Present Perfect vs. Past Simple
This is one of the hardest comparisons in English grammar. As an English teacher, I usually see my students frowning whenever we come to these two tenses in our lessons. The reason why they are frowning is that they can't find any difference between these two tenses as they mean almost same in our mother language which is Turkish. There are some practical ways of teaching the difference.
First of all, these tenses are not the same thing even though they both are linked to past. However, as all English teachers know, past is past which means past simple does not have any connection with present time. If you want your students to learn this difference, drawing a chart or finding an image like the one I have shared above can be really helpful.
Visuals
I usually prefer to use visuals in my classes, using all chances of technology to make this easier for my students. Even though there is a big difference between these two tenses, I prefer to comfort my students telling them that they can use past simple every time they need to talk about past. No-one will laugh at them when they use past simple instead of present perfect. Grammar doesn't matter much.
The best way of teaching the difference is to warm your students up with a reading. It is really easy to prepare a reading for them. If you have a course book, they also prefer this ways as it is so simple to show on a text. For this post, I would like to show you an example of lesson. You may apply this in your group or private classes.
My Story
Michael is a successful footballer. He has played for lots of teams all around the world. He has won 3 awards in different competitions. There is one that he will never forget in his life. He joined a tournament with his team last year. He scored 3 goals in the second half of the final match which was amazing. When he came back to his country, he was so amazed with the crowd waiting for him.
After your student read the text above, it is time to check their comprehension. You may first ask them some basic questions to learn their knowledge about the text. When we come to the point which is the difference between two tenses, you may write two sentences from the text and ask them to tell you differences.
Comparison
Considering the text above, I would show two examples from the text and ask my students to identify the differences between two sentences which can help them understand the difference easily. At this point, it is a good idea to discuss the possible results with your students so that they can understand it better.
Past Simple / Present Perfect
He has played for lots of teams all around the world / He joined a tournament with his team last year
** When we don't know when the action happened or don't say the exact time, we use................. which is made with have/has+v3
** When we know and state when the action happened, we use............ which is made with V2 in positive sentences.
Practice
If you want your students to practice the difference more, you may write a paragraph in which your student may fill in the gaps with either present perfect or past simple. If you students know which time phrases refer to past simple, they will make it so easily and it will be an efficient lesson for you and your students.
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