Past simple is a grammar point which you start to learn early on, but can take some time to use well. There are about 200 irregular verbs to learn as well as different forms for positives, negatives and questions. By the time you are ready to take a B1 official exam like the Cambridge Preliminary (PET), you should be able to control the past simple and use it without too many mistakes. This past simple game and communicative activity will help your students practise this grammar with a fun task.
When we talk about people who have died, we always use the past simple. This game uses famous celebrities from the recent and distant past to test your grammar ability. Asking questions using the past simple is key as well as using short answers. How good is your historical and cultural knowledge?
Looking for a game to practise past simple and present perfect? Try liar, liar! – present perfect / past simple game.
Contents
Past Simple
Past simple is used to describe actions in the past that happened at a specific time and are finished. They have no connection to the present. We often use the past simple with time markers such as yesterday, last week, in 2016 etc.
Here’s the form of the past simple using George Washington as an example:
(+) He fought against the British in the American Revolutionary War.
(–) He didn’t want to be president, but he decided it was best for the American people.
(?) Did he live in the White House? (No, because it hadn’t been finished when he was president)
(Short answers) Yes he did / No, he didn’t.
The Materials
You can introduce the past simple with some examples like the ones above. Ask your students to guess who the famous person is. Once it’s clear how to form the past simple, do some controlled practice with your favourite course book and then it’s time to get the communicative activity started.
Introduce the past simple game by doing a model as a class. Choose a card at random and tell your students to ask you yes/no questions. These are questions with Did…?, not questions with a question word. Write a few of your students’ examples on the board and take advantage of the moment to do some light error correction if they are having trouble. Your answers should use the short answer form of the past simple.
Once your students have determined some details about the person, they can guess by saying their name. The student who guesses the dead famous person correctly wins the card and gets a point. Play in teams or individually!
Don’t forget to note down both good and bad sentences to put on the board after for error correction / praise.
Download
TIME: 30-45 minutes depending on level and number of students.
PREPARATION: Print single-sided on card and cut up into cards. For online play, take a screenshot of an individual card and share it with your students in a private chat or learning management system.
