When I was a child I used to live in a village in the countryside.

My father’s family lived there too: my

grandfather, my aunts, uncles and my cousins. I lived for a while with my grandfather in a big old
farmhouse. It only had one floor. There were five bedrooms, a very spacious kitchen with a fireplace, a
dining room- which was never used except at Easter- two living rooms and two bathrooms. It had an
attic but it was too small. There was also a huge yard where we played all day under the vineyard and
of course it was my favourite area. My grandfather had a huge wine cellar where he kept the wine he
produced. He didn’t have farm animals except for some chickens- there were no sheep, pigs or cows.
Just chickens!
I shared my bedroom with my sister. We had a big bed, two bedside tables and a wardrobe. The
bedroom window was just in front of our bed so in the morning we usually woke up with the first sun
rays. We could also hear the cock singing every morning. I remember
that there weren’t many cars, so there wasn’t much pollution. Sometimes
we saw a wagon pulled by oxen. They passed by very slowly and the
wheels of the wagon made such a noise!! And we sat in the balcony just
to watch it. The balcony was my grandfather’s favourite place. He spent
hours there watching us- his grandchildren-
playing in the yard.
When I was a teenager my parents moved to
the city. They moved to a new semi-detached house. It had three floors.
Upstairs on the second floor was my brother’s bedroom, a bathroom, a study
and a spare room for the guests. Downstairs, on the first floor, was my parents’
bedroom, my bedroom - which I kept sharing with my sister- a bathroom, a living room with a fireplace
in the middle, a dining room and a kitchen. When you came in the house there was no hall but a long
corridor. On the ground floor there were the garage and another kitchen with a huge fireplace and a
firewood oven which made it very cosy. This new house had two terraces: one at the front with lots of
plants and one at the back where my mother hung up the clothes because next to it was the laundry. It
didn’t have an attic, though. It was well located because we were about 10 minutes away from school
and half an hour from Oporto city.
Now, I live in a block of flats with my own family in a small town. My flat is in the second
floor. I can say it is big because it has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a toilet, a kitchen, a
living/dining room with a fireplace and a spacious study in the attic. This is my favourite
place because it is comfortable and I can work without being distracted. I have got the
walls covered with bookcases, a sofa and a huge desk. My flat has 2 balconies and
when the sun shines it is very nice to sit there and read a book.
A. Read the text and complete the table below.

Childhood Teenage life Adulthood

Type of house farmhouse
Size
Appearance new
Location
No of floors 2
Rooms
Favourite area/room

B. What can you find in... ? Write the names of pieces of furniture that you can find in the text and
add others that you can remember.
the kitchen the bedroom the living room the bathroom the dining room

Read the sentences and underline the verbs.

When I was a child I used to live in a farmhouse.

There was a huge yard where we played all day.
I shared my bedroom with my sister.
My grandfather had a huge wine cellar.
He didn’t have farm animals. These sentences refer to:
We usually woke up with the first sun rays.
actions that happen every day
Sometimes we saw a wagon pulled by oxen.
We sat in the balcony just to watch it. actions that are happening at this moment
He spent hours there watching us.
actions that happened at a specific time in
the past

The clock is ticking as time goes by... so it’s time to learn the PAST SIMPLE!
 REGULAR VERBS IRREGULAR VERBS

I lived in a farmhouse. He spent hours watching us.

I didn’t live in a He didn’t spend hours watching us.

Did you live in a Did he spend hours watching you?

I, YOU, HE, SHE, WE, YOU, THEY in a farmhouse.

I, YOU, HE, SHE, WE, YOU, THEY hours watching us.

Cross out the wrong word:

J The auxiliary verb used in the Past Simple is do/did.

J The verb form is the same/different for all personal pronouns.
J There are no/some rules to form the Past Simple of Irregular Verbs.

Verbs ending in –e: to live live___

Verbs ending in –y: to play play___ to study stud____

Verbs with only one syllable: to stop stop____

stay__________ watch__________ study___________

move_________ wash___________ land____________

hurry_________ dry_____________ walk____________

clean_________ work___________ decide__________

plan__________ dress___________ arrive___________

Ask him/her 4 questions about the text.

Here are some Wh-Questions to help you:

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Can you describe your grandfather’s house? What was it like? Where was it? How many floors did it
have? How many rooms were there? Was the kitchen big or small? Was it cosy or uncomfortable?

Try to give as many details as possible.

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