The following activity was created to work with adult students. We used the software EDUCAPLAY to develop it.
The activity is a funny game in which students need to complete a short story related to the target topic (simple past). They have some time to get the activity done. It is a meaningful way to learn while having fun.
The Big Cheese
The game is known as "The Big Cheese" is fun and easy. It will help students learn and develop the skills needed to listen and identify verbs in a sentence. In addition, this game will give enough practice of past tense verbs and will facilitate quick memorization as well as give students the opportunity to write irregular verbs in past tense. You can play with a large or small class and with beginner, advanced or intermediate students. Preparation time and materials required are minimal.
Your students already have all the necessary equipment for this fun and easy game. They only need paper and pencil or pen, and the teacher needs a blackboard and a marker or chalk.
The investment to organize this game is nominal. Prepare a list of irregular verbs and write a sentence with each in the present tense. For a class of 45 minutes, you will need about 20 irregular verbs. You can use the verbs below or you can make a list of your own to customize this game and adapt it to the plan or lesson.
Here is a short list of some of the most commonly used irregular verbs in English: become, bite, buy, catch, come, draw, drive, eat, feed, fight, find, give, know, leave, lose, make, pay, read, see, sell, sing, sit, take, think, and write.
How to play
- Divide class into groups of 2, 3 or 4 students
- Instruct students to choose a name for the team and write it on the board
- They must choose a team leader
- This person will bring the sentence to the teacher and verify it
- Students are asked to take out a piece of paper and a pencil or pen
- They practice (in the first round) verbs in past
- Teacher writes an example on the board for students
- Read the sentence three times in the present time, loudly, slowly and clearly
- Students have to rewrite it in the past tense using the correct form and the irregular verb spelled in past
- To earn points Ss must take their exercise to the teacher
- If the exercise is complete and correct, the teacher will mark a point on the board for the team
- Write the correct sentence on the board and continue the next round
- The winning team will have the most points and get "The Big Cheese"