Liar, liar! – present perfect / past simple game

Have you ever taught the present perfect and past simple to a B1 group? I definitely have! This is one of my favourite activities to practise present perfect and past simple. Your students ask and answer questions, but the twist is that they have to lie. Then, using their powers of deduction, they have to find out if their partner is lying. It’s OK to lie if you do it as part of a present perfect / past simple game in your English class!

Looking for a game to practise the past simple? Try dead famous – past simple game.

Present Perfect vs Past Simple

Present perfect and past simple are both grammatical forms which your B1 students should master at this level. If they are planning to do an official exam in the future, they are highly likely to be tested on this grammar point.

Past simple is used to talk about finished actions at a specific time in the past. We often use the past simple with precise time markers like last night, yesterday, 2 months ago, in 2010 etc.

• I ate sushi for dinner last night
• We went to London on holiday 2 years ago.

Present perfect is used to talk about past experiences without a specific time. We don’t use precise time markers with the present perfect, but we can use adverbs like ever, never, before, once, already, yet etc.

• I have eaten sushi once.
• Have you ever been to London?

The Materials

After a bit of controlled practice and making sure your students know their irregular verbs, it’s important to practise present perfect and past simple in a communicative way. We actually use this language a lot when speaking because we love to find out about what people have or haven’t done.

With this communicative activity, you can practise the grammar with a present perfect / past simple game. Your students must lie when they answer the present perfect questions, whether they have done the action or not. The follow-up questions then come in the past simple and you have to try to determine whether your partner is a big fat liar.

This is obviously the perfect opportunity to teach the phrase “liar, liar, pants on fire” to your students both old and young. Here’s how I see it going down in the ideal classroom:

A- “Have you ever swum with dolphins?”
B- “Yes, I have.”
A- “Where did you do it?”
B- “I swam with dolphins in Mexico when I was on holiday.”
A- “Did you touch the dolphins?”
B- “Yes, I did.”
A- “You’re a liar! Liar, liar, pants on fire!”
B- “No! It’s true!”

Download

TIME: 15-25 minutes

PREPARATION: One copy of the worksheet per pair of students, cut in half