LESSON 1
MY ROUTINES

Diorama Show and Tell

1. Tell students they will be making a diorama. A diorama is a three-dimensional picture or scene and can incorporate a wide variety of materials. Show students the example provided at the beginning of this activity.
2. Tell students the topic for the dioramas is “A Day in My Life.” Their dioramas should show scenes from their daily lives.
3. To brainstorm ideas and items to include in the dioramas, have students write a weekly log of their activities prior to making the diorama. (A log of a few days is fine if a weekly log is not possible.) The activity log will help students see patterns in their daily lives, while also practicing the past tense.
4. Ask students to record what they do for one week. Students should write the time and type of activity in their logs using past tense verbs. Below is an example activity log:
   
5. After writing a log of their activities for a few days to a week, ask students to look for patterns in their daily activities. Ask students to think about the questions below:
   What do you do every day?
   What do you do every couple of days?
   What parts of your daily routine do you enjoy the most?
   What part of your routine do you not enjoy?
   Which things in your daily routines are most important to you?
   These questions will help students brainstorm and choose what to include in their “A Day in My Life” dioramas.
6. To refresh students’ memories, you could draw on the board a continuum using adverbs of frequency:
   
7. To practice speaking and listening with these questions, do an inside-outside speaking activity with students, as explained below.
   a. Divide the class in half. If you have an odd number of students, one student can be your helper.
   b. Have one group form a circle, facing outwards. The other group then forms a circle around the first circle, facing inwards. The two circles should create pairs of students, facing each other.
   c. Tell the inside circle that they will be asking the questions. They should use the questions about patterns in students’ daily activities from Step Five. If needed, write the questions on the board for students to refer to.
   d. The outside circle has to answer the questions posed by their partners on the inside circle.
   e. After a few minutes, have students change partners by having the outside circle move one person to the right. The inside circle does not move.
   f. Continue having the students change partners every couple of minutes, with only the outside circle moving to the right. The students on the inside of the circle should always be the ones to ask the questions.
   g. After an appropriate amount of time, have the inside and outside circles switch roles. The outside circle should ask questions, while the inside circle answers them. When changing partners, the outside circle still moves but the inside does not.

1. Tell students the next part of the activity will be to construct their dioramas. Ask students to bring in items from home to include in their dioramas. Items may include pictures of their family members, pictures of pets, memorabilia from sports teams, small tokens from hobbies, or small toys.
2. Have students also cut out images from magazines, draw pictures, or create collage scenes to include in their dioramas.
3. After students have collected items and created or found images to include in their dioramas, have students begin constructing their dioramas by preparing the recycled boxes.
4. One side of the box needs to be open to view the diorama. If using shoeboxes, simply take the lid of the shoebox off and lay the shoebox on its side. If using a cereal or tissue box, have students (or help students) cut off one of the broad sides of the box. See the example on the right.
   
5. Have students decorate or add designs to the background and sides of their diorama. If paints are available, students can paint the background and sides. If collage materials are available, students can cut out colored papers or pieces of magazines and glue them inside the box to create a background. If markers are available, students can color the sides and back of the box.
6. Students can then add their drawings, images, or objects to the inside of the box. Tell students to experiment with arranging the items in different ways before they tape or glue the items in the box.
7. Remind students to use all of the space of the box and to overlap and layer diorama items. Refer to the project example at the beginning of the activity.
8. Add any finishing touches to the diorama.

1. Once students have completed their dioramas, ask students to compare things that are part of their daily lives now (as depicted in the dioramas) to things that they used to do, or that used to be a part of their lives.
2. Demonstrate the use of used to and would by telling students things about yourself. If you made a diorama example, you could refer to the diorama and say the following:
   I used to drink a lot of coffee, but now I drink tea.
   When I was younger, I would go for a run every day, but now I prefer going for walks.
3. Review or teach the use of used to and would. Use the chart and information below if desired.
   Used to and would refer to past actions and habits that are no longer true.

   Used to is used in two ways:

   • To express a past action that happened repeatedly but is no longer done
   • To express a past fact that is no longer true

   Would is used one way:

   • To express a past action that happened repeatedly but is no longer done

   Would is used only for actions:

   For example:

   When I was young I would hate vegetables. Not correct.
   When I was young I used to hate vegetables. Correct!
   When I was young I would grow vegetables. Correct!
4. Play a “Used to or Would” game:
   a. Break students up into groups. Tell students that one group member should begin the game by saying one thing he or she used to or would do. For example: I used to ride my bike to school every day… Then, another group member finishes the sentence: …but now I take my private limousine.
   b. Encourage students to create funny or entertaining endings to the sentences, but remind students their sentences should still be grammatically correct.
   c. The person who completed the sentence now starts the beginning of another one: I used to…
   d. The game keeps going around the group until every group member has contributed.
   

1. Once students have practiced using used to and would, have students write in their journals comparing their life now to what they used to do or used to like. Students should use the things depicted in their diorama as the motivation for their writing. Some examples of topic starters are included below.
   I used to ride my bike to school every day. Now, …
   I used to play soccer on the weekends with my friends. Now, …
   I used to spend time on the computer every day. Now, …
   When I was young, I would play in the park. Now, …
   In the past, I would go swimming. Now, …
2. If possible, display students’ dioramas in the classroom or school for other students to see and to generate conversation.