Grade 5 ESL Classroom Activity: Think It Through: Past Simple

About This Resource

Pronunciation, reasoning and speaking tasks: sort the sounds, who is right?, real life: weekend survey, spelling detectives. Teacher notes and model answers included.

Overview

Students learn to talk about finished events in the past. They start with was and were (I was at home, they were happy), then form regular past simple verbs with -ed, learn the four spelling rules and the three ways to say -ed (/t/, /d/, /ɪd/), and make questions and negatives with did / didn't + base verb. Time words (yesterday, last week, two days ago) show WHEN. Picture prompts, a weekend survey and a "What did you do?" game give lots of speaking practice.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Past Simple: was/were and Regular Verbs
Category: Grammar
File Type: PDF
File Size: 238.5 KB
Published: 19 Oct 2026
Downloads: 0

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How to Play

Use in pairs or small groups after the first teaching lesson.
Let students predict and explain before you give answers.
Use the teacher notes to listen for good reasoning and common mistakes.

Variations

Where Were You? (10 minutes, Whole class): Call a time: "Yesterday at 5 pm!" Students walk to a place card.
Mime and Guess (10 minutes, Two teams): A player mimes the card. Their team guesses in the past: "You cleaned your room!"
Find the Liar (12 minutes, Groups of 4): Each student writes 3 sentences about last weekend (one is false). The group asks "Did you…?" questions to check.

Teacher Tips

Start every lesson with "What did you do yesterday?" — real news makes the grammar meaningful. Keep a big time line on the wall with "yesterday", "last week", "a year ago".

Learning Objectives

Use was / were / wasn't / weren't correctly with all subjects.
Form regular past simple verbs and spell them correctly (-ed, -d, -ied, double consonant).
Say the -ed ending as /t/, /d/ or /ɪd/.
Make questions and negatives with did / didn't + base verb.
Use past time expressions (yesterday, last…, …ago) to talk about finished events.

Differentiation

Support: Use the was/were table card on every task. Challenge: Write a diary entry for last Saturday (8–10 sentences). English language learners: Clap the -ed sounds: /ɪd/ adds an extra beat (want-ed, paint-ed).