Past numbers trivia board game narrative tenses review
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Practising narrative tenses with a guessing numbers board game.
Lesson Plan Content:
Past numbers trivia board game narrative tenses review
Each put a counter (e.g. an eraser) on the START square. Tell your partner what kind of square you are on (Past Simple, Past Continuous or Past Perfect) and they will take a card from that pack and read it out. Past Continuous cards are the narrowest, Past Perfect cards are the widest, and Past Simple are the medium-width cards. You have up to six tries to get exactly the right answer, with six points if you get it right on your first guess, five points if you get it right on your second guess, etc. After each wrong guess, your partner will give you a hint about how far you are wrong like “It’s a lot more”, “It’s quite a lot less” and “It’s a little higher” until you guess exactly the right number. All guesses must be in full sentences (“He played Dracula 100 times”, etc).
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Useful language for giving hints |
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(That’s close but) |
it’s (actually) the real number is |
a lot/ much/ far quite a lot slightly/ a little/ a bit very slightly/ a tiny bit |
more/ higher/ longer/ more often. less/ lower/ shorter. |
When you get the correct answer, you can move that many squares clockwise, e.g. four squares if your third guess was exactly the right number. Continue taking turns guessing and moving around the board until someone gets all the way around the board or the teacher stops the game. If you run out of cards, use the same ones again.
Places to put packs of cards (face down)
Past Simple pack of cards
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Past Continuous pack of cards
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Past Perfect pack of cards
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Past Perfect |
Past Simple
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Past Continuous |
Past Perfect |
START Past Simple |
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Past Continuous |
Past numbers trivia board game narrative tenses review
Try to answer trivia questions about past numbers and move clockwise around the board. How many squares you can move depends on how quickly you guess exactly the right number: - your 1st guess is right = move 6 squares - your 2nd guess is correct = move 5 squares - your 3rd guess is correct = move 4 squares - your 4th guess is correct = move 3 squares - your 5th guess is correct = move 2 squares - your 6th guess is correct = move 1 square
If you need more than six guesses, you have to give up and stay on the same square. Between each guess, your partner will give you hints about how wrong you are like “The real number is much long” and “Actually, it’s slightly less often”.
When someone has gone all around the board or your teacher stops the game, try to describe the differences between the three tenses used in this game.
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Past Continuous
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Past Simple |
Past Perfect
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Past Perfect
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Past Simple
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Past Continuous |
Past Continuous
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Past Simple |
Past Perfect
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Past Perfect |
Past Simple
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Past Continuous |
Past Continuous
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Past Simple
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Past Perfect |
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Past Perfect |
Past Simple
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Past Continuous |
Past Continuous
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Past Simple |
Past Perfect
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Past Perfect
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Past Simple |
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Past Continuous |
Past Continuous
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Past Simple
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Past Perfect |
Past Cont. |
Past Simple |
Past Perfect |
Past Simple cards
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How many times did Christopher Lee play Dracula? He played Dracula ten times.
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How many times did English king Henry VIII get divorced? He got divorced twice. |
How many times did France have a king called Charles? They had one nine times.
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How many times did Michael Jordan reach the NBA playoffs? Twelve times.
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How many times did the actor Marilyn Monroe get married? She got married three times. |
How many World Cups did the Brazilian footballer Pele win? He won three.
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How many times did Ross get divorced in the 1990s American sitcom Friends? He did it three times.
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How many times did the cricketer Jack Hobbs get over 100 runs? He did it 197 times. |
How many times did the park ranger Roy Sullivan survive lightning strikes? He survived them seven times. |
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How many times did Roger Moore play James Bond? He played that role seven times.
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How many times did Yuri Gagarin circle the earth on the first flight in space? He circled it once. |
How many times was Franklin D Roosevelt President of the USA? He was President three times. |
Past Continuous cards
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According to the Bible, how many people were sailing on Noah’s Ark when the rain stopped? Eight people were sailing on it.
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How many Americans were travelling on the Lusitania when a German submarine sunk it in 1915? 128 were travelling on it.
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How many people were crossing the Ponte Morandi bridge when it collapsed in 2018 in Genoa, Italy? 59 were crossing it.
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How many people were flying on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 when it was shot down over Ukraine? 298 were flying on it.
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How many people were hiding in Anne Frank’s house when they were discovered by the Nazi’s in 1944? 8 were hiding there.
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How many people were listening when Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech? 200,000 were listening there.
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How many people were living close to Chernobyl nuclear reactor when the accident occurred? 116,000 were living there.
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How many people were riding in President JFK’s limo when he was shot? 6 people were riding in it.
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How many people were sitting with President Abraham Lincoln when he was shot? Three people were sitting there.
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How many people were travelling on the Big Dipper rollercoaster when it crashed in 1972? 31 people were travelling on it.
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How many people were watching the play with Abraham Lincoln when he was shot? 2500 people were watching it.
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How many people were working in Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh, when it collapsed in April 2013? 3100 were working there.
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Past Perfect cards
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How long had Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden been hiding when he was killed by American Navy SEALs? He had been hiding for 5 years.
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How long had Hitler been Chancellor of Germany when WWII started? He had been Chancellor for 6 years. |
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How long had two-wheeled bicycles existed when pedals were added? They had existed for 41 years. |
How long had gasoline cars been driving on roads when the first car crash happened? They had been driving on roads for five years.
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How long had airships been flying across the Atlantic when the Hindenburg airship disaster happened? They had been flying across the Atlantic for 9 years. |
How long had there been slavery in the USA when Lincoln proclaimed all slaves to be free? There had been slavery for 244 years.
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How long had Winston Churchill been a member of parliament when he became British prime minister during the Second World War? He had been one for 40 years.
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How long had the Second World War been over when Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda surrendered? It had been over for 29 years. |
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How long had New Zealand women had the right to vote when Swiss women achieved the same thing? They had had that right for 78 years.
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How long had William Henry Harrison been President of the United States when he died? He had been president for 31 days. |
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How long had the Ottoman Empire existed when it ended in 1920? It had existed for 469 years.
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How long had John Dingle been a US Senator when he retired in 2015? He had been one for 59 years.
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