The chocolate bar that melted: the present perfect with just for news
About this lesson
This A2 ESL lesson plan teaches the present perfect with just for news from a moment ago: The popcorn has just popped!
- Grammar
- Have or has + just + past participle (I've just burned the toast.), questions such as Have you just eaten?, and the past simple for a finished time.
- Topic
- The microwave oven, from the famous story of Percy Spencer's melted chocolate bar near Boston to popcorn at American movie theaters, with words like heat, pop, kernel and magnetron.
- Activities
- The show's post on who invented the microwave to read, a kitchen dialogue and a viewer's question to hear, self-checking drills, a chat of kitchen news and open-box prompts.
What's inside
Chapter 1Pop, pop, pop!
Chapter 2Let's read: Rick's question
Chapter 3Let's listen: a new microwave!
Chapter 4Grammar: It has just popped!
Chapter 5Let's talk: kitchen news
Chapter 6Homework
- Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
- Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
- Fill in the gaps with the words from the lessonFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the correct option: just now or a finished time?Choose the optionUnlock
- Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: write the past participleFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the correct option: the friends' group chatChoose the optionUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: Maya's question notebookDrag and dropUnlock
- Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
Vocabulary
10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.
+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words
- popcorn
- kernel
- chocolate bar
- magnetron
- movie theater
- lobby
- ocean liner
Grammar: the present perfect with just
Just turns the present perfect into a way to share very new news, something that happened a moment ago: The microwave has just beeped! In a small kitchen with a new microwave, learners put just between have and the participle, ask Have you just…?, learn the past participles they need and use the past simple once a finished time is named.
The popcorn has just popped!
Very new news: have / has + just + past participle. It happened a moment ago.
Have or has + just + past participle
The form has three parts: have or has, then just, then the past participle. I've just burned the toast. She's just made popcorn. It's just beeped. He's, she's and it's here mean has, not is.
| Who | have / has + just | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | I've just = I have just | I've just burned the toast. |
| you | you've just = you have just | You've just eaten my snack! |
| he | he's just = he has just | He's just told a terrible joke. |
| she | she's just = she has just | She's just made popcorn. |
| it | it's just = it has just | It's just beeped. (the microwave) |
| we | we've just = we have just | We've just found the answer. |
| they | they've just = they have just | They've just popped! (the kernels) |
Where just goes
Just comes after have or has, right before the participle: We've just found the answer, not We just have found the answer. In a question, the person comes before just: Has Maya just burned her toast?
Where does just go?
just goes between have / has and the past participle: I've just eaten. In questions: Have / Has + the person + just + past participle: Has she just left? (Not: I just have eaten. Not: Has just she left?)
Questions and short answers
Questions open with Have or Has: Have they just arrived? Has the popcorn just popped? Short answers keep only have or has, with no participle and no just: Yes, it has. No, they haven't.
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Have you just eaten? | Yes, I have. / No, I haven't. |
| Has Maya just burned her toast? | Yes, she has. / No, she hasn't. |
| Has the popcorn just popped? | Yes, it has. / No, it hasn't. |
| Have they just arrived? | Yes, they have. / No, they haven't. |
Past participles: popped, eaten, gone
Regular verbs add -ed, and a short verb like pop doubles its last letter: heated, popped, burned. Many common verbs have a form of their own: eaten, gone, stolen, written. Some match the past simple: made, bought, found, sent.
| Verb | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| heat | heated | heated (+ -ed) |
| pop | popped | popped (short verb: double the p) |
| burn | burned | burned |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| go | went | gone |
| steal | stole | stolen |
| take | took | taken |
| write | wrote | written |
| begin | began | begun |
| fall | fell | fallen |
| break | broke | broken |
| come | came | come |
| make, buy, find, send, have | made, bought, found, sent, had | made, bought, found, sent, had (the same) |
| leave, tell, win, wake | left, told, won, woke | left, told, won, woken |
Just now or a finished time?
Just needs no time word: The popcorn has just popped. Name a finished time, such as five minutes ago or yesterday, and the verb moves to the past simple: It popped five minutes ago. American English also allows I just made popcorn.
Just now or a finished time?
just now: have / has + just
- The popcorn has just popped.
- I've just burned the toast.
- Biscuit has just eaten a piece!
a finished time: past simple
- It popped five minutes ago.
- I burned the toast yesterday.
- He ate a piece at 7 p.m.
A finished time? Use the past simple
With a finished time (five minutes ago, yesterday, at 7 a.m., last night), use the past simple: I made it five minutes ago. (Not: I have just made it five minutes ago.) In American English, people also say just + past simple: I just made popcorn. In this lesson, we practice have / has + just.
In the Toaster's kitchen
- The microwave has just beeped!
- Maya has just burned her toast again.
- Biscuit has just eaten a piece of popcorn!
- Have you just made popcorn? – Yes, I have!
- Marco made the popcorn ten minutes ago.
Common mistakes
I just have made popcorn.
I've just made popcorn.
just goes after have
I've just make popcorn.
I've just made popcorn.
the past participle, not the base form
She has just went out.
She has just gone out.
gone (past participle), not went
I have just burned it yesterday.
I burned it yesterday.
a finished time: past simple
More lessons on this grammar: Present perfect lessons and exercises
Try the present perfect with just exercises
Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.
What's in the lesson
- 17 auto-checked exercises
- 4 games
- 1 real-life document
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 set of word cards
- 2 audio clips
- 2 pictures
- 2 transcripts
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- share very new news with have or has + just + past participle: The microwave has just beeped. I've just made popcorn.
- put just after have or has, and after the person in questions: Has she just left?, not Has just she left?
- ask and answer about very recent actions: Have you just eaten? Yes, I have. No, I haven't.
- switch to the past simple with a finished time: I made it five minutes ago, not I have just made it five minutes ago
Lesson 5 opens Clever tech at home, the second unit of English A2.2 · Curious Minds, where students learn to say what has just happened and what they have or haven't done yet. It builds on A2.2 lessons 1 and 2, which used the present perfect for experiences with ever and never and set it against the past simple; lesson 6 adds already and yet. A beeping microwave and popping kernels give has just fresh news to report.
Students spin a wheel of snack and kitchen questions, then learn ten words, from heat and pop to lobby and ocean liner, with pictures and audio. The show's post answers a viewer's two questions: who invented the microwave, and is the chocolate-bar story true? True-or-false and multiple-choice questions check it. Two AI-voiced listenings follow, Marco and Maya making popcorn in a tiny kitchen, then Rick's own message with his popcorn challenge. After the scheme, the grammar chapter has four self-checking exercises, among them a table of just + make for every person. To speak, students answer Marco's kitchen news in a chat, then open boxes such as Tell your partner some good news: I've just …
Homework is nine tasks that check themselves: a word match, an anagram and a gap-fill for the new words, a choice between just and a finished time, sentences to unjumble, a gap-fill of past participles, a group chat with gaps, Maya's question notebook to complete and a short-answer quiz.
- Grammar:
- present perfect + just · have / has + just + past participle · Have you just…? · just vs past simple + a time
- Topic:
- microwave oven · Percy Spencer · popcorn · movie theaters · inventions · Curious Minds
Teaching tips
- Pause the kitchen dialogue after each piece of news: students say what has just happened, from Maya has just burned her toast to Biscuit has just eaten half the popcorn.
- Sort the past participles before the drills: one column for -ed forms (heated, popped), one for new forms (eaten, gone) and one for forms that match the past simple (made, bought).
- Show a card with a finished time, such as yesterday or ten minutes ago, and students turn I've just made popcorn into I made popcorn ten minutes ago.
- Hold a quick vote on the chocolate story after the reading: true or not? The post says people tell it in different ways, and students explain their vote.
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Students work in their own accounts, in sync with you during the lesson, and the practice exercises check themselves.
The whole course: English A2.2 · Curious Minds
32 lessons that pick up where English A2.1 ends, in simple American English, from the present perfect to used to, have to and relative clauses. Eight units cover nature, tech at home, heroes, healthy habits, fashion, school, animals and traditions. Pictures and definitions replace translations, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course
Unit 1 Wonders of nature
the present perfect with ever and never, been to, superlatives with I've ever, articles with place names
Unit 2 Clever tech at home
the present perfect with just, already and yet, phrasal verbs, subject and object questions
Lesson 5 · you're hereThe chocolate bar that meltedThe present perfect with just
Lesson 6Has my lunch arrived yet?Already and yet with the present perfect
Lesson 7Turn it on, turn it offPhrasal verbs with it and them
Lesson 8The girl who tests waterSubject and object questions
Unit 3 Everyday heroes
the past continuous, when and while, adjective order, story linkers
Unit 4 Healthy and happy habits
will for predictions, the zero and first conditionals, so do I and neither do I
Lesson 13Why does school start later in California?Will and won't for predictions, decisions and offers
Lesson 14Brain freeze!The zero conditional for facts
Lesson 15Doctor's orders: go to the park!The first conditional with if and will
Lesson 16Walking in the mall at 7 a.m.Agreeing with So do I and Neither do I
Unit 5 Style through time
used to, didn't use to, made of and made from, still and not anymore
Unit 6 School in America
have to, must and mustn't, be allowed to, had to
Unit 7 Amazing animals
relative clauses with which, that, who and where, look and sound + adjective, adjectives with prepositions
Lesson 25The bird that copies car alarmsRelative clauses with which and that
Lesson 26Alligators and crocodiles togetherWho, which, that and where in relative clauses
Lesson 27Sailors thought it was a mermaidLook, sound and feel as linking verbs
Lesson 28Beagles at the airportAdjectives with prepositions
Unit 8 Traditions we love
invitations, will vs going to, so and such, one and ones
