👴 Where Were You Born, Grandpa?
Lina's school project: "The life of a grandparent." She interviews Grandpa Taher! Learn the words for life events (born · birth · graduate · graduation · married · marriage · retired · retirement), the past tense for life events (was born · grew up · said my first word · got a job), questions and negatives (Where were you born? · I didn't get promoted.) and how to listen for key details.
The Interview
Sunday afternoon. Lina has a notebook and a pencil. Grandpa Taher sits in his favorite chair.
🤔 What do you know about your grandparents' lives? Where were they born?
🔤 Words For Life Events
Many life events have a verb, a noun and sometimes an adjective. Click a word to hear it in a sentence.
| Verb | Noun | Adjective |
|---|
be born is always passive: I was born in 2014 (I born). · married is an adjective: My parents are married. · get married is the event: They got married in 2010.
🧩 Verb, Noun Or Adjective?
Choose the right form of the word. 8 rounds.
⏪ Past Tense For Life Events
Grandpa's life on a timeline. Click each milestone!
➡️ Regular: + -ed
graduate → graduated
retire → retired
die → died
🔀 Irregular
be born → was / were born · say my first word → said
grow up → grew up · become an adult → became
get a job → got a job
🚫 Negatives
wasn't / weren't + born · didn't + baseI wasn't born in a hospital — I was born at home!
He didn't get promoted.
❓ Questions with be
was / were + subject + bornWhere were you born?
— I was born in Kairouan.
❓ Questions with did
did + subject + base verbWhere did you grow up?
— I grew up near the medina.
🎤 Interview Grandpa
Choose the correct question or answer. 8 rounds.
👂 Listening For Details
When people talk about their lives, concentrate on details such as dates and places. With these key details, you can understand what people are saying — even if you don't hear every word!
🔑 3 key words
- Harry was born in Chicago in 1968.
- → born · Chicago · 1968
🔑 2 key words
- I'm going to graduate in June.
- → graduate · June
💪 Train yourself!
- Listening for key details helps you keep up with most conversations.
🎧 The Key Detail Catcher
Press 🔊, listen (the sentence is hidden!) and catch the key detail. You can listen as many times as you want. 7 rounds.
Listen And Repeat!
Click 🔊 Listen to hear the phrase, 🐢 Slowly to hear it slower, then 🎙️ My turn and say it out loud into your microphone!
✍️ Practice Time!
Exercise 1 — True Or False?
Exercise 2 — Complete The Dialogue
Fill in the missing word in each line of the conversation.
🎭 Create & Record: The Life Of A Grandparent
Interview a grandparent or an older family member (or invent one!). Write five questions (Where were you born? Where did you grow up? When did you graduate?…) and the answers, with dates and places. Then write a short paragraph about their life with at least six life events in the past.
🎙️ Now, Record It!
Read the life story slowly and clearly: stress the key details — the places and the dates. Listen back!
🎯 Final Quiz — Life Events
Answer 7 questions to test everything you learned in this lesson!