Past Continuous ESL Games, Activities and Worksheets
This free past continuous worksheet can be used to help students distinguish the past continuous from the past simple and practice forming past continuous sentences. First, students match sentence halves together to complete a story about a very bad day. Next, students underline the verbs in the sentences and label each verb form as past simple or past continuous. After that, students complete sentences by writing verbs in brackets in the past simple or past continuous. Students then move on to correct underlined errors in a story. Finally, students use the past continuous to write excuses using information in brackets.
In this challenging past continuous activity, students put a ghost story in order by saying and listening to sentences. Students then write the story down in a group dictation. First, students read and memorize sentences on cards. Working together, students then form a circle in the order of the story by saying their sentences aloud. Students repeat their sentences several times and listen to the other students' sentences carefully in order to achieve the correct order. When the story is in order, students number their cards (1 to 14) accordingly. Next, students sit in their groups and write the story. Each student in turn dictates their sentence to the rest of the group who write it down, starting with the student who has the first part of the story. When the students have finished, go through the story with the class.
In this fun past continuous memory game, students study a picture for three minutes and then write past continuous sentences about what was happening in the picture. For three minutes, students look carefully at a park scene picture and try to remember what was happening in the park and what the people were doing. When the time limit has been reached, students write past continuous sentences about what the people were doing in the park. Students use the words in the box on the worksheet to help them, adding any other words as necessary. Students score one point for each sentence that is both factually and grammatically correct. The student with the highest score wins. As an extension, students test each other's memory of the picture by asking and answering questions in the past continuous.
This insightful past continuous speaking activity helps students practice forming, asking and answering conversation questions in the past continuous tense. First, in two groups, students complete each conversation question using the verb in brackets in the past continuous and the pronoun 'you.' Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking and answering the past continuous conversation questions with their partner. Afterwards, students share what they found out about their partner with the class.
In this productive past continuous game, students guess what their classmates were doing in the past and then ask questions to find out if their guesses were right or wrong. First, students read each past continuous prompt and think about how they can complete it to be true for one student in the class. Students then complete each past continuous sentence with the name of a student and their own idea using the verb in brackets in the past continuous, e.g. 'Jamie was eating cereal this morning.' Next, students go around the class asking past continuous questions to the people on their worksheet to see if their guesses are right or wrong, e.g. 'Were you eating cereal this morning?' For each correct guess, students put a tick in the last column. For each incorrect guess, students put a cross. The student with the most correct guesses at the end of the game wins.
Here is an entertaining past continuous game for students to play in class. One student from the first team goes out of the classroom. Everyone starts miming or doing the action on their card and the student outside comes in. Students continue for a few more seconds and then stop. The student who went outside then makes past continuous sentences about what everyone was doing when they came in. The student scores one point for their team for each correct past continuous sentence. A student from the second team goes out and the process is repeated. This continues until each team has had a chance to play. For the final round, everyone does the actions on their cards again without anyone leaving the room. This time teams try to remember and write down what the students in the other teams were doing. Teams score one point for each correct sentence. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
In this engaging past continuous game, students use the word while and the past continuous to make sentences about what they and other students were doing at certain times in the past. Choose a time in the past and tell the students to think about what they were doing at that time, e.g. 8 o’clock last night. One student begins by telling the class what they were doing at that time, e.g. 'I was watching a movie at 8 o’clock last night.' The next student then repeats the previous student's sentence using while and adds what they were doing, e.g. 'While Tom was watching a movie, I was playing a game on my phone.' Then, each student in turn repeats the previous students' sentences with while and adds their own sentence. If a student can’t remember another student's sentence or makes a grammar mistake, they are out of that round. The round finishes when the turn comes back around to the first student. Students score one point if they manage to stay in the game. Play several rounds using different times in the past. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.
In this free past continuous game, students ask and answer questions about what they were doing at certain times yesterday and give explanations with because, in order to and so that. The first student picks up a time card and asks the player on their right what they were doing at that time yesterday, e.g. 'What were you doing at 6:00 a.m. yesterday?' The player then chooses one of their picture cards, shows the card to the other students and tries to give a convincing answer that matches with the time on the card, e.g. 'I was drinking coffee.' If the answer is appropriate for that time of day, the player discards their picture card. If the answer is doubtful, e.g. 'I was studying English', the other students challenge the player and ask them to provide a convincing explanation as to why they were doing that activity at that time of day. If the player can provide a reasonable explanation, the picture card is discarded. If not, the player keeps the picture card. The next student then picks up a time card, and so on. The first player to get rid of all their picture cards wins the game.
In this imaginative past continuous activity, students practice making sentences from picture cards. Students then write a story about a dream using the past continuous and past simple. The first student in each group starts by asking the second student what they were doing at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The second student picks up a picture card and responds by making a past continuous sentence using the card as a prompt. The student does this by thinking of an activity associated with the picture. The second student then asks the third student the same question, and so on, until all the cards have been used. When the groups have finished, they write a story about a dream by completing a text in the past continuous and past simple by each choosing three picture cards. Each group must incorporate all the things in the pictures in their story. Finally, groups write their stories and read them to the class, who vote for the strangest or funniest one.
This useful past continuous worksheet helps students learn and practice three ways the tense is used. First, students complete sentences with the past continuous form of the verbs in brackets. Next, students sort the sentences, according to how the tense is used in each one. Students then complete sentences with the past simple or past continuous form of the verbs in brackets. Lastly, students match past continuous sentences and sentence halves together.
In this creative past simple and past continuous game, students practice forming sentences in the past continuous and past simple with the words when, while and as. In groups, students take turns turning over an activity card and a picture card and making a sentence in the past continuous and past simple with when, while or as, using the two cards as prompts, e.g. 'I was riding my bicycle when a fly flew into my mouth.' If the group members agree that a sentence is correct, the student keeps the two cards. If a student is unable to make a sentence or the sentence is incorrect, the two cards are turned back over. The student with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins.
