Tag: games to learn irregular verbs

Irregular verbs – past simple tense
Irregular verbs – past simple tense

Irregular verbs are probably the most important verbs in English. There are quite a lot of them and they are very common. However, for many ESL and EFL students they are very difficult to learn.

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I have already prepared many activities to teach the irregular verbs to my students. There are irregular verbs from the rap song by Fluency MC, there are several stories to learn the verbs in context and there are many infographics to make the learning a bit easier.
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[showmyads] Having tried all of these, I have to say that the most effective way of teaching irregular verbs in English is the SNOWBALL method. This method does not promise to teach you 100 verbs in 10 minutes. You have to study the verbs for 10 days in a row to learn these, but then I can guarantee that you will remember more than 90% of these verbs. So why don´t you try it for yourself?

Snowball method – How does it work?

The Snowball method is quite simple. You have to work for 10 days in a row. On the first day, the computer teaches you 12 verbs. On the second day, the computer gives you the 12 verbs from the previous day and it adds 12 new verbs. It goes on like this till the day six. Each day there are 12 new verbs and all the verbs from the previous days are repeated. On day 7, no new verbs are added and the 12 verbs from day 1 vanish. In this way, on days 7 to 10, no new verbs are added, and the oldest verbs are deleted. Thus, each verb is repeated at least 6 times.

Moreover, if you make a mistake, the verb is repeated again until you get it right or until you make 3 mistakes.

Irregular verbs – infographics

In the following Snowballs, these verbs are taught:
Irregular verbs infographic part 1 web

Irregular verbs 2 infographic web

irregular verbs 3 web

Irregular verbs – Snowballs

Once you have gone through the verbs, do the Snowball 1. Your task is to write the infinitive and the past tense of the verb in the picture. Please, use a comma and a space after the infinitive (e.g. draw, drew).
Do Snowball 2 the next day. Then do Snowballs 3-10 one each day.

Snowball 1 – full screen
Snowball 2 – full screen
Snowball 3 – full screen
Snowball 4 – full screen
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Snowball 6 – full screen
Snowball 7 – full screen
Snowball 8 – full screen
Snowball 9 – full screen
Snowball 10 – full screen
Irregular verbs with Fluency MC 4
Irregular verbs with Fluency MC 4

This is the last post in which we try to teach the irregular verbs mentioned in the rap song by Fluency MC. This time there are 15 irregular verbs and to help you teach or learn them there is an infographic, a quiz and a game.

Irregular verbs – song


First, listen to the following song and complete the lyrics. Start at 2:45.

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The lyrics worksheet:
Irregular verbs song lyrics 4

Irregular verbs – infographic


Display or hand out the following infographic and go through the irregular verbs with your students. Explain the meaning of the more difficult verbs if necessary or ask your students to use dictionaries.

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC 4

To print ot the infographic, use the following pdf file:
Irregular verbs with fluency 04

Irregular verbs – online quiz


The following online quiz consists of two parts. In the first part the students should match the irregular verbs and their meanings, and then complete the sentences with an appropriate irregular verb in the past tense.
In the second part the students should drag the irregular verbs to the appropriate spaces in the sentences. After they pass each part of the quiz they will be rewarded with a game.
The quiz is created in HTML5, so it will play on all electronic devices and computers.

Irregular verbs Quiz

The second game is called Goose Science Quiz, and your task is to click the dice in the upper right hand corner and then answer the questions. If you manage to get to the finish first, you will win the game. The game can be played by multiple people at the same time.
Once again, the game is in HTML5, so it will play on all electronic devices and computers.

Goose Quiz on irregular verbs

Irregular verbs – all irregular verbs with Fluency MC posts


As I wrote above, this is the fourth post we have prepared together with Fluency MC. You can find the previous posts here:
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Teach irregular verbs with Fluency MC #2
Teach irregular verbs with Fluency MC #2

In my opinion, irregular verbs are the most important thing one has to learn in English. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that students know them. However, teaching them is not easy. There are no rules, and the number of new words that students manage to commit to memory is quite low. Thus the teaching materials have to be interesting enough that students would return to them.

And one of the best materials for teaching irregular verbs is this song, which was created by Jason R Levine from Fluency MC:
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In this post we are going to deal with the verbs mentioned in the second verse of the song. Below you will find an infographic, an online quiz and a game to help your students learn the irregular verbs.

Irregular verbs – infographic


Display the following infographic and go through the words with them. Use the pictures to explain the meaning or ask your students to use their dictionaries.

Irregular verbs mind map 2


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Irregular verbs – an online quiz and a game


Start with the online quiz. The quiz is in HTML5 so it will play on mobile devices too. In the first part, you should drag the words to the correct spaces. If you pass, you will be rewarded with a game called Angry Farmer. In the second part, you have to look at the picture and complete the sentence. Use the past tense of a verb that best fits the sentence.

Irregular verbs quiz

Irregular verbs – links

You can practise the irregular verbs in sentences in the following video.


Irregular verbs by British Council.

Irregular verbs by BBC.

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A song by Fluency MC on irregular verbs:

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC
Irregular verbs with Fluency MC

I have already published 10 posts on teaching irregular verbs. You can see the list of the posts down here:

  1. Irregular verbs again
  2. Irregular verbs again 2
  3. Irregular verbs – third time lucky?
  4. Irregular verbs in context 1
  5. Irregular verbs straightforward

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  1. Irregular verbs straightforward #2
  2. Irregular verbs straightforward #3
  3. Teach 9 irregular verbs in one lesson
  4. Irregular verbs in context – Scream
  5. Irregular verbs in context – Teacher story

But I still cannot say that my students know the verbs. That was why I joined forces with Fluency MC, and this time we would like to teach the irregular verbs together.
To achieve this, we have prepared a song, an infographic, a game and an online quiz. We believe that if you go through all the activities, you will know the 20 irregular verbs we would like to teach in this post.

Irregular verbs – song

Listen to the song and complete the lyrics.

Irregular verbs lyrics first part

Irregular verbs – infographic


Show the following infographic to your students and ask them to go through the example sentences. If you teach a monolingual class, ask them to translate the more difficult sentences. Note that the print version of the worksheet looks different than the infographic here:

irregular verbs fluency MC

You can download the print version of the infographic here:

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC 1

Irregular verbs – online quiz

Now it is time to test your students knowledge. Ask them to complete the following online test. If they pass they will be rewarded with a game.

Online quiz on irregular verbs

Fluency MC – more videos


You can watch more videos by Fluency MC here:

Irregular verbs in context – Teacher story
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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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.

Irregular verbs in context – the story


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

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

Irregular verbs in context – the worksheet


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.

Irregular verbs in context – online quiz


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

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Irregular verbs – interactive quiz

Irregular verbs in context – other posts


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

Irregular verbs in context – links


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

Irregular verbs in context – share


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

Teach 9 irregular verbs in one lesson
Teach 9 irregular verbs in one lesson

It is much more memorable to teach or learn irregular verbs in a story. The verbs, especially their meaning, are easier to remember and retrieve from memory. Moreover, teaching verbs in a story is fun.
In this post there are several activities: a mind map, a worksheet, an MP3 drill and an interactive quiz. These activities will make the teaching and learning enjoyable and fun.
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Irregular verbs – infographics


Here is the picture of the story:
Irregular verbs story

Print version of the story and tasks:
past simple story_fishing full

Here, you can print out the mind map with all the irregular verbs. All the verbs are used in sentences.
irregular verbs in context 2

Once you think that you know the verbs you can try out the following interactive quiz. The quiz is in HTML5 and you can play it on all mobile devices.
Irregular verbs – full screen quiz

MP3 drill
Listen say the word that belongs there instead of the beep.


Irregular verbs – mp3 drill

The worksheet contains the grammar up activity. To do it correctly here is a simple explanation:

Irregular verbs – share


If you like this activity and you would like to use in either on your website or in a classroom without an internet connection, you can do so by downloading the files here:

irregular_verbs_incontext#2

Blog competition


Macmillan-Dictionary-Love-English-Awards-2014Macmillan publishing house runs a competition Love English Awards and as this site has been nominated, you can vote for us here. Thank you for your support.

Irregular verbs straightforward #3
Irregular verbs straightforward #3

Irregular verbs pictureThis has been the third post on irregular verbs. There are 24 more irregular verbs presented in two videos. Then you can practise each group of verbs on a worksheet or in interactive games and quizzes. When I counted I found out that each verb is practised at least 7 times. I have tried the activities with my students and finally they are able to learn them.

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If you do not like this straightforward approach you can try other methods I have tried here. There are irregular verbs associative method, irregular verbs listening drill, irregular verbs in context and many others.

Irregular verbs #3 – videos


First, watch the videos and repeat the words. This time I have tried to present them slightly differently and I hope this way will be more effective.

The other 12 verbs are presented in the following video:


Irregular verbs – worksheets


The first worksheet contains all 24 verbs taught in the videos above. They are in a table and each verb is illustrated.

Irregular verbs 3_all verbs

Then there are two worksheets containing crosswords and word puzzles to practice the irregular verbs. The activities for the verbs from the first video are here. Be careful, you have to add a free square after each verb in the spiral puzzle:

Irregular verbs 05_vocabulary_ws
Irregular verbs 05_vocabulary_ws_key

The puzzles and crosswords for the second video are over here. Again you have to add a free square after each verb in the spiral puzzle:
Irregular verbs 06_vocabulary_ws
Irregular verbs 06_vocabulary_ws_key

Irregular verbs #3 – interactive quizzes

The first two quizzes test the knowledge of the first twelve irregular verbs presented in the first video. The test is in HTML5 so you can play it on any mobile device. At the end of the quiz you can play a game.


Irregular verbs #5 – simple quiz

Then you can try the interactive crossword and wordsearch down here. Both of them are in HTML 5 so they will play on any device. You have to write both the past tense and past participle:

Irregular verbs #5 – crossword

Irregular verbs – Wordsearch

The following quizzes deal with the irregular verbs presented in the second video:


Irregular verbs #6

Then there are a crossword and a wordsearch. Remember to write both the past tense and the past participle:

Irregular verbs – Crossword #6

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Irregular verbs – Wordsearch #6

I hope that by now you will have learnt all the 24 irregular verbs taught here.

Irregular verbs straightforward #2
Irregular verbs straightforward #2

As students reacted very positively to the first post on irregular verbs I am going to continue with teaching the irregular verbs in this way. Once again I am going to teach 24 irregular verbs with their past tense and past participle. The verbs are divided into two groups of 12 and there are separate worksheets and videos for teaching them.
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If you are a teacher you do not have to use all of the activities and worksheets below. However, if you are a student I recommend that you complete all the worksheets and activities.

Irregular verbs #2 – video


First, watch the video and repeat the words. At the end you can stop the video or play the game and guess the verb that is being drawn. If you guess the verb you have to say the past tense and the past participle, too.

The other 12 verbs are presented in the following video:

Irregular verbs – worksheets


The first worksheet contains all the verbs taught in this post. They are in a table and each verb is illustrated.

Irregular verbs02_all

Then there are two worksheets containing crosswords and word puzzles to practice the irregular verbs from the two videos. The activities for the first video are here:

Irregular verbs 03_vocabulary_ws
Irregular verbs 03_vocabulary_ws_key

The puzzles and crosswords for the second video are over here:
Irregular verbs 04_vocabulary_ws
Irregular verbs 04_vocabulary_ws_key

Irregular verbs #2 – quizzes

The first two quizzes test the knowledge of the first twelve irregular verbs presented in the first video. The test is in HTML5 so you can play it on your mobile device. If you pass the quiz you can play a game.


Irregular verbs – simple quiz

Then you can try the interactive crossword and wordsearch. Once again both of them are in HTML 5 so they will play anywhere. Write both the past tense and past participle:

Irregular verbs – crossword

Irregular verbs – Wordsearch

The following quzzes deal with the irregular verbs presented in the second video. Once again there are three different activities to help you or your students remember all the irregular verbs. The first one is a simple HTML5 quiz:


Irregular verbs – Quiz no. 2

Then there are a crossword and a wordsearch. Remember to write both the past tense and the past participle:

Irregular verbs – Crossword 2

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Irregular verbs – Wordsearch 2

I hope that by now you will have learnt all the 24 irregular verbs taught here.

Irregular verbs in context 1
Irregular verbs in context 1

Teaching irregular verbs is really difficult. I have tried many different methods and I still feel that I have not succeeded. You can see several of my previous attempts at this site. For example there is a post on irregular verbs using associative method or a post with a rap with irregular verbs or a post with remembering tables.

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In this post I will try to teach the irregular verbs in context. I do not want my students to spend more time doing what we have already done. I want them to do something new with the irregular verbs which we have already dealt with.
In this post there are several quizzes, a mind map, four mnemonics a worksheet and a comic. I hope the results will justify the time spend on these.

Irregular verbs – introduction


Start with a pre-test. Ask your students to write the past tense and past participles of the following verbs:

go, buy, meet, feel, speak, say, come, find, lose, put, steal, know, make, think, give

The aim of such an activity is to show the gap and suggest that by the end of the lesson they will know all the past tenses.

You can try the quiz on your mobile phones here:
Irregular verbs – pre-test

Irregular verbs – Worksheet


You can download all the activities for the lesson here. It is a worksheet with all the activities to teach the irregular verbs:

Stolen wallet_original story_past simple

You can find the explanation of the Grammar UP activity here:

Irregular verbs – Additional materials


Of course, you could just use the worksheet as is. However, here are several improvements which you might find useful.
The first one is a mind map. It contains all the verbs in the past tense. I think that the best place to introduce the mind map is after the activity 2 (the reading). Moreover, there are the four mnemonics which should help the pupils remember the irregular verbs. Ask the students to memorize the four lines. Thus the students should learn all the irregular verbs.
Irregular verbs mind map
If your students have smartphones and your school is pretty hi-tec, you could use the following quizzes.
The first quiz is the Reading comprehension. Students can read the text online and then answer the multiple choice questions. If they get more than 70% of answers correct, they can play the game Make them fall:
Irregular verbs – Reading

In the second quiz students have to complete the text with the past tense of the verbs in brackets. If they get more than 70% of answers correct, they can play the game Tic Tac Toe.
Irregular verbs – Past tense

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In the third quiz students have to put the words into the correct order. Once again, if they pass the quiz they will get a chance to play the game Tower defence.

Irregular verbs – Tower Defence

Irregular verbs – The end


If you teach the above lesson, you must not miss the last step. The post test. Once again ask your students to write the past tense and past participles of the irregular verbs above or they could try the following interactive quiz.

Irregular verbs – post-test

I hope that the results now are much better than they were at the beginning of the lesson.

Irregular verbs – third time lucky?
Irregular verbs – third time lucky?

This has been my third post on irregular verbs in a short time. In the first two posts I have tried the associative method, and MP3 drills. While the associative method was not that successful the MP3 drills certainly work. However, they presuppose that the students will learn at home and will play the recording twice or three times at least. But in reality students mostly work with each material only once. Therefore we need a material which will teach the irregular verbs in one or two activities.
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In this post I have tried to come up with such activities. There is the colour crossword and Remembering tables. The students should learn 16 irregular verbs here. There is a pre-test and a post test which will test the students’ knowledge before and after the activity. I hope the teaching will be successful this time.

Irregular verbs – pre-test


If you are a learner of English please take this pre-test. You will see how many of the 16 irregular verbs you already know. You will be asked to give a name. It does not have to be a real name, but use the same name in the post test, too.
Why do we want your name. We would like to conduct a research and see how effective the method of teaching is. Of course, we will publish the results here.

Irregular verbs – Learning


In this part you will find two methods how to learn the irregular verbs. The first one is called remembering tables.
Print out the worksheet. Have a look at the first table and try to remember all the words there. Once you feel that you know them, cover the table and write all the words into the table on the right. Having finished, check your answers and correct them or complete them.
Do the same with all the other tables.
Irregular verbs_remembering tables.pdf
If you teach a class you can use the same worksheet but set time limits for learning the words. I usually go through the tables and ask the students to repeat the words after me and then give them between 20 and 45 seconds to remember the words.
Having finished the remembering tables, it is time to print out the Colour Crossword and complete it. Notice that the colours are quite important as they help highlight the rules behind the changes. Try to deduce the logic behind the colours and form the rules (eg. red means that the word is completely irregular and it has nothing in common with the original verb.)
Irregular verbs colour crossword

The colours have their own logic behind them.

Irregular verbs – post-test


Have you done all the activities above? So now take the test and see how many irregular verbs you know now. Is it better?