Tag: Grammar

22 Verbs in the past simple tense
22 Verbs in the past simple tense

Elementary students often struggle with verbs. They know very few of them and this deficit becomes obvious at the moment they start learning the past simple tense. To help them I created the following post where I try to teach 22 frequent verbs and their past tense.

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In this post, you can find an infographic with all the verbs and four games to learn the verbs.

Verbs in the past simple tense – infographic

Ask your students to study the following infographic. Drill the pronunciation with them and give them about five minutes to memorise the words.
22 verbs in the past simple tense
You might ask your students to divide the verbs to regular and irregular verbs, too.

Verbs in the past simple tense – games

Then play the following games. If each student has got their own computer, they play on their own. If you use an IWB, ask one student to come to the front of the class and the others try to help him/her.
[wptabsy] [tab]Darts game[/tab] [tab]Dice game[/tab] [tab]Time game[/tab] [tab]Length game[/tab] [tabcontent] In this games, students should write the verbs. They must divide the verbs with a comma and a space. If they answer correctly they have to stop the dart to get as many points as possible. The highest score they can achieve is 60, if they stop the dart in the triple of the number 20. The aim of this game is to get as many points as possible.


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[showmyadsa] Darts game – full screen [/tabcontent] [tabcontent] In this games, students should write the verbs. They must divide the verbs with a comma and a space. If they answer correctly they have to stop the dice to get as many points as possible. They get one point for each point on the dice and they get 10 points bonus if the dice show the same number.
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Dice game – full screen [/tabcontent] [tabcontent] In this game, student write the verbs. They must divide the verbs with a comma and a space. If they answer correctly, they have to guess how long is the line on the screen. The better their guess is the more points they get.

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[showmyadsa] Length game [/tabcontent] [tabcontent] In this game, student write the verbs. They must divide the verbs with a comma and a space. If they answer correctly, they have to stop the countdown when it reaches zero. The closer to zero they get the more points they get.

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[adinserter block=”2″] Guess the time game [/tabcontent] [/wptabsy]

Which game do you like best

Verb master board game
Verb master board game

Verb master board game is intended to replace drills. The aim of this game is to help students learn to form verb tenses. While drills are boring, board games are interesting and fun. Thus, students practise the grammar forms and enjoy it.

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The great advantage of the Verb master game is the fact that the game is nearly universal. It is designed in such a way that you can practise nearly any English tense there is. So you just print the game once and then you can use it as many times as you like or your students like.
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Verb master – board game

Print the following board game. I recommend that you laminate your games because you will be able to use the board again and again.
Verb master board game
You can download the pdf file here:

Verb master game – pdf file

The great advantage of the game is, that you can arrange students into various groups of various sizes.

Ask students to find something that will serve as a counter. Hand out one game and one die for each group.

Tell students what tense they have to form, for example, present continuous. Students throw the dice and move along. When they finish their move, they have to say the sentence they landed on using the given tense. If they form the sentence correctly, they stay where they are. However, if they make a mistake, they have to go back to the start. (This rule might seem a bit harsh, but it makes the game more exciting and students pay more attention to the sentences their partners are saying.)

I always prepare the keys for each group and I hand them out before the game starts. You will find several of the keys below.

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[showmyads] [wptabsy] [tab]Pr. continuous[/tab] [tab]Past continuous[/tab] [tab]Past simple[/tab] [tab]Pr. simple[/tab] [tabcontent]1. I am going to school.
2. She is reading a book.
3. They are writing a letter.
4. We are singing a song.
5. They are running fast.
6. She is drinking lemonade.
7. The cat is eating fish.
8. Kate is doing her homework.
9. Dave is driving a car.
10. The baby is sleeping.
11. They are playing chess.
12. Mike is sitting.
13. I am swimming.
14. She is watching TV.
15. She is feeding birds.
16. She is talking on the phone.
17. They are dancing.
18. Sue is flying.
19. The child is crying.
20. The boy is building a snowman.
21. He is making a cake.

[/tabcontent] [tabcontent]1. I was going to school.
2. She was reading a book.
3. They were writing a letter.
4. We were singing a song.
5. They were running fast.
6. She was drinking lemonade.
7. The cat was eating fish.
8. Kate was doing her homework.
9. Dave was driving a car.
10. The baby was sleeping.
11. They were playing chess.
12. Mike was sitting.
13. I was swimming.
14. She was watching TV.
15. She was feeding birds.
16. She was talking on the phone.
17. They were dancing.
18. Sue was flying.
19. The child was crying.
20. The boy was building a snowman.
21. He was making a cake.

[/tabcontent] [tabcontent]1. I went to school.
2. She read a book.
3. They wrote a letter.
4. We sang a song.
5. They ran fast.
6. She drank lemonade.
7. The cat ate fish.
8. Kate did her homework.
9. Dave drove a car.
10. The baby slept.
11. They played chess.
12. Mike sat.
13. I swam.
14. She watched TV.
15. She fed birds.
16. She talked on the phone.
17. They danced.
18. Sue flew.
19. The child cried.
20. The boy built a snowman.
21. He made a cake.

[/tabcontent] [tabcontent]1. I go to school.
2. She reads a book.
3. They write a letter.
4. We sing a song.
5. They run fast.
6. She drinks lemonade.
7. The cat eats fish.
8. Kate does her homework.
9. Dave drives a car.
10. The baby sleeps.
11. They play chess.
12. Mike sits.
13. I swim.
14. She watches TV.
15. She feeds birds.
16. She talks on the phone.
17. They dance.
18. Sue flies.
19. The child cries.
20. The boy builds a snowman.
21. He makes a cake.

[/tabcontent] [/wptabsy] Verb master board game is designed to help students practise forming verb tenses in English. You can find several other board games at our website. There is a Halloween game and Superlatives and comparatives board game. I hope you will find them useful.

Simple grammar rhymes
Simple grammar rhymes

Beginners have to memorise a lot of new words and grammar. To make the process a bit easier, I and my colleague came up with a set of simple grammar rhymes that help our learners remember the crucial verb forms.
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[showmyads] In this post, I would like to share the rhymes with you. There is a short video for two rhymes and the text. And one of the rhymes comes only with the audio file. It seems that the best way to teach the grammar is to ask your students to memorise the poems, and then they use the underlying grammar automatically. I hope you will find these rhymes useful.

Simple grammar rhymes – Verb TO BE


I am small.
You are tall.
He is fat.
It is bad.
She is late.
It´s not great.
We are old.
They are cold.

Simple grammar rhymes – Verb HAVE GOT


She’s got a cat
He’s got a pet.
I’ve got a ball.
You’ve got a doll.
We’ve got a house.
They’ve got a mouse.
Sue’s got a parrot
It’s got a carrot.

Simple grammar rhymes – Present simple tense

You say.
I play.
We learn.
They turn.

He works.
She talks.
It rains.
He trains.

They live.
We make.
We give.
They take.

And here is just the audio recording:
Present simple – simple grammar rhyme MP3 ADVERT:
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Simple grammar rhymes – How to use them

I always use the rhymes to introduce the grammar. I play the video and then we read the rhyme together with the video several times. I hand out the text and the students have to learn the rhyme by heart.

If you teach a monolingual class, it is a good idea to translate the rhyme.

In the following lesson, I ask the students to recite the rhyme and I introduce the grammar and we do several exercises.

I have to say that it really works and it is much easier for the students to learn and understand the grammar then.

Simple grammar rhymes – Share

If you have created your own rhyme, please do not be afraid to share it here. Please, post your rhymes in the comments. Thank you.

What is the best way to present the rhymes?

Comparatives and superlatives – activities
Comparatives and superlatives – activities

The vast majority of people consider comparatives and superlatives in English easy. They usually have no problems with their formation and as there are very few exceptions, they master this grammar point pretty quickly.

However, it is still a good idea to have a few interesting activities up your sleeve to teach this well. You can find the basic explanation and infographic in my previous post about comparatives and superlatives.

In this post, I am going to offer three activities that worked very well in my classes. The first one is a simple pair speaking activity to practise the comparatives. The second one is called Hidden picture and your task is to colour the correct sentences and find the hidden picture. The third activity is a video quiz with a writing activity. I hope you will like the activities and use them in your classes too.

Comparatives and superlatives – activities

For the first activity, you will need the following worksheet.
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[showmyads] Comparatives and superlatives – speaking

Print it and ask your students to work in pairs. Give each student one quarter of the worksheet. Make sure to give different worksheet to each student in a pair.

Students should fill in the gaps using the correct form of the adjective in the brackets. Check their answers. Even though the questions are different, the answers are the same and therefore, they are easy to check.

Then students work in pairs and read the questions to their partners and answer them in English.

For the Hidden picture activity, you need to print the following table for each student.

Comparatives hidden image web
Ask the students to colour the squares that contain a correct sentence. If they do it correctly a picture will appear (in this case the letter N should appear).
Then go through the sentences with your students and elicit the mistakes and their corrections.

Comparatives and superlatives – video

Before you play the video, ask the students to take a piece of paper and something to write with. Play the video and the students write down the correct answers to the questions. At the end of the quiz, they check their answers. Award the student with most correct answers.

As a follow-up activity, it is a good idea to ask your students to write a similar quiz.

Phrases with Get #2
Phrases with Get #2

Together with Fluency MC we have already published several interesting posts. In our latest post, we tried to help you teach 16 phrases with GET. And this time, there are 16 more. All the phrases come from the song by Fluency MC called GET A LIFE. And as the song contains many more phrases with GET there will be some more posts soon.
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[showmyads] In this post, there is the song, an infographic and three games to help you teach the phrases with GET.

Phrases with GET – song

As a starter play the song Get a Life to your students. All the phrases taught in this post can be found between 0:38 and 1:20.


You can join Fluency MC’s free starter course here and also get his free YouTube songbook! http://fluencymc.com/starter-course/
After introducing the phrases, move to the infographic.

Phrases with GET – infographic

Display or print the following infographic for you students and go through the phrases with them. If you teach a monolingual class, it is a good idea to translate the phrases with the students.

Phrases with get infographic
After you teach the pronunciation and the meaning of the phrases, it is useful to give your students about five minutes to learn the phrases on their own.
After this, play the video again (from the beginning to 1:20) and let the students enjoy the fact that they can understand.

Phrases with GET – games

The first game is just a simple piece of a drilling software. I call it Vocabulary Trainer. It displays a definition and your task is to write the phrase. Then the computer writes whether you were right or not. The phrases which you do not write correctly get repeated. Once you can see a zero twice it is the end of the game. I admit that it is not much of a game but I find it very useful when I learn foreign vocabulary.

Vocabulary trainer

The second game is called Dice. You see a definition and your task is to type the correct phrase. If you succeed, you will see two dice and your task is to stop them. You get as many points as there are points on the dice. If both of the dice show the same number, you will get 10 points bonus. The best scores are saved. Good luck.
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The third game is called Guess the Length. Again, first write the correct words and then you will see a line. Your task is to guess how long the line is. The best scores are once again saved in a leaderboard.

Guess the length game
Present perfect tense activities
Present perfect tense activities

The present perfect tense is one of the most difficult tenses for learners of English. It is not easy to form the tense correctly as you need the verb HAVE or HAS and the past participle. Moreover, the usage is very specific and many students feel that they could do with the past simple tense only. Thus teaching this tense is not easy.

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In this post I do not aim to explain anything about the present perfect tense. Here, I would like to share a set of activities to help you teach this tense. You will find here two speaking activities and a worksheet with five more activities to help your students master the present perfect tense.

Present perfect tense – speaking activities

The following worksheet contains two speaking activities. I have tried both of them in my classes and they worked very well.

The first activity is a very simple one. It should be used if your students know just how to form the present perfect tense and you want to practise it with them. Print the first exercise and cut it in the middle. The students have to write whether they HAVE or HAVE NOT done the activities in the pictures. (Check that the students form the tense correctly).
Then students work in pairs and read their sentences to their partners. They listen and tick the activities their partner has done.

In the last phase students write the sentences about their partner.

The second activity is called Clock speaking. I has been very successful in my classes and it always leads to a lot of speaking in English.

Print the second page of the worksheet and hand it out. In the first part students have to arrange a partner for each time. Set the following rules:

  1. You may have only one person for each time.
  2. Write the name of your partner next to the time.
  3. You cannot have the same person on the paper twice.

Do not worry about the chaos. In the end there will be some people who will not have a partner for one or two of the times. Elicit the times and pair the students yourself.

Then call out one of the times. The students find their partner for the time and ask the questions for the given time. They ask the questions in italics only if their partner answers yes to the first question (emphasize this). After a couple of minutes call another time.

Present perfect tense – speaking

Present perfect tense – worksheet

The following worksheet contains 5 activities. They are based on the verbs contained in the fifth Unit of the textbook Project 3 (third edition) by Oxford University Press. The activities are in random order and you can order them in any way you like.

The first activity is a crossword. Students should fill in the past participle of the verbs.

The second activity is a gap fill. Students should choose the correct option for each sentence.

In the third activity students should fill in HAVE or HAS.

In the fourth activity students have to write the past participle of each verb.
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[showmyadsa] In the fifth activity students have to complete the text either with the present perfect tense or the past simple tense.

Present perfect tense – worksheet

Present perfect tense – links

If you need a mind map and a video, you will find them at Present perfect post.
If you decide to teach the activities above, certainly start with the following song.

Simple Containers
Simple Containers

To count uncountable nouns in English students need to know the containers they are most often sold or served in. In the textbook I teach at school I need to teach six of these containers: a loaf, a tin, a packet, a glass, a cup and a bar.

In this post you can find a video, an infographic and two games to teach the six containers and their usage. I hope you like the post.

Simple containers – video

Play the following video and let the students repeat the phrases after you. After the first 30 seconds, your students have to say the phrase before it appears on the screen. Play the video at least twice and share the link so that the students can practise the vocabulary at home.

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Simple containers – infographic

After presenting the vocabulary in the video, it is time to present the information in print. The following infographic summs up the containers vocabulary and the food it is most frequently used with.

containers simple web

You can download the high-resolution image here:

Infographic full size

Simple containers – games

The first game is called Teacher Invaders. In this game you should type the correct container and then you try to shoot all the invaders. The invaders look a lot like the teachers, but we do not mind as long as you learn all the words :-). Good luck.
As the game is in Flash, it will only play on desktop computers.

Simple containers – Invaders game

The second game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers, too. It is called Half a Minute, and your task is to type the correct answer before half a minute runs out. Enjoy.

Simple containers – Half a minute game

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Simple containers – Links

I have already published a post on containers. This post contains more containers than this one.

British council has a nice post on containers here.

Most Common Phrasal Verbs
Most Common Phrasal Verbs

A few days ago the scholars Mélodie Garnier and Norbert Schmitt published a list of most common phrasal verbs in English. Moreover, they listed the most frequent meanings of the verbs. The pedagogical impact of this discovery is really big. Finally we have the list of the phrasal verbs we should teach. You can see the abstract of the article here.

Having the list at my disposal I could not resist and I created the following post. There is an infographic with 8 most common phrasal verbs, two games and a worksheet with 4 exercises.

Most common phrasal verbs – infographic

According to the research the most common phrasal verbs in English are come up, go out, come back go on, find out, come out, go back and pick up. I have displayed the verbs in the following mind map. There are the phrasal verbs, their meanings and example sentences.
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[showmyads] Most common Phrasal verbs mind map one side

Most common phrasal verbs – games

To practise the phrasal verbs you can play the following game. Its name is En Garde. Your task is to choose the correct answer and then stop the target as close to the centre as possible. Hopefully, you will be faster and more accurate then your opponent. The game is in Flash and will play only on desktops:

En Garde game

The second game is called Fling the Teacher. To win the game, you have to answer all the questions by choosing the correct phrasal verb. If you answer all the questions correctly you will fling your teacher. (But I am sure, that he/she will not mind as long as you know all the phrasal verbs 🙂 ). The game is in Flash and it will only play on desktop computers.

Fling the Teacher game

Most common phrasal verbs – worksheet

You can download a worksheet with all the phrasal verbs here.

Phrasal verbs worksheet

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In the worksheet you can find a text which contains all the phrasal verbs. I think the teenagers will love the story 🙂 Then there are comprehension questions.
In task two, students should use the phrasal verbs and complete the questions. Check their answers. Now ask them to choose three questions they would like to ask you. Answer the questions as well as you can. Then the students work in pairs and discuss the questions in pairs.

In exercise three students complete the crossword.

In exercise fours students can complete the text either in writing or orally.

Some or Any – grammar
Some or Any – grammar

The usage of Some and Any in English is quite simple. Some is used in positive statements, requests or offers and ANY is used in questions and negative sentences. However, many textbooks confuse students by mixing this simple concept with the concept of countability.

In this post I will try to keep the explanation as simple as possible. There is an infographic, an online quiz and two games in this post.

Some or Any – infographic

Print or display the following infographic and ask your students to explain it to you. I am sure that there will be at least one student who will understand the infographic and will be able to pass the knowledge. If there is none, you should explain that SOME is used for positive statements, requests and offers while ANY is used in negative statements and questions.
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[showmyads] Some or any picture mind map

Some or Any – games

The first game is called Penalty Shootout. In this game you should choose the option and then try to score a goal. Good luck.
As the game is in Flash, it will only play on desktop computers.

Some or Any – Penalty

The second game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers. It is called On Target, and your task is to choose the correct option and then shoot all the bad cows and ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles on the wall to get a bonus. Enjoy.

Some or Any – On target game

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[showmyads] The following quiz can help your students practise Some or Any either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should complete the sentences with Some or Any. In the second part, students have to match the beginnings and ends of the sentences. The students will be rewarded with a game if they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Some or Any – quiz

Some or Any – links

You can find some interesting materials on Some or Any at the British Council site.

And on Youtube you can see the following great video with the explanation of Some and Any.

Forming Questions in Past Tense
Forming Questions in Past Tense

It is really important that students learn to form questions in the past simple tense. If they don’t, they won’t be able to ask about the things that happened in the past. And as most conversations deal with the things that already happened it is vital to be able to ask about the details they are interested in.

In this post I would like to help you teach your students form questions in the past simple tense using the auxiliary DID. This post will not deal with the verb TO BE in the past tense. You can find a post on the verb TO BE in questions here.
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[showmyads] You will find here two videos, an infographic and several interactive exercises. I hope you like it.

Question words

Before dealing with questions in the past tense, it is important to revise the question words with your students. It is shocking how many students struggle with such a simple, yet crucial, thing.
First play the video and ask the students to watch and say the question words – best before they see them on the screen.

Then, cut the following worksheet into five stripes and ask the students to write the appropriate question words there.

Wh question words worksheet

Now you can move to forming questions in the past simple tense.

Forming questions in past tense – explanation

Start the explanation with eliciting the affirmative sentences formation. Explain that there is one basic rule in English and it is called SVOMPT. All English sentences have to follow this rule. At the beginning there is a subject and it is followed by a verb and then there is the rest of the sentence.

If you use the following infographic ask the students to fold the paper, so they can see only the last three rectangles.

Forming questions in the past simple tense

To form a question in the past tense, just add DID at the beginning of the sentence and put the verb into its basic form. If you want to get a more complex answer, put a question word at the beginning. And there you are. Now you can form questions in the past simple tense.

Here you can see a video on how to form questions in the past simple tense.


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Forming questions in Past simple tense – games

The following quiz can help your students practise forming questions in the past tense. They can do it either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the beginnings and ends of the questions. In the second part, students have to write the questions in the past simple tense. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Questions in the past simple tense – quiz
Articles with names
Articles with names

The following post on the usage of articles with proper names is not going to be 100% grammatically correct. It’s not that I’m going to insert typos here and there. What I mean is that the rules stated here are just rules of thumb and will not work all the time. I am not a grammarian; I am a teacher. Thus my aim is to compress complex grammar into a small pill that learners can take whenever they encounter a problem. Using this pill, students will make some mistakes, but most of the time they will get the grammar correct.
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[showmyads] So in this post you will find a simple infographic explaining the usage of the definite article in front of proper names. There are also several games you can use to practise the most common English names. I hope you will find the explanation useful even though it will not work in all cases.

Articles with names – infographic

Ask your students to look at the infographic. Explain that using the definite article before names is very complicated in English and there are very few rules to guide them.
However, as they can see from the infographic, we managed to come up with a few.

Articles with names

Articles – full size image

Explanation: Most of the man-made structures that stand outside (where they get rained on) do not take an article. Most of the buildings where common people go inside to enjoy themselves take the article THE. Thus it is Oxford Street, but the Ritz Hotel. Notice that palaces do not take the article THE because they are not for common people. However, the Tower of London takes the because it is for the common people :-).

Articles with names – infographic

Now that you have explained the grammar, it is time to practise the grammar. You can use either some worksheets, or you can try our games here.

The first game is called Penalty Shootout. In this game you should choose the correct option and then try to score a goal. Good luck.
As the game is in Flash, it will only play on desktop computers.

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[showmyadsa] The second game is called Fling the Teacher. To win the game, you have to answer all the questions by choosing the correct options. If you answer all the questions correctly you will fling your teacher. (But I am sure that he/she will not mind as long as you know all the names that take articles 🙂 ). The game is in Flash and it will only play on desktop computers.

Learn the Parts of Speech
Learn the Parts of Speech

For ESL students and pupils in Great Britain, India, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries, it is crucial to learn the parts of speech in English. In fact, this knowledge is very useful for EFL learners too, as it helps them get more information from dictionaries and grammar books. And as this topic is not difficult, it is worth spending a few minutes on it.
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[showmyads] In this post there is a wonderful song by Fluency MC, an infographic and several games which will help you master the parts of speech. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead!!!

Parts of Speech – song

The following song was created by Fluency MC. Listen and sing along. It is easy

Click here to get Fluency MC’s new (and FREE!) YouTube Songbook and to check out his new online speaking and listening program. the Weekly English Workout.
http://fluencymc.com/weekly-english-workout/

Parts of Speech – infographic

The following infographic contains all the information from the song. The parts of speech are organised into a mind map which allows your students to revise the facts. Ask the students to cover either the definitions or the parts of speech and then recall the covered information (They could do this in pairs too).

Parts of Speech infographic

If you want to download the full picture, click the button:

Parts of Speech – infographic

Parts of speech – games

Let’s start with a quiz which will help your students practise the parts of speech either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the words and the names of the parts of speech. In the second part, students have to write the name of the parts of the speech behind the words. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Parts of speech – quiz
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[showmyadsa] The second game is called Fling the Teacher. To win the game, you have to answer all the questions by choosing the correct answer. If you answer all the questions correctly you will fling your teacher. (But I am sure, that he/she will not mind as long as you know all the parts of speech 🙂 ). The game is in Flash and it will only play on desktop computers.
Parts of speech – Fling the teacher
To practise the parts of speech you can play the following game. Its name is En Garde. Your task is to choose the correct answer and then stop the target as close to the centre as possible. Hopefully, you will be faster and more accurate then your opponent. The game is in Flash and will play only on desktops:
Parts of speech – En Garde game
The last game is called Penalty Shootout. In this game you should choose the correct part of speechand then try to score a goal. Good luck.
As the game is in Flash, it will only play on desktop computers.
Parts of speech – Penalty game

Learn the parts of Speech

How to Form and Use the Third Conditional
How to Form and Use the Third Conditional

The third conditional is the most feared grammar point I know. Students of English think that it’s hard to form and understand. Therefore, when they start learning the grammar they are paralysed with fear. And as a result, they fail to learn it. Thus the third conditional keeps its reputation.
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[showmyads] But the truth is that the third conditional is not difficult at all. In this post I will show you how to teach this grammar quickly. I hope to destroy the myth that the third conditional is difficult.

Third conditional – song

Start the lesson with the following song:

Here is a short worksheet that will help you introduce the grammar:

Third conditional song lyrics

Third conditional – infographic

Display the following infographic or print out copies and hand them out. Draw the students´ attention to the form.
Third conditional web

You can download the full image here:

Third conditional infographic – full image

Next, explain the meaning of the third conditional. Tell your students that the if-clause of the conditional speaks about a situation in the past that did not happen. The second part of the sentence expresses our hypothesis about what could have happened if the first part of the sentence were true. In both parts we speak about the past, and none of the actions happened. The ideas expressed in the third conditional are about the past and they never happened.

Now, ask your students to form three third conditional sentences using the clues in the infographic and to describe the situations in which they might be used. For example: Martina went to a party yesterday. She got drunk and the police arrested her. If she had stayed at home, nothing of this would have happened.
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Third conditional – quiz

The following quiz can help your students practise the third conditional either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the beginnings and ends of the third conditional sentences. In the second part, students have to put the verbs into the correct form to form the third conditionals. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Third conditional – quiz
Questions with LIKE
Questions with LIKE

The word LIKE is one of the most productive words in English. However, many students often confuse the meaning of the questions with LIKE and they give completely wrong answers. Especially pre-intermediate students of English find these questions really difficult.
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[showmyads] The aim of this post is to explain the meaning of different questions with LIKE and give students a chance to practise and remember the questions. To achieve this there is a video which is based on BBC programme called Grammar Challenge. Moreover, there is an infographic and a quiz to practise the grammar.

Questions – video explanation

When I asked my brother what he does on the Internet he told me that he spends most time watching videos. And in my experience that is true for most of teenagers. To attract them to learning English I decided to create a short video explanation based on BBC learning English programme called Grammar Challenge. Watch the video and try to understand the grammar.

Basic questions_fb
Questions in present and past tense

Questions with LIKE – infographic

Once your students have watched the video, you can hand out the following infographic. Go through the sentences and elicit the correct answers to the questions in the picture.

Questions with like

Questions with like – online quiz

The following quiz consists of two parts. In the first part students listen to the answer and they have to choose the correct question. In the second part, students see the answer and part of the question and they have to type in the missing words to make the question correct. If the students pass the tests they will be rewarded with a game.

The quiz is in HTML5 and it will work on the desktop and all mobile devices.

Questions with LIKE – quiz

Please let us know what you would like to read about next (there is just one question). Thank you.
[viralQuiz id=8]

Gerund or infinitive?
Gerund or infinitive?

Engames and Fluency MC have joined forces again to bring you a post that will help you decide whether you should use a gerund or an infinitive after a verb. This post is not going to provide a comprehensive overview of the grammar. Our aim is to give your students a simple guide to help them decide correctly between the two parts of speech most of the time.
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The post contains a song, an infographic, an interactive online quiz and a game.

Gerund or Infinitive – pretest


Do you think you know the grammar already and don´t need to read the article? Try the following test and see how well you do.

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Gerund or Infinitive – song


Watch the following song and complete the lyrics. The aim of this song is to introduce the topic.

Here are the lyrics in a pdf file:
Lyrics gerund
Here are the lyrics as supplied and created by Fluency MC:
Gerund-or-Infinitive

Gerund-or-Infinitive-2

Gerund and Infinitive – infographic


The following infographic does not contain a comprehensive list of all the verbs. Only the verbs that are used in the song appear here.

Gerund or infinitive infographic
Gerund or infinitive infographic

These rules are so called rules of thumb. They work in most cases but not all. However, to use the rules correctly, students first have to understand them.
The rule goes like this: “If the first verb happens before the second verb, use TO. If the second verb happens at the same time or before the first verb use the ending -ING with the second verb. “ Thus in the sentence “I hope to go to the party,” I first hope and then go to the party. That is why you use TO. On the other hand, in the sentence “I enjoyed going to the party,” I enjoyed the party at the same time as I was there.

Assess your students understanding of the rules using the following test. Choose 10 verbs at random and ask your students to write them down and write if they think they should be followed by TO or -ING. Then go through their responses and elicit the correct answers.

Once you feel that the students know the grammar, it is time to practise it.

Gerund or infinitive – online quiz


The best way to remember the verb patterns is by using them. The following quiz is in HTML5 and will work on all mobile devices.

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To display the quiz on full screen click the button below.
Gerund or infinitive? – quiz

The second game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers. It is called On Target, and your task is to choose the correct option and then shoot all the bad cows and ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles on the wall to get a bonus. Enjoy.
Gerund or infinitive – On target game

Gerund or infinitive – links


At engames.eu I have already published two posts on the use of gerunds and infinitives in English. The first post is called Verb Patterns – preintermediate, and the second is called Verb Patterns again – final solution. You can practise the grammar there as well.

Gerund or infinitive

Past simple and past continuous
Past simple and past continuous

Yesterday a friend sent me a song he’d written that uses only the past simple and past continuous tenses. He asked me how I liked it, and I had to admit it was great. A few hours later I encountered a short explanation of the same grammar by Australiaplus.com, and I realised that I wanted to share both with my friends on the Internet. This post is the result.
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In this post there is the song by Chris Barickman, a video explanation, an explanation by Australiaplus.com, an infographic and an interactive quiz.

Past simple and continuous – song


Let’s start with the song. Please listen and complete the lyrics:

The lyrics worksheet:
Past continuous tense lyrics

Past simple and continuous – explanation


Now listen to the following explanation.

And here is another short explanation of the same grammar by Australiaplus.com:

https://soundcloud.com/australiaplus/past-continuous

Past simple and continuous – infographic


Here is a set of infographics created by www.engames.eu.

Past continuous tense affirmative

Past continuous tense questions

See how the questions are formed in the past continuous tense

Past continuous tense usage

See when you should use the past continuous tense


If you want to download the full infographic in superb quality, you can do that here:
Past continuous tense – full infographic

Past simple and continuous – quiz

The following quiz is in HTML 5 so it will play on all mobile devices and desktop computers. Your task is to choose the correct tense – either the past simple or the past continuous. Enjoy the games if you pass the tests.

Past simple or past continuous? – quiz

Past simple and past continuous

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:

Word formation
Word formation

I always loved the word formation part of the FCE test. This was the part of the test where I always scored really high. However, some of my students don’t. So I sat down and tried to find out why I have been so successful in this part of the test.

And the result? I believe that I do well on these tests because I know the other forms of words. I take the key word and then learn all of its other forms, and when I meet the word in a test I am able to remember the correct form.

In this post I am going to give you a chance to do the same. I selected 10 words that regularly appear in the word formation test for B2 level, and I listed all the forms and example sentences. What should you do? Try to memorise all the forms from the infographic and then go through the online quizzes.

Word formation – infographic


Study the following infographic and try to remember all the forms. Do not forget to notice the differences in meaning.

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Word formation_fce_mindmapA

Do not spend too much time just learning the forms. It is best to use them in context, so I believe it is time to move to the online quizzes.

Word formation – online quizzes

The first online quiz is in HTML5 so it will play on all devices. Your task is to choose the correct form of the words, and if you pass the quiz you will be given a chance to play a game as a reward.
Word formation quiz – full screen

The second game is called En Garde and it will only play on your desktop as it is made in flash. Your task is to choose the correct answer and then stop the circle as close to the centre as possible. Will you win?

Word formation quiz – full screen

Word formation – links


You can find more interesting exercises at the British Council site.

How to Teach Second Conditional
How to Teach Second Conditional

Conditionals scare students to death. They seem complicated and difficult to understand. But as I explain, they only seem to be like this. In fact, they are quite simple and easy to comprehend.

In this post, I will try to keep things as simple as possible. I will deal only with one type of conditional – the second conditional. At the beginning of the post, there is a song that clearly demonstrates the form and the meaning of the grammar. Then there is a mind map and another explanation of the meaning.


Second conditional – song

First, ask your students to listen and complete the following lyrics. Then ask them to listen and sing the song. In this way they will improve their listening and pronunciation, and they will notice the form of the second conditional.

Second conditional song lyrics

Second conditional song:

Second Conditional – Infographic


Display the following mind map and ask the students to read the sentences. Then elicit the form of the second conditional.

Second conditional infographics

Draw the students’ attention to the pictures at the bottom of the page and explain the usage of the second conditional. It is used for imagined situations.

Second Conditional – Links

You can find some excellent materials for teaching the second conditional at the British Council site.

There is a nice explanation of this grammar at the BBC Learning English site too.