You can teach this simple no-prep lesson with nothing but some scrap paper and a board to write on, but it’s still a fun and engaging way to review past simple questions, something that students don’t get enough practice with.

1. Write these three questions on the board.

Where did you go yesterday? What did you do? Who went with you?

2. Tell students to ask and answer these questions in pairs. The teacher can ask a few people to share their answers.

3. Now point this out to the students.

Where did you go yesterday? What did you do? Who went with you? (This sentence doesn’t use did.)

Ask students why the third question doesn’t use did. Give them a moment to think. The answer is because in the final question “who” is the subject. When the question word is the subject, we do not use the auxiliary.

4. Write the following questions on the board and ask students to identify the subject in each.

What fell down? When did Mary arrive? What did the dog eat? Who called you? Why did the class get canceled? Who dropped by? What did you see?

Answers are below.

What fell down? When did Mary arrive? What did the dog eat? Who called you? Why did the class get canceled? Who dropped by? What did you see?

Point out that typically only who/what are the question words which we use as subjects.

5. Now show students this photo. Have them write one object question in the past tense (using did) and one subject question in the past tense (where the question word is the subject) about the photo. Then students can share their sentences.

Examples

Subject Question Who broke the cup? What happened to the cup? Object Question What did the cat do? How did the cup break?

6. Tell students that you are going to do a Letter Dictation next. To do this, the teacher will read a sentence to the students but only tell them the sentence letter by letter. The students must listen, then separate the sentence so it makes sense. 

For example, if the sentence were “What did you do yesterday?” the teacher would read each letter “w-h-a-t-d-i-d-y-o-u-d-o-y-e-s-t-e-r-d-a-y.”

After dictating each question, have students check their answers in small groups. After students have checked, choose a group to tell you what the sentence really was.

Read students these six sentences letter by letter. 1. Where did you go on your last vacation? 2. Who went with you? 3. When did you last buy a new phone? 4. What happened to your old phone? 5. When did you start to study English? 6. Who first taught you English?

After you’ve checked their answers, ask students which sentences are subject and object questions, and why? 

Answers 1. Where did you go on your last vacation? subject question 2. Who went with you? object question 3. When did you last buy a new phone? subject question 4. What happened to your old phone? object question 5. When did you start to study English? subject question 6. Who first taught you English? object question

Afterwards, students can ask and answer the questions in pairs. Have a few students share their answers with the class.

7. Now let students write their own questions. Tell them they’ll be asking these questions to their classmates. Tell them they can write subject or object questions, but they must be past tense. Students should write 2-3 questions.

Now let students do their own Letter Dictations. In pairs, students dictate their questions to their partners letter by letter. When students have finished their dictations, they can ask and answer each other’s questions.

8. If time allows, students can switch partners and ask and answer another classmate.

If you liked this intermediate lesson, try this one about the 5 senses!