Learning the past tense form of verbs in English is an important basic conversational skill. English as a second language (ESL) students need to learn two sets of verbs, regular and irregular. The regular verbs become past tense by placing -d or -ed at the end of the word. Irregular verbs take on a different spelling when changing them to the past tense.

Do ESL games help students learn?
Playing games in the ESL classroom is more than just a way to fill the time or a means of entertainment for students. ESL games are an effective tool to help ESL students reduce the time it takes to recall information in English. The ultimate goal of fluency can only be reached when there is no hesitancy in speech.

The Big Cheese: Preparation, Materials, Irregular Verbs
The Big Cheese is a fun and easy ESL past tense game will help students learn to develop listening skills and identify verbs in a sentence. Additionally, this ESL game for past tense verb practice will facilitate faster recall and give students the opportunity to write irregular verbs in the past tense. You can play this game with a large or small class and ESL students at an advanced beginner or intermediate level. The preparation time and materials necessary are minimal.

Your students already have all the equipment necessary for this fun and easy ESL past tense game. The students need paper and pencil or pen, and the teacher needs a white board or blackboard and a marker or chalk.

The preparation time for this game is nominal. Make or obtain a list of irregular verbs and write a sentence for each one in the present tense. For a 45 minute class, you will need approximately 20 irregular verbs. You can use the verbs below or make up your own list to customize this game to your lesson plan.

Here is brief list of some of the most commonly used irregular verbs in English: become, bite, buy, catch, come, draw, drive, eat, feed, fight, find, give, know, leave, lose, make, pay, read, see, sell, sing, sit, take, think, and write. For a more advanced class you can choose irregular verbs that are more obscure.

How to play The Big Cheese
Divide class into groups of two to four ESL students, depending on your class size. Instruct your students to pick a team name and write it on the board. Let them choose a team leader. This person is designated to bring the sentence up to the teacher for answer verification. Have your ESL students take out a piece of paper and a pencil or pen. The first round of this past tense game is a warm-up round. Do an example on the board so your ESL students can understand how the game is played. Read a present tense sentence aloud to the class, slowly and clearly, three times. Students must re-write the sentence in the past tense, using the correct form and spelling of the past tense irregular verb. To earn points the students bring their completed sentence up to the teacher for verification. If their sentence is correct, have the student mark a point on the board next to their team name. Write the correct sentence on the board and move on to the next round. The winner has the most points and is proclaimed "The Big Cheese."