Past Simple vs. Past Perfect ESL Activities

ESL Past Simple vs. Past Perfect Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Controlled and Freer Practice In this engaging past simple vs. past perfect activity, students ask 'Had you...?' questions to compare earlier and later past events, and then ask past simple follow-up questions to find out more details. First, students go through the items on the worksheet and review the past perfect 'Had you...?' questions they need to ask in the activity, e.g. 'Had you owned a pet before you turned seven?' Students then go around the class, asking their classmates the 'Had you...?' questions. When a student finds someone who answers 'Yes, I had', they write down the person's name and then ask a past simple follow-up question to gain more information, noting down the answer in the last column before moving on to speak to someone else. If a classmate replies 'No, I hadn't', the student asks a different question or repeats the question with another person. This process continues until the students have completed each item on the worksheet with a different name and answer, one classmate per item. Afterwards, students give feedback to the class on the answers they collected. show less