Past Simple Yes/No Questions ESL Games, Activities & Worksheets

ESL Did You Questions Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Freer Practice - Group Work In this past simple yes/no questions speaking activity, students mingle and ask 'Did you...?' questions to find one classmate who did the same six activities yesterday. First, students read sentences on a card that show what they did yesterday. The students' task is to find someone who did the same as them. All six activities must be the same for a match. Students then go around asking 'Did you...?' questions to find their match, e.g. 'Did you go to the park yesterday?' When a student finds someone who answers 'Yes, I did' to all six activities on their card, they sit down with them. When a pair of students sits down, check their cards to make sure they are the same. The activity continues until all the students have found their match. show less

ESL Past Simple Yes No Questions Worksheet - Grammar Exercises: Identifying, Rewriting Questions, Gap-fill, Writing Questions and Answers - Speaking Activity: Freer Practice - Pair Work In this useful past simple yes/no questions worksheet, students practice forming and answering yes/no questions with 'did', 'was' and 'were'. First, students underline the correct word in each question: 'Did', 'Was', or 'Were'. Students then rewrite 'Did...?' questions correctly. Next, students complete questions with 'was' or 'were'. After that, students complete mini-dialogues with was, wasn't, were, did or didn't. Students then use prompts to write yes/no questions and short answers with 'did', 'was' and 'were'. Finally, students complete yes/no questions with words from a box and then ask the questions to a partner and circle their answers. show less

ESL Did You Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Writing, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Sentence Completion In this free 'Did you...?' questions activity, students write and ask 'Did you...?' questions in order to complete sentences about what their classmates did in the past. First, students write a 'Did you...?' question for each sentence on their worksheet, e.g. 'Did you get up early yesterday?' Next, students go around the class asking the questions. Students respond, 'Yes, I did' or 'No, I didn't'. When a student finds someone who answers 'Yes', the student writes the person's name at the start of the sentence and moves on to speak to someone else. The activity continues until the students have completed the worksheet with as many names as possible. Finally, find out who got the most names and get feedback from the class by asking the students to read their sentences. show less

ESL Past Simple Yes No Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work This imaginative past simple yes/no question game helps students form, ask, and answer past simple yes/no questions with the verbs 'to be' and 'do'. In groups, players take turns choosing one of their short answer cards without showing it to anyone, e.g. 'Yes, we were.' Next, the player thinks of a past simple yes/no question that will elicit the answer on the card, e.g. 'Were we in English class yesterday?' The player then asks another student in the group the question. If the student gives the same short answer as the one on the card, the player discards the card. If not, the player keeps the card. Play then passes to the next student, and so on. The first player to get rid of all their cards wins the game. show less

ESL Did You Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled Practice In this enjoyable 'Did you' questions activity, students ask and answer past simple yes/no questions about what they did last week to find classmates with the same answers. First, go through the items on the worksheet and elicit the 'Did you...?' questions the students need to ask, e.g. 'Did you wait for a bus last week?' Next, students answer the questions and write short answers (Yes, I did. / No, I didn't.) in the column marked 'You'. Students then go around the class asking and answering the questions to find classmates with the same answers. When a student finds someone with the same answer, the two students write each other's names in the last column. The activity continues until the students have completed the worksheet with as many names as possible. Finally, get feedback from the class by asking the students questions with 'Who...?', e.g. 'Who waited for a bus last week?' show less

ESL Past Simple Did You Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Guessing, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice In this 'Did you...?' questions speaking activity, students guess which classmates did certain recent activities and then ask 'Did you...?' questions to check their answers. First, students read sentences and guess which of their classmates did each thing. Students then complete each sentence by writing the name of the classmate at the start of the sentence, e.g. 'Kim studied English yesterday.' Next, students go around the class and ask 'Did you...?' questions to the people they wrote at the start of each sentence, e.g. 'Kim, did you study English yesterday?' If a classmate responds with, 'Yes, I did', the student puts a tick next to the sentence. If a classmate replies with, 'No, I didn't', the student puts a cross. The student with the most correct guesses is the winner. show less

ESL Past Simple Yes No Questions Worksheet - Grammar Exercises: Matching, Error Correction, Rewriting Sentences, Gap-fill, Writing Questions from Prompts In this holiday-themed past simple yes/no questions worksheet, students practice questions and short answers with 'did', 'was' and 'were'. Students start by matching past simple yes/no questions with short answers. Next, students identify mistakes in past simple yes/no questions and rewrite them. After that, students complete past simple yes/no questions with words from a box. Lastly, students change statements into past simple yes/no questions. show less

ESL Did You Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Asking Questions from Prompts, Freer Practice - Pair Work In this intriguing past simple yes/no questions activity, students ask 'Did you...?' questions to a partner in order to find out why they wrote certain answers. First, students write short answers for the items on their worksheet in a random order in speech bubbles. Next, students swap worksheets with a partner. Students then take turns asking past simple yes/no questions with 'Did you...?' in order to find out why their partner has written the words in the speech bubbles. For example, if a student sees the word 'laptop' written in one of the bubbles, the student might ask 'Did you buy a laptop last month?' 'Did you give someone a laptop as a present last year?' Etc. When their partner replies 'Yes, I did', the student puts a tick next to the bubble. The student then asks past simple follow-up questions to find out more information and generate discussion. Finally, students report back to the class on the most interesting things they found out about their partner. show less

ESL Past Simple Yes No Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Reforming Words, Guessing, Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work In this fun past simple yes/no questions game, students use 'Did you...?' questions to find out what people did at different times in the past. First, students look at verbs on cards and write the past simple form underneath each verb. Students then think of a time in the past when they did the actions and write the time expression on each card, e.g. yesterday. Students then take turns turning over a card from their pile and showing it to the other students. The other students then race to guess what the student did by asking past simple yes/no questions using the verb and time written on the card, e.g. 'Did you write an email yesterday?' The first student to ask the right question wins and keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end wins. show less

ESL Did You Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Guessing - Group Work In this free past simple yes/no questions game, students guess what their classmates did last night by asking questions with 'Did you...?' Students take turns picking up a picture card that shows what the student did last night. The other students then race to guess what the student did by asking them past simple yes/no questions with 'Did you...?' For example, 'Did you watch TV last night?' 'Did you hang out with friends last night?' Etc. The student replies accordingly with 'Yes, I did' or 'No, I didn't'. The first student to ask the right question wins and keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Did You Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Controlled Practice - Group Work In this entertaining past simple yes/no questions game, students ask and answer 'Did you...?' questions in order to find out where they saw other people yesterday. At some point yesterday, each student saw the other members of their group. The aim of the game is for each student to work out where they saw the other group members. To do this, students use information on a card that shows what they did yesterday. Students ask past simple yes/no questions to each other until they find a place that they both have in common, e.g. 'Did you go to Luigi's restaurant yesterday?' Students respond with 'Yes, I did' or 'No, I didn't', according to the information on their card. When a student finds a place they have in common with another student, they write the other person's name next to the place on their card. The first group to work out where everyone saw everyone else wins the game. show less

ESL Past Simple Yes No Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Guessing - Group Work In this past simple yes/no questions guessing game, students ask a classmate 'Did you...?' questions in order to find out where they went. One student from Team A starts by taking a card. The card shows where the student went. Team B then tries to find out where the student went by asking them past simple yes/no questions with 'Did you...?' For example, 'Did you watch a movie?' Etc. If the student replies 'Yes, I did', Team B says the name of the place they think the student went or asks another past simple yes/no question for confirmation. If Team B guesses correctly, they win and keep the card. Team B can ask a maximum of ten questions per card. If they don't find out where the student went after ten questions, Team A keeps the card. Then, a student from Team B takes a card, and it's Team A's turn to ask the questions, and so on. The team with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Past Simple Yes No Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Sentence Completion, Guessing, Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work Here is a creative past simple guessing game to help older students practice past simple yes/no questions with the verb 'to be' and saying years. First, students complete sentences about life events by adding in the year that each thing happened to them. Next, in pairs, students take turns reading out a year at random from their worksheet. Their partner then has three chances to guess what happened in that year by asking past simple yes/no questions with the verb 'to be', e.g. 'Was that the year you had your first pet?' If their partner asks the right question, the student awards them one point and writes it in the corresponding column on the worksheet. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Past Simple Yes No Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, True or False - Group and Pair Work In this amusing past simple true or false guessing game, students practice asking and answering past simple questions. A student from Team A picks up a card, makes a past simple yes/no question from the prompt on the card, and asks the question to one of the players in Team B, e.g. 'Did you play a sport last week?' The chosen player from Team B answers 'Yes, I did', regardless of whether it's true or not. Team A then asks three past simple follow-up questions to the player. After the player has answered the three questions, Team A decides if the player's answer is true or false. The player then reveals the truth. If Team A is correct, they score a point. The teams then swap roles. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less