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What should you do at a powwow? Past perfect vs past simple: by the time, never… before

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches the past perfect vs past simple through Crow Fair in Montana and powwow etiquette for first-time guests.

Grammar
By the time + past simple, with the past perfect for the earlier action (By the time we got there, the Grand Entry had started.), had never… before and the two meanings of when.
Topic
Crow Fair in Montana, its tipi camps by the river, its powwow and rodeo, with words such as Grand Entry, regalia and beadwork.
Activities
A guide to read, a studio dialogue and a listener's message to hear, self-checking drills, a chat and a guide for first-time guests to build.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: welcome, guests!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: at the fairVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: the Tipi Capital of the World

    • Look at the photo: a camp by the riverPictureUnlock
    • Read Jade's guide on the show's websiteArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: back from Crow Fair

    • Listen to Jade and DariusListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: Silas's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: by the time we got there…

    • Study the scheme: past perfect or past simple?Grammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: past perfect or past simple?Fill in the gapsTry it
    • Choose the correct answer: what happened first?QuizUnlock
    • Fill in the table: by the time + past simple, past perfectFill in the tableUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: a guide for first-time guests

    • Choose the right replies: tips for AllenChatTry it
    • Put the parts of Darius's guide in the correct orderDrag and dropUnlock
    • Sort the words into the correct columns: do or don't?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: complete your guideChoose the optionUnlock
    • Open a box and answer: help a visitorOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the past perfect or the past simpleFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Darius answers SilasDrag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Silas's rodeo guideChoose the optionUnlock

34 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • Grand Entry
  • regalia
  • beadwork
  • arena
  • rodeo
  • canvas
  • etiquette
  • riverbank
  • racetrack

Grammar: past perfect vs past simple

Both tenses talk about the past, but the past perfect marks the action that came first: By the time we got there, the Grand Entry had started. With a first trip to Crow Fair, learners put by the time with the later action, tell a first experience with had never… before, and read when two ways.

Past perfect or past simple?

Two actions in the past: the past perfect (had + past participle) for the one that happened first, the past simple for the one that happened next.

First and next: two past events

When two past actions meet in one sentence, the one that happened first takes had + participle: the Grand Entry started, and then we got to the arena. The past simple tells the next step, or a whole story told in order.

Two past events

pastnow
  • first: the Grand Entry had started
  • next: we got to the arena
  • now: we tell the story

Which tense where?

PatternWhat it meansExample
by the time + past simple, past perfectthe past perfect action happened firstBy the time we got there, the Grand Entry had started.
had never / had ever … beforeup to that moment in the pastDarius had never seen a Grand Entry before.
when + past simple, past simple= then: one action right after the otherWhen we arrived, the dancers started.
when + past simple, past perfect= earlier: the other action happened firstWhen we arrived, the dancers had started.
after / beforethe word shows the order, so both tenses are fineAfter the dancers entered (or had entered), a song began.

After by the time: the past simple

After by the time, the later action takes the past simple, and the earlier one the past perfect. Don't swap the tenses or use only one: By the time we got there, the Grand Entry started and By the time we had gotten there, it started are both wrong.

After by the time: the past simple

After by the time, use the past simple. The other action happened earlier, so it takes the past perfect: By the time we got there, the Grand Entry had started. Not: By the time we got there, the Grand Entry started. Not: By the time we had gotten there, it started.

Had never… before, for every person

Had never or had ever + participle + before describes experience up to a past moment: Darius had never seen a Grand Entry before. Questions start with Had: Had you ever seen one before the trip? American English uses gotten: We had gotten up at five.

had never … before, every person

Personhad never … beforeQuestion with ever
II had never seen a powwow before.Had I ever seen one before?
youYou had never seen a powwow before.Had you ever seen one before?
heHe had never seen a powwow before.Had he ever seen one before?
sheShe had never seen a powwow before.Had she ever seen one before?
itIt had never rained there before.Had it ever rained there before?
weWe had never seen a powwow before.Had we ever seen one before?
theyThey had never seen a powwow before.Had they ever seen one before?

In a past story: had never … before

In a story about the past, the past perfect shows the order clearly: I had never seen a Grand Entry before that day. In American English, get → got → gotten: We had gotten up at five. Short forms: I'd never seen, we'd gotten.

When: then or earlier?

With the past simple in both clauses, when means “then”: When we sat down, the drums started. With the past perfect, the other action came earlier: When we sat down, the drums had started. After before or after, either tense works, since the word shows the order.

when: two meanings

past simple + past simple = then

  • When we sat down, the drums started. (We sat down. Then the drums started.)
  • When the flag song began, everyone stood up.

past simple + past perfect = earlier

  • When we sat down, the drums had started. (The drums started first.)
  • When we left, the stars had come out.

At Crow Fair and at Silas's first rodeo

  • By the time Jade and Darius showed up, families had put up more than 1,000 tipis.
  • Darius had never been to a powwow before.
  • Had you ever seen a Grand Entry before the trip?
  • When the flag song started, everyone stood up.
  • When they left that night, the stars had come out.
  • By the time the first rider came out, Silas had eaten two hot dogs.

Common mistakes

  • By the time we got there, the Grand Entry started.

    By the time we got there, the Grand Entry had started.

    it happened first: had + past participle

  • By the time we had gotten there, it started.

    By the time we got there, it had started.

    by the time + past simple; the earlier action: past perfect

  • Had you ever saw a rodeo before?

    Had you ever seen a rodeo before?

    had + past participle: see, saw, seen

More lessons on this grammar: Past perfect lessons and exercises · Past simple lessons and exercises

Try the past perfect vs past simple exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 20 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • show which past action came first with by the time: By the time we got there, the Grand Entry had started.
  • describe a first experience with had never… before: Darius had never been to a powwow before. Had you ever seen a Grand Entry before the trip?
  • hear the two meanings of when: When we sat down, the drums started (then) and the drums had started (earlier)
  • give a visitor polite tips for a powwow: Ask before you take a photo of someone. Regalia is not a costume.

Lesson 19 is the third lesson of Customs and manners, unit 5 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. It sets lesson 18's past perfect against the past simple, and its had never… before moves the have you ever…? of A2.2 lesson 1 into the past. Lesson 20 closes the unit with make and do. A first visit to a big fair, with late arrivals and first sights, gives the two tenses a clear order.

Students spin a wheel of questions about fairs, tents and photo manners, then learn twelve words, from put up and show up to regalia and racetrack, with pictures and audio. They read Jade's guide to Crow Fair, then hear Jade and Darius tell how they almost missed the Grand Entry, and Silas from Montana remember his first rodeo; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and four drills that mark themselves, including a table that joins two events with by the time. The speaking chapter builds a guide for first-time guests: a chat with Allen, Darius's tips to order, do's and don'ts to sort, a template and visitor situations.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the fair words and a memory game, then tense choices in new sentences, gaps for the past perfect or the past simple, word order, a quiz on which sentence is correct, Darius's answer to Silas with words to drag in, and Silas's guide to a first rodeo.

Grammar:
past perfect vs past simple · by the time · had never … before · when: two meanings
Topic:
Crow Fair · Montana · powwows · tipis · customs and manners · tips for visitors · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Act out by the time with two volunteers: one starts writing words on the board, the other walks in a few seconds later. The class says By the time she came in, he had written three words.
  • Before the guide, ask what students know about powwows and what a polite guest does at any big event. After reading, they check which of their ideas match the etiquette in Jade's guide.
  • Play the studio dialogue twice: first for what happened on the trip, then for every past perfect. For each one, students write the earlier action and the later one, such as families put up tipis → we showed up.
  • Make the guide personal: after Darius's guide, each student writes three do's and don'ts for a festival in their own town and reads them to a partner, who asks Had you ever been to it before?

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10Lettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12What happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16Can you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18They'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19 · you're hereWhat should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20How do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25A day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What's the difference between the past perfect and the past simple?
The past perfect shows which past action came first; the past simple tells actions in the order they happened. We got to the arena. The dancers started. is a story in order. When we got to the arena, the dancers had started. means the dancers started first. The B1 lesson What should you do at a powwow? on edio.ai practices the difference with a late arrival at Crow Fair.
How do you use “by the time” with the past perfect?
Put the past simple after by the time and the past perfect in the other clause, for the action that happened earlier: By the time Jade and Darius showed up, families had put up more than 1,000 tipis. Two slips to avoid: By the time we got there, the Grand Entry started, with no past perfect, and By the time we had gotten there, it started, with the tenses swapped.
Can you say “I never saw it before” instead of “I had never seen it before”?
Many Americans say it in everyday speech, but in a past story, had never… before is clearer: I had never seen a Grand Entry before that day. It describes the experience up to that past moment. The drills in What should you do at a powwow? on edio.ai practice had never + participle, and their typed gaps accept never saw too.
What are the two meanings of “when” in a past story?
The tense of the other verb decides. With the past simple in both clauses, when means “then”: When the flag song began, everyone stood up. With the past perfect, that action came earlier: When we left, the stars had come out. So When we arrived, the dancers started and When we arrived, the dancers had started tell two different stories.
Is it “had saw” or “had seen”?
It's had seen: the past perfect always takes the past participle, so it's see, saw, seen. Had you ever seen a rodeo before?, not Had you ever saw a rodeo before? In American English, get works the same way: We had gotten up at five. Both points are in the scheme of What should you do at a powwow?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai.
What should you do at a powwow?
At many powwows, guests stand when they're asked to, for example during the flag song after the Grand Entry, and men take off their hats. Ask before you take a photo of someone, and check the event's own photo rules. A dancer's traditional clothing is regalia, not a costume, so don't call it that and don't touch it. Jade's guide in What should you do at a powwow? gives these tips.
What is Crow Fair?
A big summer gathering at Crow Agency, Montana, the headquarters of the Apsáalooke Nation, also called the Crow. In the third week of August, families and friends of the Nation, people from other tribes and many guests camp along the Little Bighorn River in more than 1,000 tipis. There's a parade each morning, a powwow with drumming, singing and dancing, an all-Indian rodeo and horse races.
How do I teach the past perfect and the past simple to B1 students?
Give students two events and ask which came first, then let the past perfect mark it: The parade ended. Darius found his cap. → By the time Darius found his cap, the parade had ended. What should you do at a powwow? on edio.ai moves from Jade's guide and a studio dialogue to a timeline, a quiz on what happened first and a table of by the time sentences.
What's a good game for the past perfect vs the past simple?
Play “First or next?”: read out two past events, such as the bus left and I got to the stop, and the first student to join them correctly with by the time or when wins a point: By the time I got to the stop, the bus had left. Open boxes in What should you do at a powwow? on edio.ai add story prompts about showing up late.
What's good homework for the past perfect vs the past simple?
Homework works best when each gap has a clue that fixes the tense, such as by the time, never… before or since breakfast, so the answer is never a guess. The ten homework tasks in What should you do at a powwow? on edio.ai all check themselves, from tense choices in new sentences to Silas's guide to a first rodeo.
How do you practice the past perfect and the past simple one-to-one?
Swap stories about a first time: a first flight, a first concert, a first day at work. The teacher asks Had you ever done it before? and What had happened by the time you got there? The chat in What should you do at a powwow? on edio.ai needs no partner: Allen is going to his first powwow, and the student tells him about theirs.
Are there interactive exercises for the past perfect vs the past simple?
Yes. With no account, this page plays three parts of What should you do at a powwow?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai: Jade and Darius's dialogue about Crow Fair, a gap-fill where a time clue decides the tense and the chat with Allen. Everything else needs an account.
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