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!
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This short worksheet includes information on the rules for using the Passive Voice. There are two exercises to practise the Present Simple & the Past Simple Passive forms. One activi ...
Students put the words in order to complete sentences. This activity will help revise the vocabulary about jobs and practise the present simple third person singular. Students often forg ...
Use the song ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head’ by BJ Thomas to teach students listening comprehension and grammar rules. There are three defined activities to practice homo ...
This lesson is based on the short movie Vincent by Tim Burton. It helps with vocabulary and comprehension and includes pre- and while-watching activities. Students match the words to the ...
This worksheet teaches the difference between the past simple and the past continuous. It contains three exercises: Rewrite the verb, Put the verbs in brackets in the Past Simple or Past ...
This a multiple choice ppt game is for elementary and complete beginners. Students choose a number and complete the sentence given. Suitable for revision and practice of the interrogativ ...
This activity helps students practice asking and answering questions based on pictures about past actions. They will also have to correct information by making negative and affirmative s ...
This worksheet is suitable for the classroom as well as self-study students. It helps improve the ability to understand the Present Perfect Tense. It also includes how to change Present ...
Based on file 7 of the English File Elementary Fourth Edition, this test covers grammar (Past Simple (to be, regular and irregular verbs), vocabulary (word formation and expressions with ...
This resource has a few exercises to practise the Present Simple Tense. It is appropriate for revision and learning the rules concerning tense and the position of adverbs in a sentence.& ...
Mr. Popper's Penguins is a comedy with penguins doing silly things which are fun to watch. On this worksheet the class watches a few scenes in the movie, beginning and ending with design ...
While listening to the lyrics of the traditional song about Clementine, students can practice reading comprehension, learn new vocabulary, including related synonyms, and sing a song while t ...
This mind map provides a speaking activity and can be used as a guideline for new students to introduce themselves. It can also be used for questions and an ...
Learning can be fun with mnemonics. In this resource irregular verbs are sorted into rhyming groups that make it easier to memorize them in a short period of time. Actually some groups ...
This booklet for complete adult beginners is also suitable for all ages. Written in past and past continuous tenses it shows preference language such as ‘either’ or ‘decided& ...
Great for homework or in-class practice, this exercise teaches students to choose between using Present Simple or Present Continuous verbs. An answer key is provided.
This worksheet contains humorous, classical music-related sentences. The teacher explains the content and students picture them then draw or simulate them. Students can work in pairs or ...
Suitable for complete adult beginners and all ages, this booklet features exercises with the present continuous verb tense and pronouns and contracted pronouns. It introduces nouns with ...
This simple worksheet introduces ESL students to Simple Present and daily routines. Students observe each picture and complete Garfield's routine using verbs in the Simple Present which ...
This PowerPoint presentation teaches students by using a song. It’s a multiple way of practicing English from listening comprehension to grammar rules. It includes three defined ac ...
Suitable all ages and complete adult beginners, this resource helps improve the vocabulary. It includes describing different colours and clothing, has proper nouns, revision activities a ...
For intermediate students and upwards, this worksheet includes examples of the infinitive as a future tense as used in news articles, formal instructions, formal arrangments and events. ...
A fun lesson to practice the past simple, past continuous, and past perfect. Watch the animated video, answer the questions, and use the illustrated flashcards to retell the story and te ...
Written for complete adult beginners, this booklet is also suitable for all ages. It introduces the present continuous tense, pronouns and pronoun contractions set around the activities ...
There are 85 sentences to be completed with a different irregular past participle. Some verbs are really easy. Others are more difficult, so it can also be used to improve students' voca ...
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