While some aspects of a new language are fairly easy to teach, tenses can pose a challenge because they vary so much from one language to another. ESL teachers - particularly new ones - tend to struggle a little with teaching tenses, because it’s not always easy to explain exactly how a given tense works in English; or how it contrasts with other, similar tenses. Throw in the problem of teaching tenses in ways that keep students active, interested, and learning, and you’ve got a recipe for a difficult lesson on your hands.
Not all teachers handle these issues in the same ways. The classic approach would be simply to drill students on grammar until they get it right - but that approach has fallen out of use, in favor of a more integrated teaching method that combines speaking, reading, activities, and other forms of learning. The challenge for the modern ESL teacher, then, is to find ways of presenting each tense that enable the students not only to learn it correctly, but also to be able to produce it and use it dynamically in sentences.
That’s exactly where BusyTeacher.org’s 4,456 verb tense worksheets come in. They’re designed by real ESL teachers to help students see how each tense is used, see examples of different applications for it, and practice using it in all kinds of different exercises. With these worksheets, teaching tenses turns from a dull repetitive process into an engaging series of learning activities, that’ll inspire your students to take what they’ve learned out of the classroom and use it in their actual English conversations.
Our 4,456 tense worksheets cover each tense in the book, from present simple to future perfect continuous - and all things in between. They cover singular and plural verbs, irregular verbs, active and passive verbs, positive and negative verbs, and every other form of a verb you want to teach. In combination with the more rigorous rules laid down in your school’s textbook, these worksheets will give students the practice they need to understand every way in which English verbs can be formed.
In addition to all the verb forms our worksheets cover, they’ll also help you introduce variety into your classroom in another way: by giving you a wide variety of different exercises for practicing verbs in various situations. Some of our worksheets, for example, include simple examples and fill-in-the-blank exercises - while others will help your students organize little drama presentations, play games like “pronoun dice” or a quiz show, or read silly stories and lyrics to popular songs - all targeted at teaching the rules for using one particular verb tense or set of tenses.
These worksheets have been proven to work in classrooms of ESL teachers around the world - and in fact, that’s exactly who contributed them to this site. They’re all free to download and use without any registration, and you’re even free to submit your own worksheets if you’d like - just click the “Submit a worksheet” button at the bottom of this page, and join our international community of English teachers helping English teachers!
All our worksheets can be previewed in thumbnail view before you click and download them - so just take a scroll down this page, see what catches your eye, and try out anything that looks interesting in your classroom. We guarantee you’ll love the results!
Create awesome-looking custom word searches in seconds!
Make A Word Scramble:
Instantly create custom word/sentence scrambles for your class!
Make A Double Puzzle:
Generate double puzzles your students will love - hours of fun!
ESL Articles
View our latest knowledgebase articles that will help you become a better English teacher. Learn from
professional teachers and put a bit of your own creativity into it!
This worksheet covers the topic of daily routines. It is divided into four sections: reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and writing. In the first part, students have to read the text about ...
This worksheet is intended for Elementary Second Language Students learning Present Perfect Simple. It is a fill in the gaps activity about Present Perfect Simple form. You can also deal with the ...
That's nice to check the level of your students. I used it as a competition for primary students. This exercise consists of the following sections:
1: vocabulary connected with classroom,
2: com ...
The worksheet consists of 20 pictures, a list of verbs and some sentences to fill in the gaps. The students ahve to choose verbs form the list to complete the sentences by using the present conti ...
4 exercises to practise the past simple of to be. In 1 the students have to change the sentences from the present to the past; in 2 they have to write affirmative, negative or interrogative senten ...
This is a worksheet for teaching the present continuous. There are 2 pages with different exercises in which students are asked to write a letter, complete the sentences using the present continu ...
This is a worksheet contrasting the simple past and the present perfect simple tense. There are clear explanations followed by an activity in which students are asked to complete different senten ...
What have you got in your school bag? A pair work activity to practise "Have you got ..."? and short answers, "Yes, I have / No, I haven't", plus "How many ... have you got?". Then tell the cla ...
Hello!!!! Another Snakes and Ladders but this time to practice Past Continuous. Students have to finish the sentences using their creativity. Sometimes the beginnings of the sentences are given an ...
This worksheet can be used for reading comprehension and for fostering written productions by changing the underlined ideas for new ones. Students have to read and understand the story. The teac ...
This is the first time I visit the site and the first time I upload a worksheet! I hope you enjoy it! This is the traditional Snakes and Ladders .....all the sentences are incorrect so the childre ...
This is a very simple worksheet for teaching simple past -interrogative form. There are 3 different activities in which students are asked to match the infinitive with the simple past of the verb ...
This presentation can be used in different ways: 1. As a drill to present present perfect with recently, ever, just... 2. As prompts to practise present perfect and promote speaking production. 3 ...
This is 2-page worksheet for teaching prepositions of place, there is / there are and bedroom related vocabulary. Students are asked to complete sentences with prepositions of place and there is ...
It's a test on Simple Past covering the three forms but also focusing on vocabulary knowledge on verbs. The verb TO BE is also briefly tested. It has some examples that help students who have more ...
This worksheet is very helpful especially if your students are having problem memorizing the irregular verbs. With this worksheet the students will be able to write the irregular form of the given ...
After the teacher presents the new vocabulary (daily routine), the students can work with this worksheet. There are pictures of daily activities which the students have to match with their corresp ...
To Be verb form! With at least 25 questions on the worksheet, this allows for the student to have their hand answering questions using the correct to be verb form of the sentence. This is good for ...
It is a worksheet designed for ESL students to identify the correct present tense form of the verb. It contains at least 25 questions for English beginners to take on. It can actually be used for ...
In this ws the students have to fill in the blanks with the correct past simple form of the verbs in brackets. Then they have to find the names of 12 things you need for camping from the text (ex ...
The worksheet is a whole review of verb tenses. There are practice parts ( multiple choices and filling the blanks) There are still parts that students may have the opportunity to write down the f ...
This is a worksheet for teaching the past perfect tense. Students are asked to read the text, answer the questions, fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verb given and complete the sente ...
This worksheet consists of 4 exercises torevise the use of the simple past and the present perfect. The students have to choose the correct tense (ex. 1); put the verb in the coreect tense (ex. 2) ...
A file presenting all tenses in one large table - useful for scheme-demanding Students. DOES NOT CONTAIN EXERCISES, however aids the teaching by showing the Learners how logically we create tenses ...
This is a very simple worksheets for beginners. They will choose between have got or has got and match the pictures to the corresponding sentences. Vocabulary is basic. You can use this material ...
11 28,863Beg
Got a great worksheet on
Verb Tense Worksheets?
Tell us about it and become a BusyTeacher contributor!