has 4 colors: red, yellow, blue and green. I wrote 2 specific questions depending on where they land: How was the weather? and How is the weather? In order to have students contrast between both tenses.

This is how my Printable game board turned out.

In this era of recycling I see lots of last year books going to the trash or the teachers not knowing what to do with them. I have posted some ways on how to recycle them. Here is another example. Cut out the pictures and have the students do spelling using plastic plates and dry erase markers, where you can easily erase the words.

Or use a fly swatter with a rectangle cut in the middle to read the words.

 When to Use This Material

✔ After introducing simple past “was/were”  

✔ As part of a weather unit  

✔ For speaking and partner practice  

✔ In mixed-level classes (differentiated tasks)  

✔ For review or formative assessment

Teachers — if you enjoy hands-on ESL activities, games, and classroom resources, follow me on Pinterest! Just here: https://www.pinterest.com/ei98srl
You’ll find pin-ready ideas you can use right away in your lessons.