Past Mime

Objective:  to practice*) past continuous and past simple
Procedures:

1. Students work in pairs.
2. Each pair is given or writes a past continuous + past simple sentence (Sbdy was doing when sbdy did).
3. Each pair mimes its sentence and the class tries to guess it. It may help, especially with more complex sentences, to write the sentence outline on the board (one underline for each word) and fill in words as the class guesses them.
4. Some suggested sentences

• I was climbing a 200-year old oak tree in the middle of the forest when one of the branches broke and I fell 50 feet to the ground.
• Two lovers were watching a cheap television when it suddenly exploded and showered them with glass.
• I was driving my mother-in-law's car when a policeman stopped me because he thought that I was speeding.
• A blind man was withdrawing money from his bank's cash dispenser when three masked gunmen attacked him and stole his wallet.
• I was walking down the road when a mad dog bit me.

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Note:
*) In the UK, “practice” is the noun, “practise” the verb; but in the US the spelling “practice” is commonly used for both, though the distinction is sometimes observed. “Practise” as a noun is, however, always wrong in both places: a doctor always has a “practice,” never a “practise.” (source:  Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brians, published by William, James & Co.)