Past simple: Negative

Use of the board

The students learn how to form negative sentences in the past simple tense.

Start off by writing a basic affirmative past simple statement and eliciting its negative equivalent. After that, you can use the visualisation to step through some more examples. If you can, lean on the students' L1 and have them translate some simple statements.

Positive and negative

A writing activity where the students work individually to complete a table with past simple statements.

On the board, create a table with two columns that take up the full size of the board. In the table headings, put a plus sign on the left and a minus on the right. Have the students copy this table and then complete it with five affirmative sentences along with their negative equivalent. Encourage your students to make them as funny and creative as possible.

Night at the cinema

For this activity, the students have to make sentences from a table of information on the board. 

Start by drawing a table on the board with three columns and five rows. In the headings write Verb, John and Mary. Inform the students that John and Mary went to the cinema last night, but they had different experiences. In pairs, the students must write one sentence for each row based on the information in the table. Complete the table with the following info:

• Go | picture of car | stick man walking
• Be | with friends | alone
• See | Batman | Frozen
• Buy | picture of popcorn | picture of a drink
• like | sad face | happy face

Each sentence should contain a positive and negative fragment. Do the first one on the board as a group, elicit as much as possible:

• Mary didn't go to the cinema by car, she walked.

When finished, tell your students to compare their statements with a partner.

Holiday memories

For this speaking activity, students will interview each other about what they did on their last vacation.

Start by telling the students to make a list of five things they didn't do on their last holiday and create a negative past simple statement for each one. They will later use these statements to form a list of questions to interview a partner. For example:

The student has written: I didn't go hiking.
Asks their partner: Did you go hiking on your last holiday?

Demo this with another student first and inform the class that they should record notes on their partner's responses. They will have to report back for the next activity. Monitor the students throughout and correct any mistakes.

Interview report

A follow-on speaking activity where the students use their partner's answers to report what they did or didn't do on their last holiday.

Ask every student to provide a past simple statement for each item on their list, about what they learned from their partner in the previous exercise.

Snowball darts

Students have to spell irregular past simple verbs to earn a throw of the snowball and a chance to win points for their team. 

Start by drawing a circular target on the whiteboard with several concentric layers of different score values. Crush a blank piece of paper into a snowball shape. On each turn, ask a student to spell an irregular verb in the past simple. If they get it correct, they can throw a snowball at the board. Keep the scores on the board and depending on the size of the class, play as an individual or team game. 

You may need a list of irregular verbs for this game. The students should also have a copy to study.