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 is the grammar's test created for my 5th class pupils in order to consolidate the knowledge of present continuous tense. 3 tasks are given in it: 1. to unscramble the sentences; 2. to choose ...
This worksheet is aimed at low level students who are unfamiliar with present simple. It involves a good mix of activities that encourage students to think about the language and ends with a commu ...
Based on a classic song, this worksheet provides the lyrics and some images related to the vocabulary. I used it to introduce the past tense in my one to one lesson. Find the words that are shown ...
In this worksheet, students have some exercises with the lyrics of the song "I will survive". First, they write the simple past of the verbs in brackets in the first verse. Afterwards, they numbe ...
This worksheet is for low level (beginners) and is useful in showing students when to use the verb be and in which form (am/ is/ are) it should be used in. There is a handy table, along with some ...
This work sheet is designed to introduce the be verb and to talk about somebody in the third person. It is for very low levels. It is useful for students who have had no, or very little, English t ...
This is a worksheet for teaching the future tense: going to + infinitive at elementary level. There are 2 activities in which students are asked to turn the sentences given into the future (going ...
This is a worksheet for revising the future simple at elementary level. There are 2 different activities in which students are asked to order the words and make sentences using the future simple: ...
An elementary level test to assess students on their knowledge of the present simple tense in the affirmative, negative and interrogative forms, prepositions of time and time expressions, as ...
This worksheet contains 30 "fill-in gap" sentences to help students practice using different verb tenses. With this worksheet, students will be able to revise the affirmative, negative and interro ...
Here you'll find some cards including information about St Patrick's day. All of them are taken from history sources. It is very useful should you prepare a history and culture class about Ireland ...
This is a worksheet where students at an elementary level can apply their knowledge on conjunctions like for, and, nor, but, or, yet & so. Students have to fill in the gap the correct conjunct ...
This card helps students to form sentences in different tenses. I laminate this card and give every student such a card for their own use. I tell the students to use it when they edit their texts ...
This is a way to practice the form of (simple/S P O) sentences in different tenses and in the form of statement, negation and question (yes/no). Especially for students with dyslexia it can be a b ...
This is a little worksheet to practice the use of "have got","can", “to be". Children make sentences to each picture using the verbs, which are written in the pictures. Ask them to make as m ...
These exercises work with be verb in the singular and plural format.The students have to rewrite the sentences in the plural or singular applying the correct form of the verbs and the nouns. They ...
I use this in my elementary-level classes to organise all the grammar rules on how and when to use the present simple. First we conjugate the verb 'work' and I also translate it to my language (D ...
A reading lesson around the article published online about an American teenager attacked by a squirrel as he was trying to make a selfie with the animal. Contains comprehension questions, grammar, ...
The file explains the tense "will" or Future Simple in the most basic way as possible. Content: use (words + picture), formula (aff, neg & int), keywords and brief examples. Perfect for beggin ...
Useful explanations and some examples about the use of since and for in present perfect tenses. Provides plenty of examples of different times markers taken from English Grammar in Use. A the end ...
You can use the worksheet to give your students more chances to practice past continuous. Make your students work in pairs, which creates more opportunities for the students to use English i ...
Present simple / present continuous theory. Examples of habitual actions and things that are always true. Affirmative/ negative / interrogative forms. Difference between "-s" / "-es". Topic: ...
This worksheet is actually a test I made for my students. It's about school subjects and days of the week. Students have to complete the names of subjects with missing vowels and then label pictur ...
Use the song "Always" to teach the difference between past perfect and past simple. Moreover, it offers a chance to practice the writing skills inventing love stories. After some group works there ...
Activity to practise the verb 'have got' and the parts of the body. It can be used for pairwork or group work.There are 4 cards with monsters. One child must describe the monster using the verb ' ...
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