Verb to be ESL Activities, Games and Worksheets

Here is a free verb to be game for beginners to help them practice forming affirmative and negative sentences with the present simple. This activity also helps students understand subject-verb agreement and how to use the verb to be to make true statements. The first player looks at their cards and makes a true affirmative or negative sentence by placing three cards face up on the table and reading the sentence aloud, e.g. 'I’m a student'. If the sentence is formed correctly and is true, the player scores a point. Players may indicate to things or people in the classroom to help justify a sentence as being true. The player then takes three more cards from the pile. The next player then puts down three cards and makes a true sentence and so on. If a player cannot make a true sentence, they replace one of their cards and miss a turn. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

In this free verb to be game, students race to complete a bingo card by asking and answering present simple yes/no questions with the verb to be. Each square on the bingo card contains an affirmative or negative present simple sentence with the subject (name) missing. The students' task is to complete the sentences by asking present simple yes/no questions with the verb to be. For example, if a sentence reads '... is good at skating', a student asks 'Are you good at skating?' When a classmate replies 'Yes, I am', the student writes their name in the blank space, e.g. 'Joshua is good at skating'. Each time a student speaks to a classmate, they are only allowed to ask one question. The first student to get five names in a row wins the game.

In this verb to be speaking activity, students practice the various uses of the verb to be by asking and answering questions in order to complete a chart with information about four people. Students take on the role of the person in their chart and read through their information. The students then go around asking and answering verb to be questions with the people in their group, completing their chart with the corresponding information. When the students have finished, they check their answers by comparing worksheets.

In this entertaining verb to be activity, students practice exchanging information about different people living on a street. The aim of the activity is to find out who lives in the other houses on the street and to write all the details on the worksheet. To do this, students take on the role of the person on their card and talk to the other members of their group, exchanging information using the verb to be, e.g. 'I’m Chloe. I’m at house number 1 with Leo. I’m 32 years old and Leo is 33'. When the students find out about other people who live on the street, they pass the information on to other students using the third-person singular, e.g. 'Alex is at house number 2. He is 30 years old. He is single'. When everyone has finished, review the answers with the class.

In this engaging verb to be game, students play snap by matching yes/no questions with the verb to be to short answers. In pairs, both students turn over a card from their pile at the same time and place them on the table next to each other. If the yes/no question and short answer match, the first student to say 'Snap' scores a point. Students then pick up their own cards, shuffle their pack, and play again. The students do not pick up their partner's cards. If the question and answer don't match, the students continue turning over cards until a matching pair comes up. If a student says 'Snap' when the question and answer don't match, the other student gets a point and the game continues. The first student to get 15 points wins the game.

In this entertaining verb to be activity, students write We are and We aren’t sentences about things they have in common. The students then play a matching game with the sentences. First, students write their name at the top of the card in the space provided. Students then talk to each group member in turn and write a We are... and We aren’t... sentence on their card about things they have in common. No two statements can be the same, so students must vary the information they write and think of something different they have in common each time they change partner. Next, students cut their paper into name cards and sentence cards. The students then play a matching game by taking it in turns to turn over two name cards and one sentence card. If the sentence is true for the two students whose names have been turned up, the student keeps the sentence card. If the sentence isn't true, the student turns the cards back over and it's the next student's turn to play. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

In this rewarding verb to be game, students take on the role of someone from another country and talk about the city they are from and their nationality. This activity can also be used to teach or practice countries, nationalities and capital cities. Students imagine that they are from the city and country on their identity card. The students go around the class using the verb to be to tell their classmates the city they are from and their nationality, according to the country on their card, e.g. 'I'm from Canberra. I'm Australian'. The students' task is to listen carefully and try to remember which city each student is from and their nationality. Next, in pairs, students write down where each person is from and their nationality using the verb to be, e.g. 'Joshua is from Canberra. He is Australian'. Pairs score one point for every factually correct sentence and an extra point for the correct use of the verb to be. The pair with the most points wins the game.

In this verb to be speaking activity, students write and respond to Wh and yes/no questions with the verb to be. The students then play a guessing game using the questions and answers. First, students think of a personal information question beginning with the word on their question slip and write down the next word in the question. Students then pass the slip to the person on their right, who writes the next word and passes it on. This process continues until the question on each slip is complete. The student who writes the last word adds a question mark and hands the completed question to the next person. That person writes an answer underneath, puts the slip in an envelope and takes another slip. This continues until all the slips are completed with questions and answers. Students then take it in turns to take a slip from the envelope and read it aloud to the group. The students then guess who answered the question. The student who wrote the answer bluffs by guessing another student, but once all the other group members have guessed, the student reveals it was them. For each correct guess, students score a point. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.