Mastering Past Simple and Present Perfect

Mastering Past Simple and Present Perfect

Learning Objective

Understand the difference between the past simple and present perfect, and apply the correct usage in sentences.

What do you already know about past simple and present perfect?

Introduction to Past Simple

Describes completed actions in the past with a specific time reference.

Introduction to Present Perfect

Describes actions that occurred at an indefinite time in the past or have relevance to the present.

Forming Past Simple

Regular verbs add '-ed', irregular verbs have unique past forms.

Forming Present Perfect

Use 'have/has + past participle' for all verbs.

Usage of Past Simple

Used for actions or events that are completed and have a specific time reference in the past.

Time reference can be: yesterday, last week, this morning, in 2019, when I was a child, etcetera.

Usage of Present Perfect

Used for actions that occurred at an indefinite time in the past or have relevance to the present.

Practice Exercises

Complete sentences with the appropriate form of the past simple or present perfect.

Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.

Have students enter three things they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.

Write down 2 things you want to know more about.

Here, students enter two things they would like to know more about. This not only increases involvement, but also gives them more ownership.

Ask 1 question about something you haven't quite understood yet.

The students indicate here (in question form) with which part of the material they still have difficulty. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which the students understand/master the material, but also a good starting point for the next lesson.