ESL Teaching Ideas

Showing posts with label grammar activities. Show all posts

Simple Past Activities

The simple past is one of the most important verb tenses in English. For English teachers, it may be the most important.

Why? Because most students have difficulty using the past tense in speaking. Sure, they can handle grammar tests, but ask a student to tell a story in the past and you will often find several mistakes. This includes advanced students too.

So how can you help? Try some of these simple past activities in your next class.

Simple Past Charades

In this activity, students act out simple past sentences like in a game of charades. The only difference is instead of a word, the students act out whole sentences.

Here are the instructions.

1. Put students in pairs.

2. Give each pair two base verbs. (e.g. Make, Play)

3. Students change base verbs to past tense verbs. (Made, Played)

4. Students create a sentence for each verb. (e.g. I made a cake yesterday. I played baseball last week,)

5. Students act out their sentences in front of the class.

6. The class must try to guess the sentence.

This is a fast activity, but its good for testing their understanding of the verbs and their ability to conjugate the verbs into the simple past.

Simple Past Story Tellers

In this activity, students create stories from a list of prompt words.

1. Put students in pairs or groups of 3.

2. For each group, write out the following information:

Group 1
Place: (City, country, etc.)
Time: (last night, 3 years ago, etc.)
Verbs: (Any verbs, some irregular)

Example:

Group 1 - Amy and Kevin
Place: Tokyo
Time: 2 weeks ago
Verbs: go, listen, have, make

Ideally, the teacher will brainstorm this information with the students, so each group is giving ideas for another group.

3. After the groups have their information, they work together to create a short story.

4. Students then present their stories to the class.

Elimination Game

This game is for groups. You can keep score of this game and make it a competition. For the game, the teacher randomly writes the following types of words on the board:

Base Verbs (e.g. go, play, dance, run)
Subjects (e.g. He, She, We, Tom, Susan and Tom)
Past Time Phrases (e.g. Yesterday, Last night, 3 years ago)

The teacher can write about 20-30 words. They should be written randomly all over the board. That way students must find them, not just choose from set categories. Each group takes a turn and must make a sentence with a word from each of the three categories.

For example:
(Go, Paul, Yesterday)
"Yesterday Paul went to the museum."

The teacher awards points for correct sentences and then erases those 3 words from the board. As the words are eliminated, the game becomes more difficult.

What did you do yesterday?

This simple past activity helps students practice the verb tense and conjugate the verbs.

Many students have trouble using past tense verbs when speaking in the past. When telling a story, it is common to use a few verbs in the present instead of the past. This is especially true with irregular verbs. This activity will help them fix that issue.

Here are the steps:

1. Students work in pairs.

2. Student A tells Student B everything he/she did that day. They key is to be very specific. For example,

I woke up at 7 am.
I made breakfast.
I ate breakfast.
I had a shower.
etc.

3. Student B writes down every verb mistake Student A makes.

4. Students changes places and repeat.

5. Students share the verb tense mistakes with each other.

You will notice the activity is simple, but it is something students can do every day for 5 minutes. It is also a good activity for homework. The idea is to close the gap between students' grammar abilities and their use of verbs in speaking.

I have made it a routine for students to explain what they did the day before in every class. It is amazing how doing this 5-minute activity each day can lead to dramatic improvements.

Do you have other activities you like to do for the simple past?

Would you like some simple past tests to help your students? Try these exercises from learnEnglish-online:

Simple Past Test
Simple Past Test
Simple Past Questions Test
Simple Past Questions Test 2

Second Conditional Activities

The second conditional is an important grammar structure in English. It is common in speaking, so students should learn to use it correctly, especially in conversation.

You can try the following games and activities to help your students practice the second conditional.

Second Conditional Survey

Here are the instructions for this 2nd conditional activity:

1. Each student writes 5 questions using the second conditional (e.g. What would you do if you won the lottery?)

2. Students choose one of their own questions they like the best.

3. Students mingle throughout the class asking their question to classmates.

4. Students record answers in point form or short notes with the name of the person who gave that reply. (e.g. Yuki would travel around the world)

5. Students individually choose the best and worst answers from the list of classmate answers. This is only based on opinion.

6. Students report the best and worst answer to the class without giving names.

Options

After reporting the best and worst answers, the other students can guess who said each answer. To do this, it is important to have a group that is very comfortable with each other. If not, some students may be offended by having their answers chosen as the worst.

Another option is to have students choose their best question with a partner. This creates a little extra discussion as they can negotiate which of the questions would work best for the activity.

Second Conditional Task Order

This speaking activity helps students practice the second conditional. It is a good variation from the standard conditional conversation questions.

Here are the instructions:

1. Teacher provides students with example tasks and 4
ways to complete these tasks.

Examples:

Learn to Swim
a) watch a video
b) Ask friends for help
c) Take lessons
d) Jump in!

Clean the Kitchen

a) Wash the dishes
b) Mop the floor
c) Take the garbage out
d) Clean the oven

2. Students work in pairs to discuss 3 main questions:
a) What order would you use to complete this task?
b) Which items would you not do?
c) Which items would you add to the list?

The value of this activity is there are no right or wrong answers. This is what creates a situation where the students can be free to speak.

Modal Verbs Activity

Modal verbs are challenging for students because they have so many uses. One use is possibility.

Here is a good activity for modal verbs of possibility.

Use magazines, newspapers, or any material that has images. In partners or groups the students use the pictures to make statements of possibility with modal verbs.Example statements:

This person must be rich.
They might be married.
They could be going to a party.
She might be tired in this picture.

Modals for Possibility:

MAY
MIGHT
MUST
COULD BE

Encourage students to follow up the statements with questions and conversation.

Example:

A: He must be a singer.
B: Why do you think that? He could be an actor.
A: No, he is not an actor. He must be a singer, because he is in a concert hall.

This activity is good to practice the modal verbs while speaking. For grammar accuracy, make sure students are following modals with base verbs.

Here is an excellent test for modal verbs of possibility:

Modal Verbs for Possibility Test

Copy and print the test, and then use it with your students. If you would like a lesson for this grammar, try this modal verbs for possibility lesson.

Questions Practice Activity

ESL students usually struggle to ask questions. They may be able to use sentences in many verb tenses, but can't ask proper questions.

ESL teachers need to spend lots of time helping students ask and answer questions. This questions activity will help with that.

The activity itself is very simple:

Write a statement on the board, like this example:

I went to a party last night.

The students must create questions based on that statement.
Examples:

Where was the party?

Who did you go with?

What time did the party start?

This activity can also be played as a game. The first student (or team) that comes up with 3 perfect questions wins a point. You will be surprised how your students can't easily create grammatically perfect questions.

This activity is nice to practice questions for any target language. For example, take a look at these different statements and how they can be used to focus on the target language.

I went to a party yesterday. (simple past)

I usually eat breakfast. (routine, simple present)

I can play many musical instruments. (can)

I have never visited France. (present perfect)

As you can see, there are an unlimited number of ways to use this game. While it is ideal for beginners, it helps students at all levels formulate questions.

Let's take a look at one more example.

Statement: I ate too much last night.

Questions:
What did you eat?
Why did you eat too much?
Did you eat candy?

You will be surprised how challenging it is for your students to create questions like this. This is especially true when they are working in groups or when they are creating the questions in speaking.

Enjoy the game!

Simple Past Activities

Simple Past Charades

Simple Past Story Tellers

Elimination Game

Passive Voice Grammar Game

I find a lot of the passive voice lesson plans involve worksheets and fill in the blank. Students can only change passive to active and the reverse so many times before they fall asleep.

Here is a good game to help students practice the passive voice and add some fun. This works as a review or as a practice activity in a grammar class.

The idea is to make a competition of forming sentences and questions in the passive voice.

Here are the instructions for the game:

1. Make a table of all the verb tenses the students know and use. The categories do not all need to be verb tenses. You can also use categories like modal verbs, questions, negatives, etc. Make 3-4 sections worth 1, 2, 3, and 4 points respectively. So for example:

Simple Past - 1
Simple Future - 2
Present Perfect - 3

2. Make a second table filled with verbs. Make sure the verbs can be used in the passive voice (e.g. kick, hit, eat, not happen, occur, or arrive).

3. Place students into groups of 2-3.

4. The groups must choose a verb tense and a verb. They then make make a sentence in the passive voice. For example:

Simple Past, Eat: The cake was eaten by Morris.

5. As the groups complete sentences, they receive points. Erase the verb from the board and ask the next group. The game becomes increasingly difficult as the more familiar verbs are eliminated.

Here are some examples with possible point values:

The cake has been eaten. (3 points)
The computer will be fixed tomorrow. (2 points)
The kitchen wasn’t cleaned yesterday. (1 point)

This passive voice game works well because the teacher can adapt the categories and verbs depending on the students' abilities.

Would Rather Activities

"Would you rather" and "I would rather" are common in English. We use them to discuss preferences. They can be a challenge for students.

Most lesson plans focus on the correct form of the verb after rather. This is great, but what about having some fun too? Here are three activities you can use for rather.

Would You Rather Survey

This activity works well because it gets students moving around and interacting with their classmates. It also allows them to find out more about other students and their opinions.

Students create 3-6 "would you rather" questions.

Encourage them to create questions that are hypothetical and fun. For example:

Would you rather be able to fly or swim under water like a fish?
Would you rather meet Brad Pitt or Barak Obama?
Would you rather be deaf or blind?

You will be surprised how creative the students can be with their questions.

After they have finished their questions and the teacher has checked them, the students then mingle around asking their classmates the questions. They should record the results from each person.

In the end, the students should have a survey completed for each of the questions. This way they are able to say that 7 people would rather be able to fly and 8 people would rather be able to swim under water.

Finally, the students report their findings to the class. This results in sentences such as these:

Most people would rather live in a warm country.
Everyone would rather meet Brad Pitt than meet Barak Obama.
75% of the people would rather have unlimited pizza than have unlimited ice cream.

Rather/Prefer Dialogoues

In this activity, students create dialogues and present them to the class.

Students work in pairs. The teacher gives each pair a situation containing two choices. An example looks like this:

Vacation

Montreal or New York?
Hotel or Hostel?

The students then create dialogues form these choices. They must use would rather and would prefer. Finally, they present their dialogues to the class. The presentations are short, with really only about 5-8 sentences.

Here is an example:

A: So we need to talk about our vacation.

B: I know. Would you rather go to Montreal of New York?

A: Well, I think I would rather go to Montreal. I have never been there, and I would love to practice some French.

B: OK., I think that is a great idea. And where should we stay?

A: I don't know. Would you prefer to stay in a hotel or a hostel?

B: I'd prefer to stay in a hotel. It would be nice to stay in a fancy hotel with a pool.

A: Great idea!

You can see the dialogues aren't too lengthy, but there are still several examples of the target language.

Around the Circle with "I'd Rather"

This game is perhaps the most popular for pratcicing Rather and Prefer. I have seen it many times on the Internet and in different books.

The students are in a circle or seated at their desks. The first student starts by making a statement such as these:

I'd like pizza for dinner.
I'd like to travel to Argentina.
I'd like a bicycle.

The next student simply says "I'd rather" and then adds another idea. It looks like this:

A: I'd like rice for lunch.

B: I'd rather eat chicken.

C: I'd rather eat pasta.

The game works best when the students increase the value of the item only slightly so that in the end they have arrived at the best possible choice. I usually use money as my example to show them how to progress.

A: I'd like $5.

B: I'd rather have $10.

C: I'd rather have $25.

D: I'd rather have $100.

In this way, the final answer is really the best option of all. So conversations will go from eating bread to lobster, or from driving a bicycle to driving a helicopter.

In another way, it can simply be used to show student opinion. For example, discussing famous people to meet allows the students to give their opinion. So while one might say Lady Gaga, another will say Cristiano Ronaldo or Barack Obama.

Those are some activities for would you rather and would you prefer. If you are interested in some online lessons and tests, take a look at the links below:

Rather/Prefer Lesson

Rather/Prefer Test

Rather/Prefer Test 2

Simple Future Games

The simple future is an important verb tense. When teaching, try some of these games to help your students.

Here are the game ideas for the simple future:

I am Going to Go Camping
Here is a variation of the classic "We're Going on a Camping Trip" game. In that game, you sit in circle and each student adds a new item to the list of things to take on a camping trip. Before they add a new item, they must recite all the items already said. It looks like this:

Student 1: I'm going to go on a camping trip, and I'm going to take a flashlight.

Student 2: I'm going to go on a camping trip, and I'm going to take a flashlight and a radio.

Student 3: I'm going to go on a camping trip, and I am going to take a flashlight, radio, and an umbrella.

The games continues, and students are eliminated when they can't remember an item or they make a mistake.

Notice the use of simple future in their sentences: "I'm going to go on a camping trip, and I will bring a.....

For a variation, it doesn't have to be a camping trip. It could be a vacation, a walk in the park, or anything you like.

It may also work better to teach the present continuous for the future. This would be more natural:

I'm going on a camping trip, and I'm going to take a flashlight.

I Can See Your Future
In this game, students role-play and act like psychics. Half the class are psychics and the other are clients. The psychics tell the fortunes of their clients using the simple future. It would sound something like this:

Psychic: I can see you will be very rich. In about 10 years you are going to take a job that will pay you a lot of money, however, there will be danger.

Client: What will the danger be?

Encourage the students to take on the persona of a psychic. They could read palms, use a soccer ball for a crystal ball, flip cards, or consult with the spirits. They will have a lot more fun if they are acting like mysterious fortune tellers.

On My Vacation (Presentation)
This one isn't a game, but a presentation. It also works well as a research activity.

Have the students research a destination they would like to visit for a vacation. Tell them they are going to go on a vacation to this place, so they need to make plans.

Later, they present their plans to the class. Essentially, the presentation is them telling the class what they will do on their vacation. It can be as detailed as you like. Here are some example quotes from some of these presentations:

On Tuesday I will go to the beach. I will probably stay for most of the day, and then at night I will go out for dinner.

Wednesday, I will visit the Eiffel tower. Later, I will go shopping and maybe even visit a museum.

The simple future is clearly and important verb tense, and students need to perfect it to improve their speaking. These games will help them use the target language while speaking and communicating, and also while having fun.

For lessons and tests on the simple future, try these links:

Simple Future Lesson

Simple Future Test

Simple Future Test

ESL Grammar Ideas

Grammar is an important part of English teaching. But it is often boring for students.

How can you make it more fun? Try some of our games and activities.

The links below are for grammar activities for each topic.

Gerunds and Infinitives

Indirect Speech

Modal Verbs

Passive Voice

Past Continuous

Phrasal Verbs

Questions

Rather/Prefer

Simple Future

Simple Past

Should

Verb Tenses

Subject Verb Agreement Actvities

Subject verb agreement is one of the most difficult things for students to master. It is one of the areas that an intermediate student will struggle with on the way to becoming advanced.

It is difficult in writing and speaking. Here is a subject verb agreement activity for you and your students.

The idea of this game is to practice speed and repetition.

1. Put the students in pairs

2. One student randomly says subjects (e.g. I, You, He, She, It, We, They)

3. The other student quickly answers with a pre-determined verb

Example:

A: He
B: Does
A: They
B: Do
A: It
B: Does

Have students work through about ten and then switch.
After both trying the same verb, have them change verbs.
Students work through all the most important verbs, especially "DO" and "HAVE."

Students can use other subjects that are more difficult like names, irregular plural nouns, etc. The only problem here is that often they take too much time thinking of creative subjects, which defeats the purpose of the game.

A variation is the teacher says the subjects and the students answer with the verbs. Go around the class saying subjects and students all answer with the same verb. Normally I put about 5 on the board and work through them all. Go as fast as possible and try to beat your own times.