Going to the doctor: describing past illnesses

Summary

This 90-minute ESL lesson for A2 learners explores Going to the doctor: describing past illnesses through a real article. Across 10 interactive exercises, you'll develop reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, practical communication, speaking skills — all built around authentic English content.

What you'll practise:

• 5 key vocabulary items with definitions and usage notes
• Grammar focus: Simple past tense with examples and practice
• Real-world phrases for explaining why you were sick
• Gap-fill and cloze exercises to test vocabulary in context
• Matching exercise to connect terms with their meanings
• Error correction to sharpen grammar awareness

Lesson activities (10 exercises)

Each exercise builds on the previous one. Work through them in order for the best learning experience.

1. Warm-up — Discussion questions to activate what you already know about the topic.
2. Comprehension — Answer questions to check your understanding of the main ideas and supporting details.
3. Vocabulary — Learn key words and expressions from the article, with definitions and usage notes.
4. Matching — Connect words, phrases, or concepts to their correct counterparts.
5. Grammar — Study Simple past tense — explanation, examples, and key rules.
6. Error correction — Find and fix the mistake in each sentence — a great grammar workout.
7. Practical English — Learn phrases for explaining why you were sick — ready to use in real conversations.
8. Cloze passage — Fill in blanks within a connected text to practise vocabulary in context.
9. Discussion — Reflect on the topic and share your opinions using the language you've learned.

Vocabulary

This lesson introduces 5 key terms drawn directly from the article:

• catch a cold — to get a common illness that makes you cough, sneeze, and have a runny nose.
• make an appointment — to arrange a time to see a doctor or another professional.
• sore throat — when your throat feels painful, especially when you swallow.
• feel under the weather — to feel a little sick or not completely well.
• get some rest — to relax and sleep so your body can get better.

Grammar

This lesson focuses on Simple past tense.

We use the simple past tense to talk about actions and situations that finished in the past. You can use it to tell a doctor about your past symptoms or when you got sick. For regular verbs, we add '-ed', but many common verbs are irregular.

Examples from the lesson:

• I called the clinic yesterday because I had a high temperature. — ‘Called’ is a regular verb. We add '-ed' to make the past form.
• He felt very tired and went to bed early. — ‘Felt’ and ‘went’ are irregular verbs. Their past forms are special and don't end in '-ed'.
• Did you take any medicine for your cough? — For questions, we use 'did' + the base form of the verb (take), not the past form (took).

Key rules:

• Add '-ed' to regular verbs for the past (e.g., visit -> visited).
• Learn the special forms for irregular verbs (e.g., feel -> felt, have -> had).
• For questions and negatives, use 'did' or 'didn't' + the base verb (e.g., 'I didn't go').

Practical English

Explaining why you were sick

When you return to work or school after being ill, your colleagues or classmates might ask how you are. Here are some simple phrases to explain your absence and say you are feeling better.

Phrases you'll learn:

• "I was off sick yesterday." — a simple way to say you were not at work or school because of illness.
• "I had a terrible stomach ache." — to give a specific reason for your illness.
• "I'm feeling much better now, thanks." — a positive reply when someone asks how you are feeling.
• "I just needed a day to recover." — to explain that the illness was not very serious and you are okay now.
• "Thanks for asking." — a polite way to respond after someone asks about your health.