Teaching the Simple Past

After the present tenses (Simple Present and Present Progressive), the Simple Past tense (also called the Past Simple) is usually the next verb tense ESL students are taught. The Simple Past tense has “regular” verbs and “irregular” verbs.

Regular Simple Past tense verbs are formed by adding “-ed” to the end of the base form of the verb (eg., walked, dressed, called, etc.). For verbs that already end with an “e,” just add a “d” (e.g., cared, raced, decided, invited, etc.).

As with teaching all verb tenses, three things are essential to teach students learning English as a Second Language: (1) verb conjugation, (2) verb form, and (3) verb function. (See Fundamentals of Teaching Verb Tenses.)

Simple Past Verb Conjugation (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)

Verb conjugation of the affirmative Simple Past is pretty easy. There is only one form of the verb no matter what the subject is.

1. I talked. I walked. I danced. I cared.
2. You talked. You walked. You danced. You cared.
3. She/He/It talked. She/He/It walked. She/He/It danced. She/He/It cared.
4. They talked. They walked. They danced. They cared.
5. We talked. We walked. We danced. We cared.

Simple Past Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She talked.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She didn’t talk.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Did she talk?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she did. No, she didn’t.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When did she talk?)

The tricky thing for ESL students conjugating the Simple Past is remembering to use the correct “helping” or “auxiliary” verb “to do.”

Simple Past Function (when to use the Simple Past aka Past Simple)

The Simple Past verb tense has one primary function: to express an activity or situation that started in the past and ended in the past at a particular time. For example, “I finished my homework last night,” “I traveled to Spain in 1985,” “I got up at seven this morning.”

ESL Student Challenges

Besides remembering to use the correct helping verb (“to do”), students studying English as a Second Language also have to memorize irregular Past Tense verbs (irregulars don’t follow the general rule of adding “-ed”) and they also have to learn about changing the spelling of verbs that end with “y” (e.g., "study" becomes "studied") and some consonants (e.g., "drop" becomes "dropped").

For a more thorough explanation and Simple Past exercises (as well as every other verb tense and lots of grammar tips), see Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar.

Teaching English Grammar Basic Tenses

My favorite grammar textbook for teaching English grammar basic tenses is Azar’s, Understanding and Using English Grammar. You can use this book to refresh yourself on the tenses and also to teach your students; plus it has grammar exercises you can give to your students.

There are essentially twelve English grammar basic tenses (I'm not including information on the Passive here). Most basic tenses have more than one name. It depends on the grammar book you use and on the teacher teaching the tenses.

Here’s a list of basic grammar tenses to teach ESL students. Actually, these can be taught to native-English speakers, as well!

1. Simple Present or Present Simple
   
   
   
   • e.g., I play, you play, she/he/it plays, we play, they play
     
   
   
2. Present Progressive, Present Continuous, Simple Present Progressive or Simple Present Continuous
   
   
   
   • e.g., I am playing, you are playing, she/he/it is playing, we are playing, they are playing
     
   
   
3. Simple Past or Past Simple
   
   
   
   • e.g., I played, you played, he/she/it played, we played, they played
     
   
   
4. Past Progressive, Past Continuous, Simple Past Progressive or Simple Past Continuous
   
   
   
   • e.g., I was playing, you were playing, she/he/it was playing, we were playing, they were playing
     
   
   
5. Present Perfect or Simple Present Perfect
   
   
   
   • e.g., I have played, you have played, he/she/it has played, we have played, they have played
     
   
   
6. Present Perfect Progressive or Present Perfect Continuous
   
   
   
   • e.g., I have been playing, you have been playing, he/she/it has been playing, we have been playing, they have been playing
     
   
   
7. Past Perfect or Simple Past Perfect
   
   
   
   • e.g., I had played, you had played, he/she/it had played, we had played, they had played
     
   
   
8. Past Perfect Progressive or Past Perfect Continuous
   
   
   
   • e.g., I had been playing, you had been playing, he/she/it had been playing, we had been playing, they had been playing
     
   
   
9. Simple Future or Future Simple
   
   
   
   • e.g., I will play, you will play, he/she/it will play, they will play, we will play or I am going to play, you are going to play, he/she/it is going to play, we are going to play, they are going to play
     
   
   
10. Future Progressive
    
    
    
    • e.g., I will be playing, you will be playing, he/she/it will be playing, they will be playing, we will be playing
      
    
    
11. Future Perfect
    
    
    
    • e.g., I will have played, you will have played, he/she/it will have played, they will have played, we will have played
      
    
    
12. Future Perfect Progressive
    
    
    
    • e.g., I will have been playing, you will have been playing, he/she/it will have been playing, they will have been playing, we will have been playing
      
    
    

You are free to copy this list of grammar tenses and examples, but I’d really appreciate if you cited this website on your copy.

Functions of the Present Perfect

Yesterday, I wrote about teaching verb tenses and verb conjugation. The usual order of teaching tenses is Simple Present, Present Progressive, and Simple Past. ESL students are generally OK through these basic tenses. Then comes the Present Perfect… (can you hear the Jaws shark music in the background?).

Here are the three functions of the Present Perfect.

1. Unspecified time
2. Repetition
3. Started in the past and continues until the present, may or may not continue into the future (there just isn’t a short way to describe this function)

Function 1: Unspecified time

The Present Perfect can be used to describe something in the past when we don’t know when it happened or when it happened is not important. For example, “I’ve traveled to Brazil.”

Compare the Present Perfect usage to the Simple Past. “I traveled to Brazil in 2004.” The Simple Past is used when a time is specified. The specified time could be "this morning," "yesterday," "at 6pm," "when I was a child," etc.

The "unspecified time" function of the Present Perfect tense is often confused with the Simple Past tense.

Function 2: Repetition

The Present Perfect is used to describe something that has happened many (or a couple of) times in the past. For example, “I’ve traveled to Brazil many times,” "I've eaten at that restaurant twice," "John Grisham has written a few books."

Function 3: Started in the past, continues until now, and may or may not continue into the future

For example, “I’ve watched All My Children since 1970.” This tense can often be replaced with the Present Perfect Progressive when emphasizing duration. “I’ve been watching soap operas since 1970.”

Note: This is a general overview of the three functions of the Present Perfect. Use a good grammar textbook, such as Azar’s, Understanding and Using English Grammar, to fully prepare your Present Perfect tense lesson plan.

"What's a good way to learn English?"

Actually, the original question was "Good way for study english?" I was trolling Yahoo and found this question asked by someone from Korea who is trying to learn English as a Second Language. He or she further wrote, "Im Korean. now, i studying english, but my english not well..so, i want to know that good way for study english.
thank you!"

I wrote a response to this ESL learner and I'd like to share it here.

"The absolute best way to learn any language is to immerse yourself in the language. That means you should live somewhere like the U.S. or the U.K., if possible, and hang out with the natives.

You didn't mention if you live in Korea or if you are living in an English speaking country. In either case, you could try to study with an English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) tutor. If you're in the U.S. (and probably other places), you can find a tutor on craigslist.org under the "Lessons" category. Of course, working with a private tutor costs money.

If you are living in an English-speaking country, some areas have organizations that match native English speakers with ESL speakers so that the non-native speaker can practice his or her English. This is usually free, however, the native speaker is usually not a trained English teacher.

If you live in Korea and can't find a native English speaker to work with, try to watch American films (without subtitles), read English books, websites, news, etc. Also, try to write something every day in English. Don't worry if it's not perfect. The main point is to train your mind to think in English.

And find a good grammar book. Try Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar, although this might be just a bit advanced for you (judging from the grammar in your written question). The next best textbook is Grammar in Use - Intermediateby Murphy.

I hope this helps a little. Good luck!"

Future Perfect Glitch

I met with one of my advanced students today. We are reviewing the Future Perfect and Future Perfect Progressive tenses. At our last session, we finished the chapter in Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammarand I gave my student four additional exercises for homework (cloze exercises).

She came back today with the ESL worksheets incomplete. She told me that she had a hard time completing the exercises. It turns out that the exercises I gave her are from the same source I had trouble with the other day for one of my beginning students. Some of the blanks required use of the Simple Future, instead of the Perfect tenses, but the directions said only Future Perfect or Future Perfect Progressive.

I really, really must review the ESL worksheets and exercises I get from the web before I give them to my students!

We were able to use this experience as a learning tool, but she still needs help learning this tense. I'm going to use some material from Swan's Practical English Usage.

I don't think that many English as a Second Language students get much practice with the Future tenses. They are often among the last grammar points taught, and frankly, native English speakers don't use the Future tenses as much as we use other tenses, especially the past. I think this probably says more about how we live our lives than anything else.

Best ESL Books for Teachers

Every private tutor needs to have a library of ESL teaching books and resources. Unfortunately, these books are expensive! Fortunately, you can often find copies at used bookstores and even online. The following is a list of the main books I use over and over again when teaching students or when I need to look up an English grammar point I’m unsure of. (Like ending a sentence with a preposition!)

Reference Books for ESL Teachers and Advanced ESL Students

Practical English Usageby Michael Swan, published by Oxford University Press - This book is my grammar bible. If you don’t buy any other book, buy this one. It answers 99% of the questions you could ever have about English grammar. I also highly recommend this to all of my advanced ESL students. I have the second edition. The newest is the third edition. It’s not as expensive as most grammar books, but it ain’t cheap either. So if you find a good used copy of an older edition, I’d go for it.

Longman Advanced American Dictionary- This dictionary is great because its definitions are those commonly used today. It also gives great examples of how to use words and it “knows” when you might get something confused (for example, if you can’t remember the difference between a phrase and a clause, it will define one word and tell you to also see the other). Every student I’ve recommended this dictionary to has spoken highly of it. Longman makes a few dictionaries. Be sure to get the one with the exact title above. It comes with a CD-ROM.

Textbooks I Use Regularly

Understanding and Using English Grammarby Betty Schrampfer Azar - This book is great for your intermediate to advanced ESL students. It has all the important grammar points laid out nicely in charts with explanations and examples. It also has student exercises. If you have higher level ESL students, this is the one grammar book (with exercises) that I highly recommend.

Grammar in Use - Intermediateby Raymond Murphy - This is my second choice ESL grammar textbook. Although “intermediate” is in the title, I feel it is also appropriate for advanced level students (apparently Murphy thinks so too, because he hasn’t published an advanced version). Each grammar point that it addresses has one page of examples with a little bit of explanation and one page of student exercises. For the best grammar presentations and explanations, I prefer Azar (above), but Grammar in Use is good when you want supplemental exercises and/or you prefer a shorter explanation of the grammar points.

Basic Grammar in Useby Raymond Murphy – This textbook is for beginning level ESL students. This is my number one textbook for beginners. It’s laid out the same way as the Intermediate book. Beginning level English doesn’t require as much explanation, so this textbook works well.

The Best ESL Pronunciation Book

Pronunciation Pairs: An Introductory Course for Students of Englishby Ann Baker and Sharon Goldstein – I stumbled upon this book in a used book store, and to this day, I consider it one of the best finds ever. There’s a teacher’s version and a student’s version. Either one will work well, but the teacher’s version is particularly helpful because it tells you what difficulties to expect of your students.

One More Helpful Book for ESL Students

The Oxford Picture Dictionary- The title says it all. I have the English monolingual version. If your student also buys one, he or she can get one that is bilingual. I use this book for my beginning level students. I found my copy at a used bookstore.

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions for "must have" ESL books.

Personal Pronouns and the Present Perfect

I met with two students today. One is an advanced ESL learner. I've been working with her for about a year. Much of the grammar we work on is review. Our major focus is conversation skills, accent reduction and pronunciation (mostly medical terms, as she is a Registered Nurse). I noticed some difficulty with Personal Pronouns, so we are reviewing them by using Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar, chapter 8, "Pronouns." My student had some problems with the first exercise (mostly an assessment tool). We proceeded with Section 8-1, Personal Pronouns. This section provides a chart with subject pronouns, object pronouns, possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives. We also practiced identifying antecedents.

I remember having difficulty, myself, with pronouns when I studied Spanish. Memorization of each of the pronouns is necessary. This can be accomplished through written exercises (and sometimes has to be, otherwise, some students try to avoid using pronouns in spoken English) and verbal drills.

The second English language learner I tutored today is at a high beginner level. It's been 10 years since she studied English in high school in Korea. We've been working together for a couple of months. Today's lesson included the Present Perfect. I used Murphy's Basic Grammar in Use, unit 16, "Have you ever...?" I also introduced some new vocabulary phrases dealing with restaurants ("Do you take plastic?" "I'd like a doggy bag," etc.). Homework is to create a dialog between a diner and a server. (I developed this lesson plan a couple of years ago when I was studying for my TESOL certificate.)