Simple Past Tense Was and Were Flashcards Activities for Elementary ESL Students

 Link to the English activities for Primary Students: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Simple-Past-Tense-Was-Were-Activities-House-and-Family-ESL-Grammar-Unit-Flas-16778768

Teach the simple past tense with visual aids and hands-on activities!

This resource combines family members and rooms in the house to help elementary ESL learners practice grammar of simple past tense through engaging flashcards, crafts, games, and speaking activities.

It is ideal for elementary ESL, EFL, and homeschool classrooms looking for engaging simple past tense activities.

Using flashcards is an effective way to teach the simple past of was and were to elementary ESL students. The colorful house with family scenes provide meaningful contexts for children to describe where people were, ask and answer questions, and practice affirmative, negative, and interrogative sentences.

Draw a house on the board and place the different rooms without people flashcards to review the rooms of the house vocabulary.

Students: That’s the bedroom!

Review the simple present tense

Display the house flashcards with family members on the board and invite students to take turns following your instructions.

Say, "Point to the living room!" Then, ask, "Who is in the living room?" The student answers, "Grandma! Grandma is in the living room." 

Introduce the past

Introduce the Simple Past using the word yesterday and an arrow as a time marker, to help students understand that the events happened in the past. Explain that the arrow is a symbol for going back in time and that everything in the house happened yesterday.

Display the house scene on the board. Ask questions such as, "Who was in the bedroom yesterday?"

Students: "Grandma was in the living room."

Simple Past craft stick puppets

Prepare the was and were signs ahead of time by attaching the printable words to large craft sticks.

Students can create their own was and were craft stick puppets to use as a grammar aid during the lesson. After cutting, and assembling the puppets, children can hold up the correct word when needed.

Affirmative statements

Use the was craft stick puppet. Display the kitchen flashcard and hold up the was puppet as you model complete sentences such as, "Brother was in the kitchen." The puppet provides a visual cue that helps students recognize the past tense form of the verb to be.

Display another house room flashcard, such as the bathroom, and invite a student to come to the front of the classroom. The student holds the were craft stick puppet, points to the people in the picture, and says, "Brother and Father were in the bathroom."

Using the were puppet provides a visual cue that helps elementary English language learners understand that were is used with two or more people in the past.

Fast Switch Activity

This is an interactive whole-class activity using house flashcards. Display the large house scene on the board. The teacher points to a room and says, "Bedroom!" Then, the class responds with a complete sentence, such as, "The sisters were in the bedroom!"

The activity can be repeated with the other rooms of the house.

Add a personal touch to your ESL lessons by having students and the teacher make craft stick puppets with their own pictures. These easy-to-make puppets can be used for speaking activities, role-playing.

Place the puppet in one of the house rooms and ask, "Where was I?" Students look at the house flashcards and answer with complete sentences, such as, "You were in the bathroom!"

Negative statements

Give students a sentence that is not true! Show a house flashcard and say, "My cousin wasn't in the bathroom!" Students look at the picture and correct the sentence: "My cousin was in the garage!".

Yes/No questions

Help students master Simple Past questions with an engaging classroom activity using house flashcards! Give students a room flashcard and ask questions such as, "Were you in the kitchen?" and "Was he in the garage?" Students answer in short form: Yes, you were!

WH questions

Help students develop WH-question skills in the Simple Past tense with house flashcards! Display a room and ask questions such as, "Who were in the living room?" "When were Grandma and Grandpa in the living room?" "What was in the living room?" and "Where was the cat?"

 Teach wasn't and weren't with a hands-on contraction puzzle!

Students can see how was + not = wasn't and were + not = weren't by putting the puzzle pieces together. This simple ESL grammar activity provides a visual way to introduce simple past negative contractions.

This cut-and-paste grammar activity helps elementary English learners understand how the simple past negative contractions are formed. Students cut out the puzzle pieces and glue them into their notebooks to create a permanent grammar aid: was + not = wasn't and were + not = weren't. Keeping the completed puzzles in their notebooks gives children a visual reference they can use during speaking, reading, and writing activities throughout the simple past tense unit.

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