Freelance Work and Learning: Past Simple, Present Perfect, and /p/–/b/ Pronunciation

Hello again. Last lesson, you used work-and-learning expressions to describe routines and current activities. Today, you will move into the past: first, how freelance work began; then, what someone has learned since. You will listen, reconstruct what you heard, and shadow a short passage to make /p/ and /b/ easier to distinguish.

Objective: Reconstruct an account of freelance work history and recent learning, choosing past simple or present perfect according to meaning and producing a clear /p/–/b/ contrast.
Estimated time: About 58 minutes, including a 10-minute SRS review.
Success criteria: Your reconstruction preserves the main events and their time relationships; you can explain your tense choices; and a recording makes words beginning with /p/ and /b/ distinguishable.

1. Hear the difference in time — 8 minutes

Both tenses can describe something that happened before now. The question is how the speaker places that event in time. Past simple places an event in a finished past period. Present perfect connects past experience, progress, or a continuing situation to the present.

Watch “I’ve done” or “I did”? from BBC Learning English. Listen for the meaning first; you do not need to memorise every example.

Here are five work-and-learning examples. Read each pair of meaning and sentence together:

1. A finished event: “I prepared a proposal last Monday.”
2. Progress in an open period: “I have prepared three proposals this month.”
3. A past event with a stated date: “She took an online course in 2022.”
4. Learning that matters now: “She has improved her editing skills.”
5. Work that began earlier and continues: “I have worked with clients for six months.”

Form the present perfect with have/has + past participle: have worked, has improved, have taken. Some participles are irregular: take–took–taken, write–wrote–written, do–did–done. A present result does not make every past event present perfect: “I sent the update yesterday” remains past simple because yesterday is a finished time.

The timeline below illustrates one present-perfect meaning: something began in the past and is still true now. Present perfect can also describe an experience or a recent achievement, even when the action itself has finished.

2. Reconstruct an authentic freelance story — 14 minutes

Listen to My Job from ELLLO Talks, in which a freelancer explains how she began voice work. Do not read the on-page transcript yet. The talk mainly tells a finished sequence of past events; it is not a recording of someone describing recent learning. You will add that second perspective in the next section.

Use three passes, keeping the transcript covered until the last one:

1. First listen: Note the old job, the reason for looking online, and the new kind of work.
2. Second listen: Note four actions in their order. Pay attention to verbs such as moved, decided, found, and got.
3. Reconstruct: Write a short account from memory in four to six sentences. Keep the important events and their order; do not worry about reproducing every word.

Now check the transcript. Mark PS beside finished events and circle the sentence that describes the speaker’s current work. That final sentence uses the present simple, not the present perfect: a story can move between time perspectives. Notice, too, that the talk does not supply examples of present perfect. Do not change its past-simple verbs merely to practise a new tense.

3. Add recent learning to the history — 14 minutes

The following original, fictional voice note supplies the recent-learning part missing from the authentic talk. It is a separate story, not a continuation of the ELLLO speaker’s account.

If your device has a read-aloud or text-to-speech function, play the voice note with the text hidden and listen twice. Alternatively, record yourself reading it once; after working on the ELLLO talk, replay your recording with the text covered. If neither option is available, use the ELLLO recording for listening practice and the voice note below for tense analysis.

In 2021, I worked part-time for an online shop. I wrote product descriptions and prepared proposals for new clients. I started freelancing in 2022 and built a portfolio of sample pages. Since then, I have taken two online courses and have improved my editing skills. This month, I have applied feedback to three drafts. I have also learned to clarify project requirements before I begin a job. Last Friday, I sent a progress update to a client. I have made progress, but I still need more practice.

After listening, hide the text and reconstruct five or six sentences. Include at least two dated past events, two developments connected to now, and the progress update. Then uncover the text and check your verbs.

A useful way to explain the choices is: “I started freelancing in 2022” locates an event in a finished year. “Since then, I have taken two online courses” looks from that starting point up to now. “Last Friday, I sent a progress update” returns to a particular finished day.

For a quick form check, complete these aloud before checking the answers:

• Last Friday, I ___ a progress update. (send)
• Since 2022, I ___ two online courses. (take)
• She ___ her portfolio yesterday. (update)

Check: sent; have taken; updated. Avoid I have sent it last Friday and I have took two courses. The finished-time phrase calls for past simple in the first sentence; taken is the participle in the second.

Finish this section with two new sentences of your own: one about a completed work or learning event at a specific past time, and one about something you have learned or improved up to now. Fictional details are fine. This is a short bridge to the fuller unscripted introduction in the next lesson.

4. Shadow /p/ and /b/ — 9 minutes

For /p/, bring your lips together, then release them with a noticeable burst of air at the start of pay. For /b/, use the same lip position but release it with much less air at the start of bay. Hold a thin piece of paper near your mouth if it helps you notice the stronger puff on /p/. Clear contrast matters more than exaggeration.

Return to the ELLLO recording. Find the sentence where the speaker says she found “a platform for freelancers for a bunch of different kinds of jobs.” In platform, practise the opening /p/; in bunch, practise /b/. Listen once, then play short portions and shadow them: start speaking just behind the recorded voice, matching its pace. Repeat the passage three times.

Next, record yourself saying these pairs and sentences:

• pay / bay; pack / back
• “I prepared a proposal and built a portfolio.”
• “I began freelance work, and I have practised since then.”

Play your recording without looking at the words. Can you tell which words begin with /p/ and which begin with /b/? If not, repeat at a slower pace, then return to normal speed.

Self-check rubric: Give yourself 0, 1, or 2 for each area: fluency (steady pace), accuracy (tense and verb forms), range (both tenses and useful work expressions), and clarity (events in order; /p/ and /b/ distinguishable). To request feedback, paste your two reconstructions, your two new sentences, and your own corrections. Note where you were unsure, and add any recurring correction to your personal error checklist.

5. Keep the contrast available — 10 minutes

Past simple helped you reconstruct what happened and when; present perfect helped you describe experience and development up to now. In the authentic talk, listen for the sequence before worrying about grammar labels. In the fictional voice note, notice how a speaker can give dated history and then explain what has changed since.

Next, you will use these tenses in an unscripted two-minute introduction about work and learning. Today’s short recordings and error notes will give you material to draw on without reading a script.

Add to SRS: Spend 10 minutes on each study day retrieving answers before turning cards over. Review new cards after 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 days; use your seventh day for review. Save the CSV below as a .csv file and import its fields as front, back, tag. For dictation cards, use the ELLLO recording for the first and a recording of the fictional voice note for the second. Replace the final template with an error you actually made, or omit it for now.

front,back,tag
"Complete: In 2022, I ___ a portfolio of sample pages.","In 2022, I built a portfolio of sample pages.","work-learning-collocation"
"Complete: Last Friday, I ___ a progress update to a client.","Last Friday, I sent a progress update to a client.","work-learning-collocation"
"Complete: This month, I have ___ feedback to three drafts.","This month, I have applied feedback to three drafts.","work-learning-collocation"
"Complete: Before the job began, I ___ project requirements.","Before the job began, I clarified project requirements.","work-learning-collocation"
"Last Friday, I ___ (send) a progress update.","Last Friday, I sent a progress update.","work-learning-grammar"
"Since 2022, I ___ (take) two online courses.","Since 2022, I have taken two online courses.","work-learning-grammar"
"In 2021, I ___ (work) for an online shop.","In 2021, I worked for an online shop.","work-learning-grammar"
"Since then, she ___ (improve) her editing skills.","Since then, she has improved her editing skills.","work-learning-grammar"
"Correct: I have took two online courses.","I have taken two online courses. Use have plus the past participle.","work-learning-grammar"
"Dictation: play the end of the ELLLO talk and write the final sentence.","And now I am a full-time freelance voice artist.","work-learning-dictation"
"Dictation: play your voice-note recording and write the sentence beginning This month.","This month, I have applied feedback to three drafts.","work-learning-dictation"
"Say and record the pair; identify the word with the stronger puff of air.","Pack has initial /p/ with a stronger puff; back begins with /b/.","work-learning-pronunciation"
"My original sentence: [replace with your actual error]","My corrected sentence: [replace with your correction and a short reason]","my-error"