Irregular verbs in context – Teacher story

Teaching irregular verbs in context is not only useful, but rewarding too. A short story attracts the attention of students and can be used in many communicative activities. Unfortunately, there are not many short stories which can be easily used for teaching the past tense.
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[showmyads] Luckily, my friend Lynne Blackburn sent me a nice short story to use here. With this post you can teach 8 irregular verbs and practise the past tense of regular verbs. There are many interesting activities which will make it easier for you to teach and for your students to learn. In this post you will find a video, a worksheet, a picture and an interactive exercise. I hope you will find them useful and interesting.

Here is the story. First, ask your students to have a look at the picture and figure out what happened.

Once, you think the students have had enough of guessing, play the following video.

After watching the video, it is time to start using the worksheet. Download the following worksheet and print one copy for everyone.

Past simple story – worksheet

Ask the students to translate the words in exercise one. They can use dictionaries or their mobile phones to do this.

Then ask the students to read the story again and answer the comprehension questions. You can find the correct answers in the key at the end of the worksheet.

In the third exercise students should complete the text with the correct verbs in the past tense. They can do so either in writing or orally.

The fourth exercise is called Grammar Up. You can find detailed instructions for this exercise in the following video:

In the fifth exercise students should complete the sentences with the correct conjunction. The correct answers are again in the key.

In the sixth exercise students should match the opposites.

In the seventh exercise students should find nine verbs in the past tense.

In the last exercise students should retell the story.

Your students can practise the grammar at home or on their mobile devices in the following online quiz:

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[showmyadsa] Irregular verbs – interactive quiz

If you would like to use more stories like this, you could try the following:

1. Irregular verbs in context – Scream
2. Irregular verbs in context 1
3. Teach 9 irregular verbs in one lesson

If you would like more practice with irregular verbs, the British Council has a great site.

If you do not have an internet connection at school, you can download the video and online quiz here. Unpack the files and find the index.html and play the quiz.

Past simple all activities