Grade 8 ESL Lesson Plan: Present Perfect — Experiences

Learning Objectives

• Form the present perfect: have/has + past participle (positive, negative, questions, short answers).
• Use the present perfect to talk about life experiences, with ever and never.
• Use common irregular past participles correctly.
• Explain the difference between been to and gone to.
• Choose between the present perfect (no finished time) and the past simple (finished time) and use both in a conversation.

Lesson Procedure

• Read the overview and success criteria before teaching.
• Lesson 1 — Have you ever…? (50 min): follow the stage table (warm-up, teach, practice, exit ticket).
• Lesson 2 — Past participles and been/gone (50 min): follow the stage table (warm-up, teach, practice, exit ticket).
• Lesson 3 — Present perfect or past simple? (50 min): follow the stage table (warm-up, teach, practice, exit ticket).
• Use the matching PowerPoint, worksheet and assessment from this pack — the plan refers to their slide and part numbers.

Assessment

Exit tickets in each lesson. Teacher observation during "Find someone who…". Worksheet Parts A–E with the answer key. Quick Quiz (9 marks) after lesson 2. Unit Test (28 marks) at the end. Performance task (rubric): "Experience Interview" — interview a partner and write a short report.

Differentiation

Support: Give a list of past participles to use during all tasks. Challenge: Use "How many times have you…?" and "the best … I have ever …". English language learners: Use the time line drawing every time you explain the tense.

Classroom Activity Ideas

• Two Truths and a Lie (12 minutes, Groups of 4): Each student writes 3 experience sentences (present perfect): two true, one false. They read them to the group.
• Participle Race (8 minutes, Two teams): Call out a base verb (e.g. "write"). One player per team runs to the board and writes the past participle.
• Experience Bingo (15 minutes, Whole class): Students walk around and ask "Have you ever…?" If the answer is "Yes, I have", they ask one follow-up and write the name.

Teacher Tips

Tell real stories about your own experiences — students love them and it models the tense naturally. Always draw the time line: experiences are dots somewhere on the line from birth to NOW.

What's Included

• 4-page lesson plan (PDF + editable DOCX)
• Lesson 1 — Have you ever…? (50 min)
• Lesson 2 — Past participles and been/gone (50 min)
• Lesson 3 — Present perfect or past simple? (50 min)
• Key vocabulary table, materials list and success criteria
• Differentiation (support, challenge, English language learners)
• Common misconceptions with fixes, and teacher tips

Additional Files

• Grade 8 ESL Lesson Plan: Present Perfect — Experiences (DOCX)

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