Passato Prossimo Practice

Overview

In this individual Year 12 Italian lesson, the student practises forming and using the passato prossimo with regular verbs ending in -are, -ere and -ire. The lesson moves from explicit teaching to guided production and a short communicative response appropriate to senior secondary learners.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• Identify the auxiliary verb avere in the passato prossimo.
• Form regular past participles from -are, -ere and -ire verbs.
• Use the correct participle endings: -ato, -uto and -ito.
• Produce accurate sentences about recent personal experiences.

Success criteria

• I can select the correct form of avere.
• I can change a regular infinitive into its past participle.
• I can write and say accurate passato prossimo sentences using all three conjugations.
• I can check my sentence for subject, auxiliary and participle accuracy.

Curriculum links

• Interacting in Italian by exchanging information about familiar and personal experiences.
• Creating spoken and written texts for a specific purpose and audience.
• Analysing how Italian grammar creates meaning, including tense and agreement.
• Translating and explaining meaning between Italian and English where appropriate.

Lesson structure (20 minutes)

1. 0–3 minutes – Hook and retrieval

Open with the introduction and retrieval slides. Ask the student: Che cosa hai fatto ieri? Display three familiar infinitives: guardare, ricevere, dormire. The student predicts how each might change when describing yesterday, without worrying about accuracy initially.

2. 3–7 minutes – Explicit instruction

Use the grammar explanation slides to model the structure:

subject + avere + past participle

Briefly revise avere: ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete, hanno. Then show the regular patterns:

• -are → -ato: parlare → parlato, studiare → studiato
• -ere → -uto: credere → creduto, ricevere → ricevuto
• -ire → -ito: dormire → dormito, partire → partito

Model complete sentences such as Ho studiato italiano, Hai ricevuto un messaggio and Abbiamo dormito bene. Emphasise that regular verbs use avere in this practice set.

3. 7–12 minutes – Guided formation practice

Distribute the passato prossimo formation worksheet. The student completes the first section by transforming six infinitives into past participles, with two examples from each conjugation:

ascoltare, visitare, vendere, rispondere, aprire, finire.

Review each answer immediately. Next, the student completes four sentence frames by selecting the correct form of avere and participle, for example:

• Io ________ (guardare) un film.
• Tu ________ (ricevere) una telefonata.
• Lei ________ (partire) alle otto.
• Noi ________ (studiare) per l’esame.

4. 12–16 minutes – Personalised production

Return to the speaking practice slides. Ask the student to create three original sentences about the previous day or weekend: one -are verb, one -ere verb and one -ire verb. Suggested prompts are Che cosa hai fatto? Che cosa hai visto? Hai studiato, mangiato o ascoltato musica?

The teacher listens and records one strength and one correction. If needed, prompt with the infinitive but allow the student to self-correct rather than supplying the whole sentence.

5. 16–19 minutes – Accuracy challenge

The student completes the correction task on the error-correction and translation section. They identify and correct three errors, such as:

• Ho studuto per due ore.
• Abbiamo ricevita una e-mail.
• Hai ascoltare la musica.

They then translate one short sentence into Italian: “Yesterday, I visited a friend.” Expected response: Ieri ho visitato un amico / un’amica.

6. 19–20 minutes – Plenary check

Use the exit-ticket slide. The student says or writes one sentence using a regular -are, -ere or -ire verb. Ask them to explain the three checks: “Which auxiliary? Which participle ending? Does the sentence make sense?” Collect the worksheet or photograph the completed responses.

Resources

• the introduction, grammar, speaking practice and exit-ticket slides
• the passato prossimo formation worksheet
• Whiteboard or shared screen
• Pen or digital annotation tool
• Italian–English dictionary, if required for vocabulary support

Assessment

• Check the worksheet for accurate selection of avere and formation of -ato, -uto and -ito participles.
• Listen to the three personalised sentences and note whether the student independently applies all three regular conjugation patterns.
• Use the final exit sentence to identify the next teaching focus, such as auxiliary forms, spelling or vocabulary range.

Differentiation

• Support: provide a visible avere conjugation table and a verb bank grouped by -are, -ere and -ire.
• Support: allow the student to rehearse orally before writing and use colour coding for auxiliary and participle.
• EAL/SEN support: keep instructions short, model one item at a time, and provide sentence frames with optional English glosses.
• Extension: ask the student to add a time expression and a reason, for example Ieri ho studiato italiano perché ho un esame domani.