Present perfect error correction

Are you sure?

Finished or Unfinished?

How have you been?

I have never…

Life Experiences

Love Story

Present Perfect Wh Questions

Time Expressions Game

ESL Present Perfect Activity — Speaking: Categorising, Asking and Answering Questions, Forming Sentences, Discussion, Controlled and Freer Practice — Pair and Group Work — Intermediate (B1) — 45 minutes

In this free present perfect speaking activity, students discuss how things have changed in the last ten years. First, students look at the topics on their worksheet and think about how the things mentioned have changed in the last ten years. Students write their answers in the appropriate column in the chart marked ‘You’. Students also make notes to justify their answers. In pairs, students then use the present perfect to interview their partner and complete the second chart on the worksheet with their answers, e.g. A: How do you think banking has changed in the last ten years? B: I think banking has changed a lot. Banks have reduced their interest rates a great deal. Finally, students work in groups of four and discuss the topics they have put in different columns.

ESL Present Perfect Activity — Grammar and Speaking: Writing Short Answers, Asking and Answering Questions, Guided Discussion — Pair Work — Intermediate (B1) — 35 minutes

In this present perfect speaking activity, students practice talking about their life experiences. First, students answer 12 questions on their worksheet by writing short answers in a random order in the boxes. Students then swap worksheets with a partner and look at the short answers their partner has written. Students then practice talking about their life experiences using the present perfect tense. To do this, students take it in turns to ask their partner why they have written the words in the boxes, e.g. ‘Why have you written the word ‘charity’?’ Their partner replies using the present perfect, e.g. ‘I’ve spent a lot of time raising money for charity. It’s something I’m very proud of’. The other student then asks their partner follow-up questions, e.g. ‘What charity have you raised money for?’ When everyone has finished, students report back to the class on the most interesting or surprising things they found out about their partner.

ESL Present Perfect Activity — Grammar and Speaking: Information Gap, Writing, Asking and Answering Questions, Gap-fill, Freer Practice — Group and Pair Work — Intermediate (B1) — 25 minutes

In this present perfect information gap activity, students write and then ask present perfect yes/no questions in the third-person in order to complete a text about a dancer. In two groups, students write down the present perfect questions they need to find out the missing information in the text on their worksheet. Next, students work with someone from the other group and take it in turns to ask and answer questions in numerical order. Students write have or have never in the blank spaces in the text according to their partner’s answers. When the students have finished exchanging information, they compare their completed texts, which should be identical.

ESL Present Perfect Board Game — Grammar and Speaking: Giving Short Talks from Prompts, Asking Questions from Prompts, Communicative Practice — Group Work — Intermediate (B1) — 35 minutes

Here is an excellent present perfect board game to help students practice talking about various topics in the present perfect. This activity is also ideal for reviewing the various uses of the present perfect. Students take it in turns to roll the dice and move their counter along the board. When a student lands on a square, they talk about the topic on the square in the present perfect tense for 30 seconds without stopping. If a student can’t think of anything to say, makes a grammar mistake, or stops talking before the 30 seconds are up, they go back two squares. The first student to reach the finish wins the game.

ESL Present Perfect Worksheet — Grammar Exercises: Gap-fill, Categorising, Writing Sentences — Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions, Giving Information — Pair Work — Intermediate (B1) — 35 minutes

In this present perfect worksheet, students revise the various uses of the present perfect tense and related vocabulary. Students start by looking at words that are used with the present perfect tense. Students then complete present perfect sentences with the words. Next, students answer questions about the sentences. Students then use the present perfect related words from Exercise A to complete grammar rules. After that, students write sentences about themselves using just, already, yet, for, since and never. After that, students write three questions to ask about a partner’s life experiences using ever. Afterwards, students ask and answer the questions with a partner.

ESL Present Perfect Worksheet — Grammar Exercises: Gap-fill, Writing Sentences from Prompts, Error Correction — Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts — Pair Work — Intermediate (B1) — 30 minutes

In this present perfect review worksheet, students work through various exercises and texts to review different structures in the present perfect tense, including active and passive voices. Students begin by completing sentences with words related to the present perfect. Next, students answer questions in sentence form using words from a box. Students also write one more present perfect question of their own at the end and answer it. After that, in pairs, students ask and answer the questions with their partner. Students then underline ten mistakes in a text and write the correct phrases in the spaces provided. In the last exercise, students complete a text using verbs from a box in the present perfect tense, in either the active or passive voice.

ESL Present Perfect Activity — Speaking and Grammar: Guided Discussion, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts — Group Work — Intermediate (B1) — 30 minutes

In this insightful present perfect activity, students discuss travel questions in the present perfect to find out who is the most experienced traveller in their group. In groups, students review the items on the worksheet and prepare the travel questions they are going to ask each other, e.g. ‘How many countries have you been to?’ Students then discuss each question in turn using the present perfect and write their answers in the column next to the questions. When the students have finished, they look at whose name has been written the most and complete the text at the bottom of the worksheet to explain who is the greatest traveller in their group and why. Afterwards, each group gives feedback to the class on their results.

ESL Present Perfect Game — Grammar and Speaking: Sentence Completion, True or False, Asking Questions, Guessing — Pair Work — Speaking Activity: Guided Discussion — Group Work — Intermediate (B1) — 40 minutes

In this free present perfect activity, students write true and false sentences about what they have and haven’t done in their lives. Students then play a guessing game where a partner tries to work out which sentences are true and false by asking past simple follow-up questions. First, students complete 20 present perfect sentences on the worksheet, making half the sentences true and half false. Next, in pairs, one student goes first and reads the first sentence to their partner who asks past simple follow-up questions to find out if the sentence is true or false. After a few questions have been answered, their partner makes a guess and the answer is revealed. The student scores one point for each correct guess. Afterwards, students swap roles. The student with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. Finally, in groups, students look at the sentences about experiences they haven’t had and say which things they want to do and which they don’t want to do, giving reasons why or why not.

ESL Present Perfect Passive Game — Grammar and Speaking: Forming Sentences — Group Work — Intermediate (B1) — 20 minutes

This present perfect passive game helps to teach students how to use the present perfect passive to talk about things that have changed. Students begin by memorizing the position and state of everything in the classroom for two minutes. A student from Team A then leaves the room for one minute. During that time, the other students change five things in the room. The student then comes back in and tries to identify what has been changed by making present perfect passive statements, e.g. ‘The lights have been switched off’. The other students listen carefully and confirm or deny the changes. The student scores one point for their team for each correct answer. A student from Team B then leaves the room and so on. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.