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 a worksheet for revising the past simple tense. Recommended for elementary students who are asked to read the text, answer the questions, complete the list with other verbs in the simple ...
These exercises will help you check the knowledge of the different uses of four basic grammatical tenses in English (present simple, present continuous, past simple and present perfect) so frequen ...
Grid of general English verb tenses with explanations in Spanish. From intermediate to upper-intermediate and advanced levels. There is only theory but not practice. There are also some tips and e ...
This exercise is based on the Elephant Song by Eric Herman. It practices using "doesn't" for the negative present simple tense (singular), and it practices using the correct form of the positive p ...
This is a worksheet I have prepared for my students. It includes: Complete with the words from the box Answers the questions Revision of have and has got Match the two halves Make the questions ...
It is a reading activity which can be used first as a dictation. The tense used is the simple past and tells us how a boy celebrated his birthday party. There are comprehension questions to check ...
This is a worksheet for practicing verb to be. It includes 3 different tasks. Also, there is a white and black version. It brings a completion exercise and multiple choice exercise. It is very bas ...
This is a worksheet to practice Past Tense. There are 3 different tasks. You will have regular and irregular verbs. Students will be able to practice affirmative, negative and questions. I hope yo ...
A worksheet with 20 cards containing hints to make questions about daily routines (present simple). Suitable for pairwork or group work.
Extension: students can write down the full questions and ...
The aim of this exercise is to ask and answer questions using present perfect tense. The students have to choose the correct form of the verb and ask the questions and complete with their own and ...
This is a class designed for students to work with Simple Past irregular verbs and some of the regular ones. As it is also a good story the teacher may also have the opportunity to work text compr ...
The activity is aimed at practising questions related to personal experience in Present Perfect in a form of a communicative activity. Each student in the group receives a questionnaire. All she/h ...
A very nice and sweet character to make our students practise personal information. It includes verb to be and pronouns as well as adjectives. It is intended to introduce and practise 3rd person s ...
This is a worksheet for revising the past simple tense. Recommended for pre-intermediate students who are asked to read the aboriginal dreamtime story and fill in the gaps with the past simple of ...
This is a reading comprehension test on Simple Past. Reading and answer the questions. Unscramble the words to build sentences. Mark the correct answer. Complete in the simple past. Choose the ri ...
Choose the correct form of the verb in the affirmative, question and negative. These are just simple exercises for students who are new in English or to those who are just starting to learn the l ...
A very short and simple exercise to work the simple past tense. In this page, the students must read and write the correct form of the verbs that are in brackets in simple present, this exercise i ...
A nice song to share with your students. It can also be used as a debate starting point, 'cause in the song the band mentions several problematics that teens have to face nowadays. There are sever ...
This is an easy and short irregular verbs exercise for elementary or even pre-intermediate students. It contains 10 different statements to complete filling in the blanks with the correct form of ...
This is a 2-page worksheet contrasting the simple past and the past continuous. Recommended for pre-intermediate students who are asked to write sentences according to the picture and fill in bla ...
This worksheet is about Present Continuous tense practice for kids who are learning with Let's Go 2 by Oxford University Press. It 's very useful for people at beginning level of English. This han ...
Fun song, students listen for correct answers and fill in the blanks with the past simple forms of the given verbs. Also includes match-up exercises with colloquial/difficult phrases which appear ...
A ready-to-use, printer-friendly worksheet to practice the present simple 3rd person singular. Complete the sentences with verbs - affirmative, negative, interrogative. Suitable for both class wor ...
This is a 2-page worksheet for revising the past simple tense. Recommended for elementary students who are asked to write the past simple of the verbs given, look at the picture and write sentenc ...
30 questions on topics that go with the present simple: free time & hobbies, food & drink, holidays, jobs, animals and sports. Elementary students are able to understand and give answers i ...
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