Zero Prep Simple Past Warm-Up – Remembering Yesterday

This week on Sprout English, students are practicing the simple past tense. Here is a warm-up you can try with your students after you’ve introduced the simple past. This activity requires zero preparation and is great for practicing irregular verbs. It is also useful for practicing question formation. All you need is a piece of paper, a pen, and a small container. It might get loud!

Remembering Yesterday

1. Tear a piece of paper into six pieces.
2. Write the following topics (one on each strip).
Wake Up « Clothing « Activities « Food « People « Bedtime.
3. Place the strips of paper into a container (hat/box/bucket/bag).
4. Tell the students they need to think back to yesterday.
5. Choose one student (Student A) to pull out a slip of paper from the container.
6. Student A reads the word out loud and then poses a question about yesterday to a classmate (Student B) based on the prompt.
7. Student B responds using the simple past tense.

Allow the class to shout out the past tense verb if the student who is answering doesn’t know it. Put the slip of paper back in the container and repeat! Be sure that all students are given a turn to ask and respond to a question. If none of the students know the verb in the past tense, write the word on the board. You could also have the whole class shout “regular” or “irregular” right after the question is asked. See Sprout’s “Common Irregular Verbs List”.

EXAMPLE Simple Past Q & A in the Classroom
Lily chooses a paper from the container that says “Wake Up”. 
Lily: What time did you wake up yesterday, Max?
Max: I woke up at 9:00 yesterday.
Max chooses “Clothing”.  
Max: What did you wear yesterday, Antonio?
Antonio pauses and looks a bit puzzled.
Class: Irregular! Wore!
Antonio: I wore blue jeans and a green sweater.
Antonio chooses “Activities”.
Antonio: Where did you go yesterday, Jin?
Jin: I go to work.
Class: Went! Irregular!
Jin: I went to work.
Jin chooses “Food”.
Jin: What did you eat for breakfast yesterday, Yumi?
Yumi: I ate waffles for breakfast.
Yumi chooses “People”.
Yumi: Who did you see yesterday, Mieka?
Mieka pauses and looks puzzled.
Class: Irregular! Saw!
Mieka: I saw my teacher and my classmates.
Mieka chooses “Bedtime”. 
Mieka: When did you go to sleep last night, Juan?
Juan: I went to bed at 11:00 p.m.

Remembering Quickly
Students always have fun when you speed things up! Once your students have the hang of this, challenge them to play this game more quickly. How many simple past Q & A’s can they complete without a verb error in two minutes? Give one of your students the container and encourage him or her to race around the room getting students to choose slips. You can also add new topic prompts to the container. Get your students to think of some topics that relate to “yesterday”.

Remembering Other Times in the Past
If your students respond well to this simple activity, play it again another day, but choose a different time marker in the past and use different topic prompts, such as the ones below.

Remembering Last Thanksgiving/Christmas: Topic Prompts – Location « Guests « Food « Activities « Clothing « Gifts

Max chooses “Gift” from the bucket.
Max: What did you buy last Christmas, Lisa?
Lisa pauses and looks puzzled.
Class: Bought! Irregular!
Lisa: I bought a puppy for my brother last Christmas.

Remembering Last Week: Topic Prompts – Weather « People « Activities « Food « Mood « News
Remembering Childhood: Topic Prompts – Location « Dislikes « Likes « Hairstyle « Fashion « School

Find this week’s Spotlight feature in Sprout’s Library – Simple Past Stories.

     

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