Student A engages in a role-play activity with Student B about his best friend Donald. Student A provides details about Donald such as what he used to call him, how thin he used to be, their favorite weekend activity of cycling together, and where Donald now studies. The exercise asks students to compare aspects of their best friends from the past to the present using the phrase "used to" based on notes provided about changes in shyness, schools attended, kindness, exercise habits, work ethic, friendliness, and places of residence.

1. Role-play activity
Student A: This is my best friend.
Student B: What’s his name?
Student A: Donald. I used to call him Little Monkey. He used to be very thin. Now he’s
very big. We always went cycling together. It used to be our favorite
weekend activity.
Student B: How did you meet him?
Student A: We used to go to the same primary school.
Student B: Where does he study now?
Student A: At Tai Po Secondary School.
Exercise – Then & now
Eddie’s teacher asked the students to compare their friend in the past and now.
Read her notes on the board below. Write a comparison of each best friend between
the past and present using “used to” on the note sheet.
My best friend
Name Past Present
Helen Was very shy Very outgoing
Tim Studied at the same school as me Studies at a different school
Peter Fought with me all the time Very kind to me
Diana Hated doing exercise Goes jogging with me every day
David Was very lazy Very hardworking
Andy called people names Very friendly to everybody
Katie Lived next to me Lives in Canada
1. Helen used to be very shy. Now she’s veryoutgoing.
2.___________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________
4.___________________________________________________________________
5.___________________________________________________________________
6.___________________________________________________________________
7.___________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Longman Target English 3A (2nd)