Simple Past or Present Perfect Tense | Lets Learn English Through Song

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🎯 Lesson Objective

Students will be able to:

Understand the difference between simple past and present perfect tenses.
Correctly use each tense in sentences about past experiences.

🕐 1. Warm-Up (5–10 minutes)

Goal: Activate students’ knowledge of talking about past experiences.

Activity:
Ask a few open-ended questions:

“What did you do last weekend?”
“Have you ever been to another country?”

👉 Highlight that one question uses past tense (“did you do”) and the other uses present perfect (“have you ever been”).

Write both questions on the board. Underline did and have to start building awareness.

📘 2. Presentation (10–15 minutes)

Explain the difference clearly and visually:

Tense	Structure	Example	Meaning / Use
Simple Past	Subject + past verb	“I visited Paris in 2018.”	A completed action at a specific time in the past
Present Perfect	Subject + have/has + past participle	“I have visited Paris.”	An action that happened at an unspecified time and has relevance to now

Get FREE English Verb Tense Songs and Pronunciation Songs Here

Tip: Emphasize time expressions:

Simple Past: yesterday, last week, in 2018, two days ago
Present Perfect: ever, never, already, yet, just, recently, before, since, for

🧩 3. Guided Practice (15 minutes)

Activity 1: Sorting
Give students sentences and have them sort them into two columns:

“I went to Japan last year.” → 🟨 Simple Past
“I have eaten sushi.” → 🟩 Present Perfect

Activity 2: Fill in the blanks

“I ______ (see) that movie last night.” → saw
“I ______ (see) that movie before.” → have seen

Activity 3: Pair Work
Students ask each other:

“Have you ever tried surfing?”
If the answer is yes, follow up:
“When did you try it?”
👉 This shows both tenses in real use.

🗣️ 4. Communicative Practice (10–15 minutes)

Game: “Have You Ever…?”
Students move around the room asking each other questions:

“Have you ever eaten snails?”
“Have you ever met a famous person?”

When they get a “Yes,” they ask:

“When did it happen?”

They then share with the class:

“Maria has met a famous person. She met Chris Hemsworth in 2019!”

🧠 5. Common Mistakes to Highlight

Incorrect	Correct	Explanation
I have seen him yesterday.	I saw him yesterday.	“Yesterday” = specific time → past tense
I went to Paris. (no time given)	I have been to Paris.	No specific time → present perfect

📝 6. Wrap-Up / Summary (5 minutes)

Ask students to summarize:

“When do we use the simple past?”
“When do we use the present perfect?”

End with this rule:

🗝️ Use the simple past for actions that are finished and have no link to now.
Use the present perfect for actions that are finished but still connect to now.