Re: The SLAM Game (OR my favorite game ever!!!)
 

Could you suggest some active and funny games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tenses? Please!

Re: The SLAM Game (OR my favorite game ever!!!)
 

I would just teach them separately. Their usage is quite different. If your students are having a hard time with them, it might be that they don't really understand the usage of each individually. So, I think you're better off mastering each one and then you probably won't need an exercise to teach the difference.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

After they know the three and their differences, I can think of a game. You can have a poster on the board with past, present, and future, as well as some verbs with their correct tenses underneath the appropriate columns. You should cover up most of the verbs, so the students only see one of the verbs. You can turn this into any kind of game that you want, but the idea is the student has to guess the hidden verbs, and then bonus points for using them in a sentence. Hopefully this'll help you once you get past the "fun" of teaching them the 3 tenses. :doh:

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

Thanks, Andrew,
The point is that in Russian (our native language) both of the tenses are expressed the same way - PAST. We have only one past tense. To show them the difference between Past Simple and Present Perfect I need some pictures with the result of the action or connection with the present time, you see?
Games or worksheets are very desirable.
Anyway, thanks a lot. I will try.
Natasha

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

It's the same in German. And these two tenses (even more than present simple and present continuous) are the bane of even the best students! Will have to think up some games, too. This time round I had two board games of questions: Did you? and Have you? and we alternated one question from each board.

I even did something unorthodox and told them to *always* start with the present perfect (has/have + past part) and then by a flow chart process of elimination either end up with the same sentence or, based on the evaluation of the time phrases, then remove the has/have and change the past part to the past tense. They seemed to appreciate that approach.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

Is it that they are mixing the two tenses up or is it that they can't do one or the other.

In Japan there is no perfect tense as well and it's hard for them to understand but I get the best results by working with both separately. If I try to mix them too early to explain the difference in usage it's very confusing. However, if i deal with each one and their usage separately. Later when I go to explain the difference, the kids just look at me like I'm stating the obvious.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

The German (business students) use a pseudo present perfect when they mean the past; i.e., I have parked my car on the road because I couldn't find a free space in the parking lot. That's because the German spoken past tense uses the "have."

A good game for the present perfect: the mes-english "get four"!

Re: The SLAM Game (OR my favorite game ever!!!)
 

:) What is the difference between past simple and past perfect tenses

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

Haven't come across any problems with students understanding the difference between past simple and past perfect, just between the past simple and present perfect.

Past simple: Charles Dickens wrote some good books. (He is dead, so his bookwriting days are past.)
Present perfect: J.K. Rowling has written some good books. (She's still alive, so she can always write some more books, although her Harry Potter series is done.)

Past simple: She waited in line for 8 hours before she could buy the latest Harry Potter book.
Past perfect: After she had waited in line for 8 hours and had bought the book, she sat down and started reading it immediately.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

You cannot teach them separetaly. I undersdant what you mean . We have the same problem in Polish.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

But Mesmark is right, you cannot mix them too early. Students must know both tenses perfectly to understand the difference.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

With a private student, I have verb cards and time cards. The time cards are cards like: yesterday, last week, two days ago, today, this week, this month, etc. I play some kind of game where the student must pick verb card and a time card and make a sentence. The candy and spiders game on mes-english is good for this, just keep the time cards separate and make them choose one of each.

I hope this makes sense. I am very tired.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

Very useable idea! Thanks!

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

thank you very much.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

Although it sounds a bit odd, I've had some success using magazine ads, photographs, and postcards. For example, students look at the image and write only in past tense. What did you do yesterday? Write to a close friend or relative. I usually suggest some irregular verbs to make the point clear. (In the US, you can find free postcards at many restaurants and you can often pick up inexpensive tourist postcards in popular destinations. I love giving students postcards to use for short writing assignments. Next, you pose various present perfect questions. How have your eating habits changed in the last year? What movies have you seen in the last month? What have we studied in this class so far? How have you changed in the last five years? What tourist sights have you seen in the last few weeks?
Postcards allow students to write short messages, focus on a single language skill, and display their English language skills to friends and family back home. You might find the technique adds some fun to what can be a rather boring grammar exercise.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

I had a very successful game I played in my class last week.

On separate pieces of paper write little phrases like "eat raw fish", "travel to Europe", "run 5 miles", "teach a class", "listen to American radio", etc.
All the phrases should be using the verb in the present tense. Before you play a game, review the past participle of all the verbs you used. Say "eat" and have the class shout out what they think..."eaten", "travelled", "ran", "taught", "listened", etc. If they are a higher level, give them irregular verbs that are more difficult "ride"/ "ridden", "write"/"written", etc.
The class sits in a circle (in chairs) and one person is in the middle without a chair. They have to pick a card and chose a person to ask the question (present perfect) to. If the card reads "eat raw fish" they have to ask "Have you ever eaten raw fish?"
If the person they are asking says "Yes, I have", everyone has to stand up and switch places. The person who asked will take the opportunity to steal a seat.
If the person says "No, I haven't", only the people on their immediate right and left have to switch places without the questioner taking a seat.

The students LOVE this game. The goal is to not be a questioner. But it is fun to see them using the present perfect while having a good time!

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

An exercise that almost always clarifies the difference between past simple and present perfect is a simple sentence matching activity. Choose 2 famous actors, authors, and artists that are well known by your students. One person in each category must be alive, and one deceased. For example: actresses - Marilyn Monroe and Julia Roberts. Write a sentence that can be applied to both of them, but obviously with different tenses. I use:

"She was one of the world's most famous actresses for many years."
"She has been one of the world's most famous actresses for many years."

The students usually have no problem matching up the sentences to the correct category, but when they have to pick the difference between Marilyn's sentence and Julia's sentence, they struggle. This is a great opportunity to point out the completed action (Marilyn is dead and can no longer act) and the continued action (Julia is alive and still a famous actress - she was 10 years ago and continues to be today). This is simple to set up and very clear to the students. They always get it.

Re: The SLAM Game (OR my favorite game ever!!!)
 

Well, I don´t have any special game or activity but some time ago I realized something that is not written on any book I ´ve seen my all life. Present perfect is used when you don´t want to say when it has happened, that everybody knows, but there is something much better behind it! When you start giving DETAILS of something you use the past simple. So that you would use more present perfect in general things or when you start talking about a new topic. However, as soon as you want to detail you use the past simple.
If you consider that, starting a game or activity with ever and experiences is wonderful; as you get a positive answer about anything in class you might encourage the other students asking questions with WH about the topic.
I hope this "light" help you guys, see you

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

what is mes-english?

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

MES-English.com is a website with ESL materials, printable activities, games, and such. :)

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

I play Past Tense Shoot Out!

2 students stand back to back. I give one student a word and they have to make up a sentence - past or present (or future for advanced kids) - using that word. On my signal, they take 3 steps, turn and 'shoot' their index fingers at each other. First kid 'fires' off his sentence - the other kid has to repeat the exact same sentence but in a different tense.

Example:

T: "Your word is 'play'."
S1: " I played in the park!"
S2: "I am playing in the park!

If S2 can repeat the sentence in a different tense, the first student sits down and S2 becomes the new S1, and someone else steps up to challenge them.

The kids loved trying to come up with longer and more complex sentences to try and trip up their opponents. They showed absolutely no mercy to them!

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

Hi there,
I think I must be a bit thick!! I''ve had a look at the Get Four game on MES-English - but I don't get how it works!!
The students put a mark in a square and then make a sentence using the two parts of the sentence (from the two edges of the board that lead to that square). But how does the game work? Can they only put their mark in the square if the sentence is right? IF it's like battleships, shouldn't students mark lots of squares and the opposing group has to make a sentence to try to guess where the opponenents have marked their squares? I don't understand the interaction between the different teams. It doesn't explain it well on the site - or I'm thick!!! Please help:confused:

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

In the Get Four game the formation of the sentence doesn't affect game play. Students play the game and in addition to that make sentences at the end of their turn. They will simply be trying to form proper sentences or questions. There's no need for perfect formation nor any need for a response from the other player.

Ideally the other player(s) will be listening and help with any corrections if needed.

The game goes much quicker than battleship. You can also play with multiple players. However, it doesn't require the same need to communicate information that battleship has.

I hope that helps.

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

Hi there, yes it helps, thanks!
In the meantime I realised that rather than battelships, it's more like the game "connect 4" - well, that's how I've been playing it anyway
I think the great thing about this game is that you can invent new ways of palying it. I mean, it could really be played liked battleships, where students mark a few "ships" or lines of 3 or 4 symbols and the other team has to guess where they are by forming sentences and seeing if they get a "hit" or not.
The possibilities are endless!
Great game, thanks:)

Re: Games to teach the difference between past simple and present perfect tense?
 

That's great! I'm glad to hear that the game is working out.

Yes, you can play it like connect 4. I usually explain that it's more like tic tac toe, except you need 4 marks in a row and not three.

Another fun rule is to tell them they must build off from any one of the sides or adjacent to another mark already on the board. That makes it a little more of a strategy game.

One thing different from battleship is that this game allows for the same axis points. In battleship, you need to have every square on the board refer to unique points. With this game you can have the same item listed multiple times.