Past simple activities for young learners

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ESL forum > Games, activities and teaching ideas > Past simple activities for young learners

Past simple activities for young learners

lshorton99

Past simple activities for young learners

My printer �s broken.

Normally I wouldn �t share this information on the forums but I �d planned a very quiet lesson with my young learner �s tomorrow with simple and fun worksheets and now it �s gone out the window!

I was wondering if anyone could suggest some simple paperless ways of presenting and practising the past simple - regular verbs to start off with. My brain is completely dead and I have no inspiration. It �s a class of ten students aged 9-11, seven boys, three girls. A couple of the boys suffer from �high spirits � so I �m trying to keep them under control at the same time. My classroom is pretty small but comfortable.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I know there are 101 ways of presenting the past simple but for some reason I can �t think of any of them!

Thanks

Lindsey

9 May 2010

occurin�

Hi Lindsay,

You can get them to write 6 sentences about what they did at the weekend, but 3 of them are false. The other studnets have to guess which.

You can present the language with a story from your own weekend. And write on the board the key phrases...

On saturday I PLAYED basketball.

On Sunday I WENT to see my grandma

etc.

I had a lesson like that, it was OK.

Saludos

9 May 2010

juliag

Hi Lindsey,

Always a pain to have technical problems, I know.

I like Saludos �s idea but I think my students would find it a little difficult to start with.

Do you have picture flashcards for the verbs you want to introduce?

If you do I would start with a karuta game - you put the cards in the center face up and say one in the simple past i.e. washed my face. The students have to try to get the right card. As they already know the present tense it �s quite easy for them and they should be able to do it without much difficulty. When they get the card say the language again and ask them what is different to what they have already learned. Repeat if for them if necessary. When they guess tell them that �s how you put an English verb in the past (regular verbs) and get them to say it 3 times to a rhythm. Repeat till all cards are done, adding "I" and "yesterday" etc. halfway through the game if the students are up to it.

Play another game to consolidate. How about muscial cards. Put cards in a big circle. Play music. Students walk round while music is on and stop at nearest card when music stops. Each present your card and turn over. Continue till all cards are finished.

Then you can int. negative. Maye do by talking about your Sunday with positive and negative sents. Again try to get students to guess meaning. When they do drill a few cards in the negative, then do a game to consolidate it. How about the guess the card game? Split the class into 2 teams. One team chooses a card they "did" yesterday and tells you. The other team guesses "You... yesterday" (revising affirmative), they answer "No, we didn �t... yesterday" or "Yes, we ...ed yesterday" as appropriate. Then reverse roles.

If you still have more time put the cards in a circle and play a dice and counter game. Sts make truthful (affirmative or negative) sentences about the card they land on.

Then go into Saludos �s game - then the other students will feel confident using the negative as well so they can guess "You didn �t ... yesterday."

Not sure if this is the kind of thing you wanted but hope it gives you some ideas anyway.

Enjoy the class and the rest of your week.

Julia

9 May 2010

mena22

Hi dear Lindsey!

A nice, active way to introduce the Past Simple:

- Ask students to close their eyes and put their heads on their arms.

- Give a written sequence of actions to one student to perform (twice), as for example:

- Walk quietly to the door. Open it . Go out and close the door. Wait a few seconds.

Open the classroom door again and come in. Close the door.

- Walk quietly across the room to the teacher �s desk. Open and close the drawers one

by one.

- Turn on the light and then turn them off. (...)

- The learner performs the sequence twice. During the first one the class listen and say nothing. During the second you can ask questions (what did he do? He walked. Did he walk quietly? Yes, he did. And then what did he do?...)

- You may let everyone see the actions one more time and confirm each description by using the simple past.

(Games for Language Learning by Andrew Wright et al., Cambridge)

Have a nice Sunday! And a Happy Mother �s Day to all those celebrating it today.

Hugs,

mena

9 May 2010

salaskas1

Hi Lindsey

I too am teaching simple past to my 5th and 6th graders (elementary). This is probably not appropriate if you are wanting them all to keep calm and quiet but it is a lot of fun.

Teach them the pronunciation of the simple past the t/id/d sounds and write each one on an A4 piece of paper and stick each one to separate corners in the room. Then you ask them to all stand in the middle of the room and close their eyes. You then read a verb in the past tense and they have to run to which ever corner has the correct pronunciation. I usually count down from 5 seconds for them to get to their chosen corner. All the students who are in the correct corner remain in the game and the others students are out. I normally choose one of the "out" students to read the next verb so they can practice their pronunciation etc. It is a lot of fun, improves their receptive skills, keeps them active whilst they learn and helps if your printer is kaput!

Hope this helps and happy teaching! Happy Mother �s Day also to everyone!

9 May 2010

martinasvabova

I always do this activity:I tell my pupils that something mysterious happened in front of our school last night, because a suitcase with some things was found this morning. Of course I bring a suitcase with some things in it - like a tennis ball, old cinema ticket, postcard from another country, etc. Pupils are supposed now to say or to write as much as they can about the unknown person, to whom the suitcase used to belong. They may pretend to be detectives or policeman.

9 May 2010

lshorton99

Thank you everyone! I might actually be able to teach tomorrow!

xx

9 May 2010