Lesson 12

Past Experiences

Capstone lesson: telling a full travel story using the Past Simple

Adult Speaking English · Arc 4: Beyond the Basics

By the end of this lesson

Today's Goals

You will be able to:

The student can use Past Simple correctly to talk about completed travel experiences.
The student can describe a trip in a logical order: where they went, what they did, and how they felt about it.
The student can give a simple opinion about a past experience and support it with a reason or detail.
The student can answer natural follow-up questions about their own past experiences without preparation.
The student can tell a connected, 1–2 minute personal travel story from memory, with confidence and minimal hesitation.

Lesson flow — 45 min

Warm-up5 min

Input8 min

Controlled Practice8 min

Listening7 min

Role-play10 min

Free Speaking5 min

Review/Homework2 min

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Stage 1

Warm-up

55 min

Goal

Quick-fire questions about the student's past trips to activate memories and vocabulary

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High-frequency words

Key Vocabulary

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trip

旅行

It was my first trip to Japan.

experience

经历

It was an amazing experience.

memorable

难忘的

That was the most memorable part of the trip.

local food

当地美食

We tried a lot of local food.

scenery / view

风景

The scenery was absolutely beautiful.

culture

文化

I learned a lot about the local culture.

souvenir

纪念品

I bought a souvenir for my family.

get lost

迷路

We got lost on the first day, actually.

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High-frequency words

Key Vocabulary (cont.)

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worth it

值得

It was tiring, but totally worth it.

overall

总的来说

Overall, it was a great trip.

I’ll never forget…

永远忘不了……

I’ll never forget that first night.

favorite part

最喜欢的部分

My favorite part was the food market.

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2 of 7 patterns

Core Expressions 1–2

I went to...

我去了...

I went to Thailand last summer.

Two years ago, I went to [Destination] with my family.

Your turn: Tell your teacher about a real place you've traveled to.

I visited...

我参观了...

I visited an old temple in the mountains.

While I was there, I visited a few small villages.

Your turn: Name one specific place (a building, museum, or site) you actually visited on a trip.

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4 of 7 patterns

Core Expressions 3–4

I stayed...

我住在.../我待了（多久）

I stayed in a small hotel near the beach.

I stayed there for about five days.

Your turn: Describe where you stayed on a real trip, and for how long.

I tried...

我尝试了/我尝了（食物等）

I tried a lot of street food there.

I tried surfing for the first time — it was harder than I thought.

Your turn: Tell your teacher about something new you tried on a trip (food, activity, or experience).

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6 of 7 patterns

Core Expressions 5–6

I really enjoyed...

我真的很享受...

I really enjoyed walking around the old town at night.

I really enjoyed the food — it was so different from home.

Your turn: Say what you genuinely enjoyed most about a real trip you took.

My favorite part was...

我最喜欢的部分是...

My favorite part was the boat trip on the last day.

My favorite part was just relaxing on the beach with no plans.

Your turn: Pick your favorite memory from a real trip and describe it with this pattern.

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7 of 7 patterns

Core Expression 7

Overall, it was...

总的来说，这是一次...的经历

Overall, it was an amazing experience, even though it rained a lot.

Overall, it was a bit tiring, but definitely worth it.

Your turn: Give your overall opinion of a real trip, and add one honest reason why.

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Stage 4

Listening

77 min

A monologue — someone telling a friend about a recent trip.

So, last month I went to Vietnam for about a week. I traveled there with two friends from work. We flew into Hanoi first and stayed there for two nights. Honestly, at first it was a bit overwhelming — the traffic was crazy, and we actually got lost on the very first day trying to find our hotel. But once we figured out the city, we really enjoyed it.

We visited the old quarter, and I tried a lot of local food — my favorite was this noodle soup called pho, I had it almost every morning. After Hanoi, we took a boat trip to Ha Long Bay and stayed on the boat for one night. The scenery there was incredible, honestly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We swam, we kayaked a little, and in the evening we just sat on the deck and watched the sunset.

My favorite part of the whole trip was actually that night on the boat — it was so peaceful, completely different from the busy city. We also visited a small fishing village near the bay, which was really interesting because it gave us a different picture of local life, not just the touristy stuff.

Overall, it was an amazing trip. It was tiring at times, especially with the heat, but it was totally worth it. I'd love to go back one day, maybe explore the south of the country next time.

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Comprehension & discussion

Listening Check

Before listening

Where do you think this person traveled, and who did they travel with?
What do you expect a personal travel story to include — what kind of information?

While listening

Listen and check: which two places did the speaker visit?
Listen for one problem that happened early in the trip.
What was the speaker's favorite part of the trip?
Listen for the speaker's overall opinion — was it worth it or not?

After listening

In your own words, summarize this person's trip in 2–3 sentences.
Why do you think the boat night was their favorite part, not the city?
Do you agree that trips can be "tiring but worth it"? Tell your teacher about a time you felt that way.
Which part of this story is most similar to a trip you've taken?

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Stage 5

Controlled Practice

88 min

Model

Teacher demonstrates a short chain of Past Simple sentences.

Repeat

Student repeats the full chain 2–3 times, focusing on correct past tense endings and natural linking between sentences.

Substitute

Teacher swaps destinations, durations, and activities; student substitutes into the chain.

"I went to ___. I stayed there for ___. I tried ___."
went / visited / stayed / tried / enjoyed — practice each verb form individually first, then combined.

Personalize

Student replaces every slot with real, true information about their own past trip.

"I went to [Destination]. I stayed in [place]. My favorite part was [detail]."

Remove prompts

Teacher asks a simple past-tense question with no visible text or pattern support (e.g. "Tell me about a trip you took two years ago" or "去年你去哪儿旅游了？用英语说说"); student must build full sentences from memory, chaining several patterns together.

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Stage 6

Role-play

1010 min

Situation

The student is catching up with an old friend (the teacher) who asks about a recent trip. The conversation should feel natural — not a memorized report, but a real back-and-forth with follow-up questions.

Teacher

Play the curious friend. Ask genuine follow-up questions that the student can't fully predict — react to what the student says, ask for more detail, and occasionally ask an unexpected question that pushes them past a rehearsed script.

Student

Tell the story of a real or imagined trip in response to the friend's questions, using Past Simple naturally, and react honestly to follow-up questions rather than just reciting prepared lines.

Useful language

I went to... / I visited... / I stayed...

I tried... / I really enjoyed...

My favorite part was...

Overall, it was...

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Make it unpredictable

Challenge Cards

Drop one of these in mid-role-play.

Unexpected follow-up

Your friend suddenly asks, "Did anything go wrong on the trip?" — answer honestly and naturally, even if you hadn't planned to mention a problem.

Comparison question

Your friend asks, "How was that different from [Destination] you visited before?" — you have to compare two trips on the spot.

Deeper opinion

Your friend asks, "Would you go back? Why or why not?" — give a real opinion with a reason, not just yes/no.

Detail request

Your friend says, "Wait, back up — tell me more about [something you just mentioned]." — expand on a detail you only briefly mentioned.

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Stage 7

Free Speaking

55 min

This is it — the moment this whole course has been building toward. Without looking at your notes or the patterns above, tell your teacher about a memorable trip. Speak continuously for **1 to 2 minutes**, organizing your own story: 1. Where you went and who with. 2. What you did — at least two or three specific things. 3. Something you tried or something unexpected that happened. 4. Your overall opinion, and your favorite part. Think back to Lesson 1, when you introduced yourself for just 30 seconds, with careful pauses and simple sentences. Today, you're telling a full, connected story — with real detail, real opinions, and enough English to keep a real conversation going for two minutes or more. That gap between Lesson 1 and today is exactly what this course was built to close. Take a breath, and just tell the story — you don't need it to be perfect, you need it to be yours.

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Error correction

Review & Common Mistakes

Correct immediately

Past Simple errors that block meaning (using present tense throughout so the listener can't tell if this happened or is happening now — this is a high-frequency, high-impact error for this lesson).
Misuse of this lesson's core expressions ("I go to..." instead of "I went to...", "my favorite part is" when clearly describing the past).
Any error that makes the story genuinely hard to follow (wrong sequence words, missing key connector).

Note & correct later

Irregular past tense slips on lower-frequency verbs — note quietly, review after the story is finished, don't interrupt the storytelling flow.
Minor preposition errors ("stayed in five days" instead of "for five days") — log and cover in review.
Small pronunciation issues that don't block understanding — save for the wrap-up.
Given this is the capstone lesson, prioritize letting the student complete the full story with minimal interruption; save most corrections for after, so momentum and confidence aren't broken.

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Before next lesson

Homework

22 min

Speaking

Record yourself (voice memo, 1–2 minutes) telling the full story of a memorable trip, exactly like the capstone task in class. Keep this recording — compare it to how you would have sounded in Lesson 1.

Review

Review all 7 core expressions from Section 4, plus pick 3 favorite expressions from across the whole course (Lessons 1–12) that you want to keep using.

Real life

This week, actually tell someone — a friend, a colleague, even a stranger you meet who speaks English — a short real story about a past trip or experience. Notice how it feels to use these patterns outside of class, and be ready to share how it went.

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Lesson 12 complete

Nice work.

That's the full 12-lesson course.

Adult Speaking English