E7 E - Tense choices in an interview
aiMOOCE7 E - Tense choices in an interview
QR-Code
E7 E - Tense choices in an interview
Einleitung
Mini-description: Lead or complete a short interview in which you clearly distinguish between experience and one concrete finished event in the past.
You are working at E level, Year 7. Most of this course is in English. First try to understand from context, examples and media. Use the German hints only if you need them.
Core idea: Ask about life experience with the present perfect. Move to a concrete finished past event with the past simple.
Example: Have you ever performed on stage? – Yes, I have. – When did you do it? – I performed in our school concert last June.
I can ...
- I can ask about experiences with Have you ever ...?
- I can ask for concrete details with the past simple.
- I can give short, natural answers and follow-up questions.
- I can listen for time signals such as ever, never, last year, yesterday, in 2025.
- I can improve my interview after feedback.
Before you start: quick check
Complete these two mini-dialogues orally.
A: Have you ever ___ a school competition? B: Yes, I ___. A: When ___ you take part? B: I ___ part last year.
Check: taken – have – did – took. Hint: ever asks about experience. last year gives a finished past time.
Media warm-up: What makes an interview work?
Look at the image. With a partner, name three things a good interviewer does. Try English first: listen, react, ask a follow-up question, show interest.
Mini-transfer: Turn one closed question into a better interview question. Example: Did you like the trip? → What did you like about the trip?
Notice: two tense jobs
The two tenses do different jobs in this interview pattern.
| Job | Tense | Example | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| experience up to now | present perfect | Have you ever visited London? | ever, never, before, already |
| concrete finished event | past simple | When did you go? | yesterday, last summer, in 2025, two weeks ago |
Present perfect: have/has + past participle → I have tried, she has seen. Past simple: regular -ed or an irregular past form → played, went, saw.
Important: Do not use the present perfect together with a finished past-time expression such as yesterday or last year in this basic interview pattern.
Decision shortcut
Ask yourself:
- Is a finished past time named or clearly asked for? → Use past simple.
- Is it about experience up to now and no finished time is given? → Use present perfect.
English first: Have you ever won a prize? → experience. Then zoom in: When did you win it? → one finished event.
German help if needed: Beim Present Perfect steht die Erfahrung bis jetzt im Vordergrund. Sobald Du einen abgeschlossenen Zeitpunkt in der Vergangenheit nennst oder erfragst, wechselst Du hier ins Simple Past.
Listening and Viewing
This BBC Learning English video compares present perfect and past simple with several speakers. Watch in two rounds.
Round 1 – gist: What is the main grammar contrast? Do not stop the video.
Round 2 – notice: Pause when you hear or see examples. Write one present-perfect example and one past-simple example. Underline the words that give you a time clue.
Feedback check: If your past-simple example contains a finished time such as yesterday, last week or a date, your choice probably fits. If your present-perfect example is about experience without a finished time, it probably fits.
Short grammar replay
Watch only as much as you need. After watching, explain the difference in one English sentence. Then compare:
Present perfect connects past experience with now; past simple tells us about a finished past event.
Reading: a fictional interview
Profiles are fictional. No private social-media data is used.
Maya, 13, school reporter interviews Leo, 13, basketball player.
Maya: Have you ever played in a big tournament? Leo: Yes, I have. I’ve played in three school tournaments. Maya: Which one was the most exciting? Leo: The tournament in Stuttgart last April. Maya: What happened there? Leo: We lost our first game, but then we won the next two matches. Maya: Have you ever scored the final point in a match? Leo: No, I haven’t. But I scored twelve points in our last game. Maya: How did you feel after that game? Leo: I was tired, but really proud.
Reading challenge
- Find two questions about experience.
- Find three sentences about concrete finished events.
- Explain why last April changes the tense choice.
- Write one strong follow-up question for Leo.
Hint: Look for Have you ever ...? first. Then look for finished-time clues and a sequence of past events.
Possible feedback: Experience questions use the present perfect. The details about the Stuttgart tournament and the last game use the past simple. Last April is a finished time in the past.
Vocabulary in context
Do not learn the words alone. Use them in interview moves.
| Useful move | Language | Try it |
|---|---|---|
| ask about experience | Have you ever ...? | Have you ever performed in public? |
| ask for a time | When did ...? | When did you first try it? |
| ask for details | What happened? | Add two details. |
| ask about feelings | How did you feel? | Answer with because. |
| react naturally | Really? / That sounds ... / No way! | Choose a suitable reaction. |
| continue | What happened next? | Keep the interview moving. |
Useful verbs: try – tried – tried, visit – visited – visited, win – won – won, go – went – gone, see – saw – seen, take – took – taken, do – did – done, meet – met – met.
Pronunciation: make the interview easy to understand
Listen to the word interview. Then say it naturally in a short phrase: an interview, school interview, interview question.
For regular past verbs, -ed does not always sound the same. Notice the three common endings in words such as wanted, liked and played.
Your goal is intelligibility, not accent-free English. Speak clearly enough that your partner understands the tense and the key detail.
Micro-practice: Say played – watched – wanted and then use each word in one past-simple sentence.
Try: complete the interview
Choose the tense that fits the job.
Reporter: Have you ever (visit) another country without your family? Sam: Yes, I (visit) Austria with my class. Reporter: When (go) there? Sam: We (go) there in May. Reporter: What (like) best? Sam: I (love) the hiking day.
Check: Have you ever visited ...? / I have visited ... / When did you go ...? / We went ... / What did you like ...? / I loved ...
Improve it: Add one reaction and one follow-up question.
Speaking: the interview ladder
Work in pairs. Use a fictional or non-private topic: school event, hobby, trip, performance, sport, book, game or project.
- Start with one experience question: Have you ever ...?
- Listen to the answer.
- Ask for one concrete past event: When did ...? / Where did ...? / What happened?
- Ask one follow-up about feelings, reasons or results.
- React naturally.
- Swap roles.
Less support: Do the second round without reading sentence starters.
Challenge: Keep the conversation going for about 60–90 seconds and include at least two tense changes that make sense.
Feedback that helps
After the interview, give your partner one short piece of feedback.
| Check | Feedback starter |
|---|---|
| tense choice | Your tense fits because ... |
| follow-up question | A stronger follow-up could be ... |
| clarity | I understood ... clearly. |
| improvement | Next time, try ... |
Do not correct every mistake. Focus first on whether the tense communicates the intended meaning.
Writing: mini interview
Write a short interview of 8–10 lines between two fictional students. Include:
- two experience questions in the present perfect,
- at least two past-simple follow-up questions,
- one natural reaction,
- one answer with a finished past-time expression.
Then revise. Circle the present-perfect forms and underline the past-simple forms.
AI rule: If you use an AI tool allowed by your school, use it only to check a small point or ask for feedback. Check whether its language fits Year 7 E level. Do not let it replace your own interview. Do not send private recordings, personal data or classmates’ work to an external AI service without permission.
Mediation: short and useful
Your German-speaking classmate asks: Warum steht hier erst Present Perfect und dann Simple Past?
Explain the idea in simple English first. If needed, add one short German sentence. Do not translate the whole interview.
Possible start: The first question asks about experience. The next question asks about one finished event.
E-look ahead: past perfect, only when you really need it
The past perfect can show that one past action happened before another past action.
Before the interview started, Leo had checked his notes.
This is only a controlled look ahead. For this course, your main target remains present perfect vs. past simple.
Privacy and safe media use
Before recording, look at the setup and ask: Who will be recorded? Who can access the file? Has everyone agreed?
If you record an interview, recording is optional and should stay private unless everyone involved has agreed to another use. Do not upload recordings without permission. Use fictional profiles instead of private social-media information. External AI tools should not receive recordings or personal data unless your school and the people involved have explicitly allowed it.
Mini-transfer
Imagine the answer is:
Yes, I have. I’ve performed on stage twice.
Write the next two interviewer turns so that you move from experience to one concrete past event and then to a meaningful follow-up.
One possible route: When did you last perform on stage? → How did you feel before the show?
Self-check: Can do
Rate yourself: yes / almost / not yet.
| I can ... | yes | almost | not yet |
|---|---|---|---|
| ask about experience with the present perfect | |||
| switch to the past simple for a finished event | |||
| ask a natural follow-up question | |||
| understand the key point in a short grammar video | |||
| improve my interview after feedback |
Next step: E7 E - Follow-up questions in an interview
Interaktive Aufgaben
Quiz: Teste Dein Wissen
Which question asks about life experience? (Have you ever won a competition?) (!When did you win the competition?) (!Where did you win the competition?) (!Who won the competition?)
Which sentence gives a concrete finished past time? (I visited London last summer.) (!I have visited London.) (!I have never visited London.) (!Have you visited London?)
Choose the correct follow-up after: Have you ever played in a band? Yes, I have. (When did you play your first concert?) (!When have you played your first concert?) (!Have you played your first concert yesterday?) (!Do you played your first concert?)
Which form completes: Have you ever ___ a prize? (won) (!win) (!winning) (!wins)
Which form completes: We ___ the match yesterday. (won) (!have won) (!have winning) (!win)
Which time expression usually points to the past simple in this interview pattern? (last Friday) (!ever) (!never) (!before)
Which answer fits: Have you ever met a famous person? (Yes, I have.) (!Yes, I did yesterday.) (!Yes, I am.) (!Yes, I meet.)
Which question asks for a concrete detail after an experience answer? (Where did it happen?) (!Have you ever done it?) (!Have you ever tried it?) (!Have you ever seen it?)
Which sentence uses the present perfect correctly? (I have tried surfing twice.) (!I have tried surfing last July.) (!I did tried surfing.) (!I have try surfing twice.)
What is the main goal of tense choice in this interview? (to show whether you mean experience or a finished past event) (!to make every sentence longer) (!to avoid asking follow-up questions) (!to use only irregular verbs)
Memory
| Have you ever ...? | experience question |
| When did ...? | finished-event question |
| ever | up-to-now signal |
| yesterday | finished-time signal |
| past participle | third verb form |
| follow-up | question after an answer |
Drag and Drop
| Ordne die richtigen Begriffe zu. | Thema |
|---|---|
| present perfect | life experience without a finished past time |
| past simple | one completed event at a finished past time |
| past participle | form used after have or has |
| follow-up question | question that asks for more detail |
| time signal | word or phrase that helps you choose the tense |
Kreuzworträtsel
| experience | What can Have you ever questions ask about? |
| interview | What kind of conversation has an interviewer and an interviewee? |
| participle | What is the third verb form called in the present perfect? |
| yesterday | Which one-word time signal clearly points to a finished past time? |
| irregular | What kind of verb is go went gone? |
| timeline | What visual can help you place events in time? |
LearningApps
Lückentext
Offene Aufgaben
Leicht
- Question switch: Write four Have you ever ...? questions and add one past-simple follow-up to each.
- Time-signal hunt: Collect six time signals from this course and sort them into experience or finished past time.
- Clear speech: Read a six-line interview aloud. Mark the words you want to stress so the meaning is easy to follow.
- Two stars and one next step: Give a partner two specific strengths and one useful next step after a practice interview.
Standard
- Fictional profile interview: Invent a safe fictional profile and conduct a 60–90 second interview with meaningful tense changes.
- Detail builder: Take three present-perfect experience answers and develop each into two past-simple detail questions.
- Experience map: Create a small visual showing five experiences and add one concrete past event to two of them.
- Explain the choice: Explain to a German-speaking partner why two selected tense changes in your interview are meaningful.
Schwer
- Free interview: Conduct a two-minute interview with only five keywords as notes. React and adapt your questions spontaneously.
- Perspective switch: Rewrite one short interview from the interviewee’s point of view as a first-person report.
- Grammar detective: Find and correct six tense-choice errors in a self-written interview, and justify each change in simple English.
- Mini presentation: Present your best interview sequence and explain how your tense choices guide the listener from experience to detail.
|
|
Lernkontrolle
- Meaning first: You receive six interview lines without tense labels. Decide which tense fits each line and justify your choice by referring to meaning and time.
- Interview logic: Improve a weak interview that repeats Have you ever ...? by adding past-simple follow-ups and natural reactions.
- Listening transfer: After a short teacher-read interview, reconstruct where the speakers moved from experience to a concrete event and explain the clues you heard.
- Rewrite for clarity: Rewrite a short interview in which yesterday is incorrectly combined with the present perfect. Explain what changed.
- Spontaneous response: Answer one experience question, then respond to two unplanned follow-up questions with clear tense choices.
- Transfer: Compare one English tense choice with how you would naturally express the same meaning in German. Focus on meaning, not word-for-word translation.
Lernnachweis
For a successful learning record, you should be able to show:
- a short interview with experience questions and concrete past-event questions,
- understandable and meaningful tense choices,
- at least one natural follow-up and one reaction,
- evidence that you used feedback to improve a second version,
- a short explanation of why you chose present perfect or past simple in two examples,
- responsible media use: fictional or permitted content, no unwanted uploads, and no private data.
A recording can be used only if it is voluntary and handled privately or with explicit permission. A written dialogue is an equal alternative.
OERs zum Thema
Free media used in this course: The images and audio above come from Wikimedia Commons. The embedded videos are used as learning media from their respective YouTube channels.
Verknüpfte Lernbereiche
aiMOOC-Projekte
MOOCwiki · Deutsch
Nach dem Lernen ist vor dem Lernen
Entdecke direkt den nächsten Lernkurs. Weitere Inhalte erscheinen, wenn Du weiter nach unten scrollst.
Zur MOOCwiki-HauptseiteMediathek
Mediathek wird aus dem Wiki geladen ...
Keine passenden Inhalte gefunden. Bitte ändere Suche oder Filter.