This is about one of my students. He �s a 12-year-old, upper elementary. 

He �s not very strong in English anyway, but his biggest problem is in conjugating the verbs. He does moderately well in controlled exercises, when there is an example he has to follow and there is a choice between two tenses only. When things get more complex, eg when there �s no example or more tenses to use , he makes a mess out of the verbs. When he speaks he tends to use the base form of the verbs only, no matter if what he says is present, past or future.

I �ve been working with him for some months now and tried some ways to overcome this problem, including much repetition for new grammar items, lots of revision exercises, board games, colour-coded worksheets (different colours for time words that signal different tenses) etc. Even though he seems to grasp it while we �re on it, the next time we meet it �s back to start again.

In the meanwhile his "classmate" let �s call him (it �s a group of two) has no problem whatsoever with verbs and tenses. He learns new forms easily and puts them readily in use in his speech and writing. So I guess it �s not a problem with my teaching methods. Or perhaps my methods are OK for the average student but there �s something I �m missing with my weak student. 

Any ideas, tips, suggestions for activities that might help would be very very welcome!

E. g. She .... (already/see) this film. - The word already points out to the present perfect, present perfect is formed with the help of have/has + 3rd form or V-ed, the subject is she so we choose has, the verb see is irregular and the 3rd form is seen, we place already between have and seen, the result: She has already seen this film.

Sophia

During the lessons when a certain tense is specifically practiced, he will do fairly well. We �ll do lots of practice till it seems that he has mastered it. Then, after some time has passed (let �s say 3-4 lessons) and he is expected to use his previously acquired knowledge again, it �s as if he �s forgotten everything.

Sometimes he �ll try out random combinations until he gets the correct one. Eg we decide together that it should be present perfect (in your example). He �ll try was + see, is + saw, have + saw or whatever until he finds the correct one in the end