Lesson 8A A murder story

The goal of this lesson is to review all forms of the simple past, regular and irregular, through the context of a murder story. The lesson begins with the back cover information and extract from the story, which introduces the characters and several new past forms of irregular verbs. Sts then hear more of the story, this time on audio as the detective interviews the suspects. Sts then decide who they think the murderer was before hearing what actually happened. This part of the lesson will work best if you can generate and maintain suspense so that Sts want to find out who the murderer was. After the murder story there is a grammar focus pulling together and reviewing the simple past.
The lesson finishes with an extended speaking activity where Sts role-play trying to break down the alibi of a robbery suspect. This lesson provides a good opportunity to encourage Sts to start reading Graded Readers if they haven’t already done so, and there is an information box about this.