● Module 2 – Past Tenses – Talking about Work History Now

Lesson 6:
The Past Continuous.

Learning Objective:
To describe the context or background of a past situation, often used when explaining “what went wrong”.

Lesson 6:
I was, when…

You are explaining an incident.

“I was giving the presentation when the internet went down.” This tense sets the scene before the main action happens.

We use was/were + verb-ing.

Intent: To show an action that was in progress at a specific moment in the past.
Examples:
- The team was discussing the budget when I arrived.
  (A equipe estava discutindo o orçamento quando eu cheguei.)

I was working for a startup at that time.
(Eu estava trabalhando para uma startup naquela época.)

Gap Fill: “While we _______ (wait) for the client, we checked the data.”
Context Building: “I _______ (prepare) the slides when my computer crashed.”
Mini Role-play: Explain what you were doing right before your last meeting started.

Gap Fill: “While we _______ (wait) for the client, we checked the data.”
Answer: were waiting.
Context Building: “I _______ (prepare) the slides when my computer crashed.”
Answer: was prepering.
Mini Role-play: Explain what you were doing right before your last meeting started.

Example 1: I was finishing an email when the meeting began.

Example 2: I was reviewing my notes right before the meeting started.

Describe the atmosphere of your office during the last big “crunch time” or deadline. What was everyone doing?

Next: Lesson 7: Past Perfect.

We will learn how to clarify the sequence of events (what happened before something else in the past).