Resource centre - English grammar - Past simple
Affirmative
I played
You played
He/she/it played
We played
You played (plural)
They played
Negative
I did not play
You did not play
He/she/it did not play
We did not play
You did not play
They did not play
Question
Did I play?
Did you play?
Did he/she/it play?
Did we play?
Did you play?
Did they play?
We use the past simple to talk about finished actions and time.
I went there last year.
You lived in Paris when you were younger, didn't you?
He worked there in 1980.
She saw him yesterday.
We didn't see Jack and Liz at the party last night.
What did they talk about at the meeting in
Zurich?
See also: Past continuous /
Past perfect
Teaching Past simple
I first make statements in the
present using a weekly schedule, then I tell students what I did last week.
She goes to the movies on Fridays.
She went to the movies last Friday
Did she go to the movies last Friday?
Yes, she did. Or Yes, she went to the movies last Friday.
Did she go to the movies last Thursday?
No, she didn't. Or No, she didn't go to the movies last Thursday.
When did she go to the movies?
She went to the movies last Friday."
Richard
I play a game called " You did
it!" In this game, I pretend to accuse students of doing miscellaneous naughty
acts and ask them to defend themselves. For example:
T: You STOLE my cell phone!
S: No, I didn't STEAL your cell phone.
T: You ATE my cookie!
S: No, I didn't EAT your cookie.
This works best with irregular verbs. A brainstorming of irregular verbs and a
simple review of past tense verbs using the did + ___ construction would precede
the playing of this little game.
Another way I practice is by asking them about past events using did + ____
questions. I try to ask ridiculous questions so they will answer in the negative
and practice using the correct verb conjugations. For example:
T: Where did you GO last summer?
S: I WENT to Mexico.
T: Did you EAT spaghetti there?
S: No, I ATE tacos, pozole, enchiladas, etc.
T: What kinds of animals did you SEE there?
S: I SAW chickens, donkeys, horses, and dogs.
Brad
I show colorful pictures from
a book with a well known story like Hansel and Gretel. The students take turns
telling the story.
Jennifer
'Tic-tac-toe' is a very good
idea to practice the simple past in a funny and quite 'free' way. You divide the
class in two groups (one is X the other is O) and then stick or draw the game on
the board. Put verbs in the infinitive form with a question mark, a plus or a
minus depending on whether you want your students to form interrogative,
affirmative or negative sentences. This activity is a very good one to give your
students a purpose to practice the form of the past simple. They will feel the
need to choose and respond correctly in order to make tic-tac-toe.
Jessica
One of the resources I use to
reinforce the past tense is the song "Return to Sender" by Elvis
Presley. (with lyrics in the wrong order) First, students have to find the past
tense verbs, give me the infinitive and also the meaning in Spanish. We then
practice pronunciation of the verbs in infinitive and the past. And finally,
listen to the song and put the lyrics in the correct order. They have a lot of
fun!
Paito
Word Search Puzzles are very
effective. First, you give the students a list of 20 or 30 verbs and ask them to
write the past tense. Check if they did it correctly. Then, they have to search
the past tense of each verb in the puzzle! This activity helps a lot with
spelling and memory. Some students finish early, others have trouble finding
them, but everybody loves it!
Marlen
I think one of the best ways
to practise irregular verbs is "Bingo". I make students write all the verbs they
can remember on a piece of paper. Then, we distiguish the irregulars from
regulars. They tell me the past forms of the verbs and write them on the board.
Later, they prepare bingo cards for 10 words and tick the ones I say. It's also
good for pronounciation. First one who completes the card wins a coffee ;)
Orçun
Best way to talk about the
simple past is by having a discussion about dreams with your students. Tell them
a really over the top dream you had (if you didn't make it up!) and ask them to
listen to the key points of the dream whilst taking notes. Then ask them
questions about the dream, for example, did I eat a watermelon in the dream?
Then review the simple past tense regular and irregular verbs. Next write the
start of a dream on the board and have students continue, maybe give them a list
of words they must use.
Lewy
Another good idea is to draw
two columns on the board - one side is for verbs and the other one is for nouns.
For ex: marry and elephant. Students need to make a sentence with these two
words giving the past form of the verb. "Suzie married an elephant. "This game
is very fun they will enjoy it a lot... good luck and keep writing down your
ideas... thanks!
Anonymous
A good way to help students
practice and remember Past Simple (verb form of irregular) is a pair card game.
Material: cards for irregular verbs, each pair consists of verb in base form and past simple form.
Divide students into groups of 4 or 5.
Each student in each group turns over two cards at a time. If the verbs go together, the student keeps them.
If not, the cards remain where they were.
The person with the most pairs is the winner.
Lysrun
I like playing a game I call "who was I?".
One student thinks about someone famous who has died and the others ask him yes/no
questions to try to find out who the person is. Ex: Was the person American? Was he a singer?
Did he travel a lot?
Ana



























Contact | Advertise | Terms of use | Disclaimer | Privacy | Site map | Testimonials | Links | TEFL blog | ESL exams
Copyright © 2012 Eslbase. All rights reserved.