We synthesized your ideas and suggestions and incorporated them in this plan. So, we
are eager to read your comments on the job we've done and to see if you have any suggestions that would make it more efficient.

Stage 1	Presenting the regular past tense  We will display on the OHP a table (1.1) containing 2 columns.  In the first column, will be the heading EVERYDAY and beneath this will be example sentences using present tense verbs (ex. I walk to school.).  In the second column, will be the heading YESTERDAY and beneath this will be sentences using past tense verbs (ex. I walked to school.).  We will circle or underline the verbs in each  of the sentences and ask the students  to tell the differences in form (we assume that they will realize that the verb in the second column has -ed).  The verbs in the sentences in the first column will require the different allomorphs in the past /t/, /d/, and schwa /d/.  Then we will ask the students about the difference in meaning in each pair of sentences.  The teacher will present the past tense explaining that it is something that has already occurred or is finished.  We will explain the different allomorphs of the past tense -ed.  Afterwards, we will distribute a worksheet containing a table with 3 columns with the headings /t/, /d/, and schwa /d/.  Below the table there will be a list of 15-20 regular verbs. We are going to ask the students to put these verbs in the past tense and then put each verb in the right column.   As a practice activity, we will give the students another table similar to the first table (1.1) using EVERYDAY and YESTERDAY.  But this time the table will have sentences only in the first column and they will have to rewrite the sentences in the second column making them past tense.
Stage 2	Presenting the irregular past tense  Now we will present the students with another table similar to 1.1 on the OHP but this time we will use irregular verbs instead.  We will ask the students about the differences between the past tense verbs in this table (table 2.1) and those in table 1.1. (They don't follow the same pattern as the regular past tense verbs).  We will explain that these verbs are called irregular verbs and that they will have to memorize most of them in order to familiarize themselves with them.  At this point we will incorporate the crossword puzzles.  We will pair the students up and assign the clues from page 61 to the puzzle on page 60. For example, one of the two students in the group will find the responses to the Across Clues and the other will find the Down Clues.  They will collaborate to check the answers in completing the entire puzzle.  The puzzle on page 62 will be completed for homework.  We will check  and correct page 62 as a class.  We will go through the discussion questions from page 63 with the whole class. The students will be asked to complete the activity individually and when the are finished, they will pair up to compare answers.  Afterwards, as a class we will discuss all the answers.  Exercises F and G will be assigned for homework.  At the beginning of the next class session the teacher will quickly review the answers to F and G with the whole class. We will discuss activity I on page 66 with the whole class (each student is going to say something about what s/he did yesterday) and then we will have them do activity H in class. After this the students will exchange their paragraphs to make sure that all the past tense verbs are correct.
Stage 3	Presenting the Past perfect  We will present the students with someone's daily schedule (a movie star or any famous person). It will be in the form of a two column table with the time of the day in the first column and the activity the person did in the second column. (e.g.. 8:00 am: ate breakfast, 8:30: drove to work). Below the table there will be sentences like (he had eaten breakfast before he drove to work). We will ask the students to look at the table and decide what happened first and what happened next. Then we will ask the students to try to induce the rule behind the examples.  Then we will explain the past perfect and tell the students that we use the past perfect to express that something happened before something else (past simple) in the past. (We will base our explanation on the presentation of the past perfect from page 67.) For further practice, we are going to ask the students to work in pairs deciding what happened first and what happened next in the sentences in activity A. After that we will do a variation of activity B which will be like the following: the students are going to work in groups of five. Each group member will be given a card that has two actions on it. The student will have to mime the two actions and the rest of the group will have to decide what the actions are and what the order of these actions is (We will prompt them to use the same structures in activity A), e.g., he had done his homework before he watched TV. After that the students are going to do activity D individually, and when they finish they are going to pair up and compare their answers with their peers. After that we will go over the answers as a whole class discussion. We will assign activity E for homework (the answers will be checked quickly in the beginning of the next session).
Stage 4	Presenting the past progressive The teacher will choose 3 students to step outside the classroom. S/he will ask them to do particular things as the teacher is doing something else. For example, "I want you to turn off the light while I'm writing on the board".  After the students perform the actions assigned to them, the teacher will show the whole class a slide with sentences describing what just happened. For example, Xin turned off the light as I was writing on the board. Then we will ask the students to try to induce the rule behind the examples. After that we will ask the students to have a look at the explanation of the past progressive on page 71. After we make sure they understand the form and use of the past progressive, we will have them do activity A orally as a whole class (they can add different endings to each sentence) After that the students are going to do activity C (page 72) individually, and when they finish they are going to pair up and compare their answers with their peers. After that we will go over the answers as a whole class discussion. We will assign activity B as homework.
Stage 5	Time expressions referring to the past The teacher will ask the students to read the sentences in activity A on page 74 and underline any time expressions referring to the past time. Then we are going to ask them to look at the chart on pages 73 -74 and we will discuss the examples as a whole class.  After that the students are going to do activity B (page 74) individually, and when they finish they are going to pair up and compare their answers with their peers. After that we will go quickly over the answers as a whole class discussion.
Stage 6	Presenting the present perfect We are going to present the students with the following dialogue: (From the lecture on chapter 4) Maria:  Have you ever taken a sociology course? Martha:  No, I haven't.  Not yet.   Maria: What about anthropology? Have you ever taken any of their courses?  Martha:  Yep.  Last summer, I took the graduate courses on health practices around the world. We are going to ask the students: "What do you think is the time frame of the events that Maria and Martha are talking about?" (We expect them to understand that they are talking about the past) Then we are going to ask them why the verb form in line one differs from that in line four.  We'll then explain that the present perfect was used in the first sentence because there was no specification of time, whereas in the last line there is time specification (last summer). After that we will discuss the presentation of the present perfect and its uses (pages 75-76) with the students. After we make sure they understand the different uses of the present perfect we are going to ask them to think of examples similar to those in the book. Then we are going to present the time expressions with the present perfect. Then we are going to ask the students to interview each other (in pairs) asking questions like: Have you ever been in a survival course? Have you taken the GMAT yet? Then we are going to ask them to find another partner and tell him about the one they just interviewed.  After that the students are going to do activity A (page 76) individually, and when they finish they are going to pair up and compare their answers with their peers. After that we will go quickly over the answers as a whole class discussion. After that we will discuss activity D p. 78 with the whole class. Volunteer students are supposed to provide the correct answers and explain why to the rest of the class. Then we will assign activity E as homework, After that the students are going to do activity F (page 78-79) individually, and when they finish they are going to pair up and compare their answers with their peers. After that we will go quickly over the answers as a whole class discussion.
Stage 7	General activities on the past time frame Activity D (p.84-85): We are going to divide the students into five groups. Each group will be assigned one of five the mini biographies. They will have to read the mini biography and each of them will have to come up with one question about the biography. Then they will exchange their questions with another group and answer the other group's questions (about a different biography). Activity E (p.86-87): We will divide the class into five groups, copy each of the five paragraphs in this activity on a separate slide and give it to one of the groups. Each group will discuss the answers and then complete the paragraph. When the students finish, one student from each group is going to represent his group displaying the slide on the OHP and explaining the answers to the whole class. Communicative production practice:  We will ask each student to write one small paragraph (similar to those in activity D) about a famous person from his home country. They will have to mention something about that person's life and why they think s/he is important. After the students finish each one is going to exchange his composition with another peer and get feedback on the verb forms used in the passage. HW: Activities I & J