Sometimes students tell me that they would like to do a revision lesson. I ask them what they would like to revise and they say, “Verbs, of course”. Then I say, “What aspect of verbs would you like to revise?” and they reply, “Oh, you know - the past, the present, the future, and things like that.” I say, “So you would like to revise the tenses?” and they say, “Yes”.
Here is a tense revision activity that requires no preparation: Start by asking one of your students to draw a picture of an unhappy person on the board.
[Unhappy Barry]
Ask your students to give the unhappy person a name and invent details of his or her lifestyle: What does he/she do? Where does he/she live? Is he/she married? Etc.
The next step is to elicit as many reasons as possible from your students to explain why the person is unhappy. You can make suggestions too and write down all the good ones on the board. Try to get a sentence for each of the following:
- To be (e.g. … because it’s Sunday night)
- The present tense (e.g. … he has to go to work tomorrow)
- Present continuous (e.g. … it’s raining)
- Present perfect (e.g. … he has lost his cat)
- Will/won’t (e.g. … his vegetarian wife won’t let him eat sausages)
- Can/can’t (e.g. … he can’t afford to go on holiday)
- Has got (e.g. … he’s got toothache)
Make sure your students have written down the sentences and then rub the board clean (but leave the unhappy face intact).
Now ask your students if they believe in time travel. Tell them that everyone one is going to travel exactly one year into the future. Rub out your unhappy person’s sad mouth and replace it with a happy one.
Now ask your students to recall (from memory) all the resons that your person was unhappy a year ago. Write these on the board with the altered language. For example:
- It was Sunday night
- He had to go to work the next day.
- It was raining.
- He had lost his cat.
- His vegetarian wife wouldn’t let him eat sausages.
- He couldn’t afford to go on holiday.
- He had a headache.
Finally, ask your students to describe/notice the grammatical changes that took place during the transition:
- Present simple → Past simple
- Present continuous → Past continuous
- Present perfect → Past perfect
- Will → Would
- Can → Could
- Have got → Had
15 responses so far ↓
1 mura // Feb 19, 2009 at 10:17 am
hi
this is a great little exercise, what was the timing like?
and can you recommend any texts/websites that use similar stuff?
cheers and keep up the good work!
2 admin // Feb 19, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Thanks Mura
30 minutes would probably be enough time. But you can really juice it if you want to plan a whole class around it. For example:
- After asking your students about the unhappy person (Where does he live? What does he do? Is he married? Does he have any children? Etc) get them to recall these questions from memory.
- Get students to write a story about the character. What has he been up to in the last year?
- Make a record of the language that arose by photographing the whiteboard. You will then be able to make gap fills or other exercises for students to revise the points in question.
There are other grammar activities in the lesson plans page and a lot more at http://www.teflclips.com/ (just stick the word grammar into the search window).
Good luck!
3 admin // Feb 19, 2009 at 12:41 pm
One more thing:
I always get asked why the Present Perfect tense is called the *Present* Perfect when it refers to things that happened in the past.
Hopefully, this activity answers that question by demonstrating how the tense links things that happened in the past with the present.
Barry is unhappy because:
- He’s been fired.
- His dog’s been run over.
- He been arrested for a crime he didn’t commit (so he says)
During the second part of the activity, students are able to compare the Present and Past Perfect, and perhaps this can clarify things further.
4 Dmitri Remizov // Feb 21, 2009 at 2:44 pm
That’s nice. I’ll try it out!
5 Yolanda // Mar 14, 2009 at 7:13 pm
I like it too. I’ll revise tenses with this activity!
6 Sara // Mar 29, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Great activity! Thanks for sharing
7 Birgit Dewit // Apr 13, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Nice activity.
Concerning the Present Perfect: Bear in mind that Germans/ especially Bavarians have to forget about their German “Perfekt” and learn the English Present Perfect without comparing…
Thanks for sharing your idea.
8 ana // May 1, 2009 at 10:22 pm
great revision actitivy. I´ll try with my students.
Argentina
9 fa // Jun 12, 2009 at 3:39 am
Thank you for this lesson idea, will surely use it in my class.
10 Aimé // Jan 22, 2010 at 3:01 am
This is a great idea, I´m sure that I´ll practice it in class!!!!
11 Vladimira // Jan 27, 2010 at 10:36 am
Amazing activity. I love it and it gives students the context for understanding the links between the tenses. My students have usually difficulties to work with tenses when it is up to them to decide which one to use (you know like fill in the gaps activity). Thanks!
12 Carol // Mar 14, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Oh just seen it and it’s really interesting activity and funny as well!!
My students have problems ( still intermediate levels) with the ’s’ in the 3r person and does doesnt, I mean they continue using that ’s’ in the negative and interrogative. Any ideas??
I saw the conference yesterday in Lleida! Really good! thansk
13 admin // Mar 15, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Hello Carol
There is an activity in my book (Images) which might be good for Third Person Singular -s spoken production. Do you have access to it in the place you teach?
As for the does versus -s problem, I do have a lesson plan but it would take me a while to get it together for you. Are you in a hurry?
Glad you enjoyed Lleida. Thank you very much for the feedback
14 Alan // Aug 12, 2010 at 7:32 am
I love it thanks so much.
15 admin // Aug 17, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Thanks Alan. Really happy it helped!
Jamie
Leave a Comment