Teaching the Simple Past Tense and its Irregular Verbs
Let’s assume that the students are comfortable with the present tense. At that point they are ready to talk about what has happened in the past. Using and understanding the PAST TENSE can be made easier for the students if it is introduced in a step by step manner.
How can the teaching of the past tense be divided into readily understood steps?
Examples:
Simple Present Tense
- Roger and Helen enjoy movies.
- Roger and Helen watch movies.
- Roger and Helen want to go to movies.
Simple Past Tense
- Roger and Helen enjoyed a movie yesterday.
- Roger and Helen watched a movie last night.
- Roger and Helen wanted to go to a movie last Saturday.
It’s best to start with the most regular form – the “ed” ending. Point out that the pronunciation of “ed” has three different sounds. Although learning the rule that words ending in p, ss, k, ce, ch, or sh plus “ed” are usually pronounced as in “watched” no one can stop to consider a rule as they speak. Tell them they will learn the pronunciation as they speak and listen. To help the students learn these differences, give them lots of practice using the past tense of words that end in “ed”. Provide this practice by having them participate in many oral activities. The easiest beginning is to introduce the past tense conjugation of “to do” and give them questions that start with “Did” using only verbs with the past tense ending in “ed”. At this point have them answer “yes” to all questions.
Did you phone your friend last night? (yes)
Did you live here last year? (yes)
It’s important that the verbs will already have been introduced in previous lessons. Suggested frequently used verbs to use in your questions, such as:
to play, to live, to enjoy, to follow, to phone, to close, to answer, to watch, to walk, to like, to ask, to practice, to need, to want Now it’s necessary to introduce verbs that are irregular in the past tense. There are two ways of dividing the presentation. Verbs such as: “to go, to have, to see”, can be introduced first. Although they are irregular – they don’t end in “ed” – they use the same form throughout. At this point have them answer “yes” to all questions.
Did you see a movie last night? (yes)
Yes, I saw a movie last night. (yes)
The verb “to be”, however, is the most often used and the most difficult. Some teachers prefer to introduce “to be” first by presenting the past tense conjugation and asking questions such as:
Were you in town last night? (yes)
Were you playing basketball last year? (yes)
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