Past Simple vs. Present Perfect ESL Games, Activities & Worksheets

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Game - Grammar and Speaking: True or False, Sentence Completion, Asking and Answering Questions, Guessing - Group Work In this amusing past simple and present perfect game, students make surprising true or false present perfect statements about themselves and their classmates determine whether they are lying or telling the truth by asking follow-up questions to check details. Players take turns picking up a sentence card and a true or false card. If the player picks up a true card, they make a true present perfect statement about themselves from the prompt on the card. If the player picks up a false card, they make a false statement but pretend it is true. The other group members then take turns asking follow-up questions, usually in the past simple, to the player to try to determine whether the statement is true or false, e.g. 'When did you go there?' After a few questions have been asked, each group member decides if the player's statement is true or false. The player then reveals the answer. Each group member who guessed correctly scores a point. The student with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Game - Grammar and Speaking: Guessing, Sentence Completion, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Pair Work In this free past simple vs. present perfect game, students see how well they know their partner by completing sentences about them in the past simple and present perfect and then verifying the information by asking and answering questions. First, students complete sentences about a partner in the past simple or present perfect using the correct form of the verbs in brackets, e.g. 'James started learning English in 1990.' 'James has had his mobile phone for six months.' Next, students prepare the past simple and present perfect questions they need to ask to find out if their sentences are correct, e.g. 'When did you start learning English?' 'How long have you had your mobile phone?' Students then take turns asking and answering questions in the past simple or present perfect to find out how many of their sentences are right. Students score themselves one point for each factually correct sentence. The student with the highest score wins the game. show less

ESL Past Simple and Present Perfect Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Guessing - Pair Work In this fun past simple vs. present perfect game, students practice forming, asking and answering questions in the past simple and the present perfect by first completing question prompts and then predicting a partner's answers and checking them To begin, in two groups, students complete questions with verbs in brackets in the past simple or present perfect. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group. Working alone, students predict their partner's answers to the questions and write them down. After that, students take turns asking the questions to their partner, who responds using the past simple or present perfect as appropriate. For each correct guess, students put a tick. The student with the most correct guesses wins the game. show less

ESL Past Simple and Present Perfect Game - Speaking: Forming Sentences, True or False, Asking and Answering Questions, Guessing, Freer Practice - Group Work In this engaging past simple and present perfect game, students make true or false present perfect statements and ask past simple Wh questions to find out if the statements are true. In groups, students take turns picking up a picture card and making a present perfect statement, telling the rest of the group they have done the activity on the card, regardless of whether it's true or not, e.g. 'I have been rollerblading.' The group members then find out if the student is lying or telling the truth by asking past simple Wh questions about the details, e.g. 'Where did you go rollerblading?' After the student has answered a few questions, each group member guesses whether it's true or not. The student then reveals the answer. Each group member who guessed correctly scores a point. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Worksheet - Reading and Grammar Exercises: True or False, Gap-fill, Writing Questions from Prompts In this useful past simple and present perfect worksheet, students practice using the past simple and the present perfect to describe work experience and education and to write questions about a person's CV. To start, students read Molly's CV and label statements about Molly as true or false. Students then read Molly's cover letter and write each verb in brackets in the past simple or the present perfect. Lastly, students write past simple or present perfect questions for a set of answers about Molly. As an extension, brainstorm past simple and present perfect questions that a job interviewer might ask Molly when applying for a job as a toy tester. In pairs, students then role-play a job interview with one student being Molly and the other student being the interviewer. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Game - Grammar and Speaking: Paraphrasing, Guessing - Group Work In this rewarding past simple vs. present perfect game, students paraphrase short sentences using the same tense and different wording, and where possible an equivalent time reference, while classmates race to guess the original sentence. In groups, students take turns picking up a card without showing it to anyone and paraphrasing the sentence on the card in the same tense and in a full sentence, using different wording and making the time reference clear where possible. Students may keep or change the main verb in the sentence, but they cannot use the exact time expression on the card or repeat any exact phrase from it. For example, if the card read 'I got up early on Monday,' the student might say 'I woke up early at the start of the week.' The other group members listen and then race to guess the original sentence on the card. The first group member to correctly guess the sentence wins and keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Past Simple or Present Perfect Worksheet - Grammar Exercises: Categorising, Reading, Binary Choice, Gap-fill, Sentence Completion - Speaking Activity: Discussion - Pair Work In this comprehensive past simple or present perfect worksheet, students develop accuracy with the past simple and the present perfect by focusing on the time expressions that typically go with each tense. Students begin by putting time expressions into the correct category, according to whether they are typically used with the past simple or the present perfect. Next, students read a story and underline either the past simple or present perfect form of the verbs using the time expressions in the text to help them. Students then complete past simple and present perfect sentences with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. After that, students complete sentences with true information about themselves in the past simple or present perfect, according to the time expression in each sentence. Finally, students read their sentences to a partner and discuss them. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work In this insightful past simple vs. present perfect speaking activity, students practice forming accurate conversation questions in both tenses and using them to talk about personal experiences. First, in two groups, students complete each pair of conversation questions with the verbs in brackets and the pronoun 'you' where needed. The first question in each pair is in the present perfect, and the second is in the past simple. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking and answering the conversation questions with their partner, responding in the present perfect or past simple, according to the tense of each question. Afterwards, students share what they found out about their partner with the class. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming Sentences from Prompts, Controlled Practice - Group Work In this productive past simple vs. present perfect game, students race to change sentences from one tense to the other using an adverb or time expression. In groups, students take turns being the reader, picking up a card and holding it so the other students cannot see it. The reader does not compete in that round. The reader then reads the top sentence and the time expression in bold from the bottom sentence to the group, e.g. "He has eaten sushi for dinner many times. (last night)" The other group members then race to change the sentence into the other tense using the bold time expression. The first student to say the bottom sentence on the card wins and keeps the card, e.g. 'He ate sushi for dinner last night.' The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Freer Practice - Pair Work In this enjoyable past simple and present perfect speaking activity, students use prompts to form past simple and present perfect conversation questions and then discuss them with a partner. In two groups, students complete conversation questions in the past simple or present perfect using verbs in brackets. Next, students pair up with a member of the other group and take turns asking and answering the past simple and present perfect conversation questions with their partner. Afterwards, students share what they found out about their partner with the class. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Board Game - Speaking and Grammar: Forming Sentences, Impromptu Speech, True or False, Guessing, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this fun past simple vs. present perfect board game, students practice choosing the correct tense to make personal statements, add brief supporting details, and guess when a classmate is lying. Players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counters along the board. When a player lands on a square, they pick up a true or false card and look at it without showing anyone. The player then uses the prompt from the square to make a past simple or present perfect statement about themselves that is either true or false as indicated on the card, and then give additional details. The other students listen to the player's answer to ensure that the past simple and present perfect are used appropriately and then guess whether the player's statement is true or false. The player then reveals the answer. The students who guessed correctly each score one point. If a player can't think of anything to say, makes a grammar mistake, or doesn't give additional information, they move back to their previous square. When a player reaches the finish, the game ends, and the points are added up. The student with the most points wins the game. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Activity - Grammar and Vocabulary: Gap-fill, Multiple-choice Quiz, Guessing - Group and Pair Work In this interesting past simple vs. present perfect activity, students use prompts to write trivia questions in the past simple or present perfect and then take part in a head-to-head quiz with a partner. First, in two groups, students complete each trivia question using the words provided, putting the verbs in the past simple or present perfect tense. When the students have finished, they pair up with someone from the other group. Students then take turns reading each trivia question along with three possible multiple-choice answers to their partner, who tries to guess the correct one. For each correct answer, students score one point. The student with the most points at the end of the quiz wins. show less

ESL Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Game - Grammar and Speaking: True or False, Forming Sentences, Asking and Answering Questions, Guessing - Group Work In this entertaining past simple vs. present perfect game, students review the contrast between the present perfect and the past simple by stating experiences and giving past details in a true-or-false guessing game. Each member of Team A picks up a card that gives a prompt for an experience. The team members’ task is to say they have had the experience, whether it is true or not, and to provide convincing details about it. The members of Team A take turns doing this by either giving true or false information using the present perfect to introduce the experience and the past simple to give details. After each team member has spoken, Team B asks past simple follow-up questions about the student's experience to see if they can work out whether the student is lying or telling the truth. After questioning all the team members, Team B decides who is telling the truth or lying. Team A then reveals the answers. For each correct guess, Team B scores a point. It's then Team B's turn to play. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less