Using verb tenses games

In later lessons, you can use the same flash-cards to practice conjugating negatives and questions and other irregular verbs. The flashcard game should go like this. I am doing it this week. I did it last week. I have already done it. Not only do the students learn to use the correct tense with each of the keywords, they learn word order.

Students will make their own flashcards from this table , one tense at a time. Keyword on one side, and the answer conjugated on the flip side. Or design a colorful infographic of your own. Point out the list of keywords for present simple. Look at how many there are!

We use this tense a lot. Or pull out one of your favorite graphics like a bar chart so students can visualize it easily. Ask lower-level students to draw it in their notebooks so they can remember it better. You can explain at this point that these are called adverbs of frequency and they take a special place in the sentence, unlike regular adverbs which follow the main verb. Upper levels will probably prefer to have an already prepared set of cards but lower levels appreciate making a set that they can keep.

You can find a link to a prepared set of flashcards ready to print below in the blue download box. Students will need ample time to practice going through the flashcards before moving onto the next tense.

This practice time will probably go quickly with upper-level students. Be careful not to bore them. They prefer to be challenged. The goal is fluency and developing the habit to automatically associate the clue word with the verb tense.

Let them know that you have a quiz ready to test their skills in all four tenses and with plenty of irregular verbs at the end of the game. Find the link to download the quiz in the blue download box below.

Works every time. So boring. The idea is understood when we use present continuous. In fact, some actions are so rare, so different from our routine, we have to put reminders in our agenda.

When your students have a good grasp for the present, move onto simple past and associate the idea of dates. I need a date. Simple Past is all about chronological order. Very important idea. Last year, is not every year, and not this year. That trip to Spain is long ago finished. No connection to today. Allow a little practice time for simple past but most students get it quickly. Now shuffle all the cards and try three tenses.

We generally say that there are three ways to use the present perfect. But remember no dates, no details. Get your students to see the connection to the present. We often ask a general question in present perfect to begin a conversation. No dates.

In this insightful text, there are no precise dates. This is an example of present perfect at its purest. The idea of since and for is that the action began in the past and is still true today. This is probably the easiest context for learners. Recently is good enough. They will be slower and less sure of the difference between the two past tenses. Time yourself so more advanced students can try to beat your time! My time: !!! Download the slide deck from SlideShare to present the game in class.

The sets are on the desk in front of the room. One person from each team will go to the desk and pick a sentence each team has its own color. The team needs to decide where in the grid they will place the sentence.

Then someone from the team goes to the board and places the sentence in the chosen slot. All students are sitting in a circle and one student i. If no one gets up, the Speaker makes another sentence. If only one student gets up, they switch with the Speaker. By doing this activity, student not only practice grammar, but they also learn a lot of interesting things about their classmates.

To prepare for this activity, you will need dice one die per team , and a list of questions in present perfect e. Write one question on a separate piece of paper. Each team will receive a set of the papers with the questions written on them. Alternatively, you may give students some time at the beginning of the activity for each of them to create a few questions for their classmates. Divide students into teams.

Keep teams relatively small if possible approximately students per team. If you have a small number of students, you can certainly do this activity as a whole class. To start the activity, one person in a team is chosen to answer a question. Someone else in the team picks a question and reads it to the Answerer. If the number is odd, then the answer to the question should be truthful; if the number is even, the student should make up a lie.

The other members of the team then ask follow-up questions, which can be in any tense until they figure out whether the answer was the truth or the lie. The number of the card sets should correspond with the number of pairs of students in your class. English, like many languages, has several different past tenses. The teacher will need to prepare the story in advance. Draw or find pictures that create a logical or illogical!

Place them in a jumbled order on your whiteboard. Students have to arrange the pictures in order to tell a story, but they can only do it by telling you what happened before and after. The pictures are on the blackboard in the following order. A student must talk about the first picture in relation to the others, so that you put them in the right order:.

Another student would then have to add picture 3 to the story:. The man was standing outside after the door slammed. Once the students understand the game, you can select a volunteer to take your place putting the pictures in order. Could, should and would can be difficult to understand for many ESL students.

Many other languages use verb tenses to express these ideas, so the idea of using a helping verb can be difficult to grasp.

Practice these words by having your students write a communal story. The teacher starts the story by giving an idea to wrap the writing around: for example, a main character or plot point. Then students volunteer their ideas by using could, should and would.