Past Continuous Games and Activities for ESL/ESL Classes

If you’re looking for some of the best past continuous games and activities for ESL (also known as the past progressive), then you’re in the right place. Keep on reading for the activities, along with worksheets and lesson plans.

Here are some of the best past continuous games that you’ll want to check out. Or, keep reading for more than 20 options!

Past Continuous Games for ESL

Try out some of these past progressive games and activities.

#1: Last Night

Put students into groups of 3. Then:

Student A says a time last night (8:00).
Student B says what they were doing (watching TV).
Student C makes a statement, including their information (While Jen was watching TV, I was working out).

#2: Past Progressive Board Game

It’s easy to make your own board game on just about any topic or grammatical point, including the past progressive. Check out the details here:

Board Games ESL.

#3: What do you remember?

Find a picture where people are doing something but get interrupted by something else. Give a name to each person in the picture. Students can study the picture for 1-2 minutes, and then take it away.

In teams, students have to come up with as many factually true, and grammatically correct past progressive statements as they can. For example:

Jen was running when she got tripped by a dog.
Bob was eating ice cream when it fell off the cone.
The kids were hiding behind the tree when their mom found them.

Past continuous ESL games

#4: Running Dictation

This is one of my favourite 4-skills ESL activities that works well with the past continuous. Find, or write a conversation between two people with numerous instances of the target grammar. Then, students have to work together to put the conversation together by moving around the classroom and dictating it. Find out more about this activity here:

How to do Running Dictation.

#5: What are people doing?

This activity is quite simple, but fun. Make some action cards (sleep, eat pizza, drink, jump, drink beer, do yoga, etc.). Divide the class into two teams.

One student from each team goes outside. Another student gets a card and starts doing the action. The person outside the class comes into the class. His or her team has to make a correct sentence:

Tony was drinking beer when Tim came into the classroom.

Repeat the process with the next team.

Jenny was doing yoga when Jerry came inside.

Each team gets a point for a grammatically correct sentence. It’s possible to increase the difficulty by requiring the person coming into the classroom to do a specific action. For example:

Tory was doing yoga when Ted ran into the classroom.
Jen was eating ice cream when Ken skipped into the class.

#6: Charades

I’m sure you’ve done this game before! In this case, write down some sentences with the target grammar and students have to act it out for their teammates. Check it out:

Charades for English Learners.

39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Grammar Activities and Games For Kids: Practical Classroom Ideas for English...

Bolen, Jackie (Author)
English (Publication Language)
88 Pages - 09/28/2020 (Publication Date) - Independently published...

#7: Got to Hand It to You

If you want to focus on forms in a fun and interesting way, try out this error correction relay race. It takes something old (error) correction and makes it new by turning it into a friendly competition. Check it out:

Got to Hand It to You.

#8: Picture Prompt

Try out this simple activity for a warmer. Show students a picture with lots of things happening, including people getting interrupted. Then, elicit some responses from students about what they see. Reformulate the sentences using the past continuous. Find out all the details here:

Picture Prompt ESL.

#9: Sentence Building Activities

Time spent helping students build better sentences will never be wasted time. Check out some of my favourite activities for this:

#10: ESL Hot Potato Game

If you want to have some fun in the classroom, try out the hot potato game! Students pass around an object and when the music stops, the person holding the object has to do something. In this case, make a past continuous sentence. Show students two flaschards, or say two actions. Check it out:

ESL Hot Potato Game.

#11: Past Continuous Video Clips

Search on YouTube for “past continuous video clip” and you’ll see lots of options from TV shows and movies. Show students some of them and elicit from them what they heard and saw. This is a nice review activity to round off the lesson or for a warmer. In this latter, you’ll have to reformulate the sentences into the past continuous. If done for review, students should be able to come up with the sentences themselves.

#12: Pictionary

A nice option to review this grammar concept is to play Pictionary. Write down a bunch of sentences that use the past continuous and then students have to draw them, while their teammates guess what they are.

#13: Dictogloss

This is one of my favourite listening activities for higher-level students. It’s challenging, has an element of competition to it and students really enjoy it. Find out more here:

ESL Dictogloss Activity.

#14: Storytelling

Have students work in pairs or small groups to create and tell stories using the past continuous. Encourage them to include details about actions that were happening at specific times in the past.

#15: Picture Sequence

Provide students with a series of pictures showing different actions. They must describe the actions in each picture using the past continuous tense.

#16: Baskeball Game Challenge

I use this game to teach just about anything to kids, including this concept! Find out everything you need to know here:

ESL Basketball Game.

#17: Time Capsule

Ask students to imagine they are creating a time capsule of their lives. They write or talk about what they were doing at different times in the past and why those moments were important.

#18: Role Playing

Set up scenarios where students have to use the past continuous to describe what they were doing. For example, a doctor describing a patient’s symptoms, or a detective recounting their actions during an investigation.

#19: Dialogue Substitution

#20: Sentence Mix-Up

Write sentences on separate cards, mixing up the order of the words. Some sentences should be in the past continuous tense and others in the past simple tense. Students must unscramble the sentences and then categorize them based on the tense used.

These games can make learning about past continuous and past simple tenses more engaging and enjoyable for ESL learners.

When Can I Use the Past Continuous?

The past continuous shows us that the action was already in progress at a certain time in the past. Here are some examples:

What were you doing at 9 p.m. last night? I was getting ready for bed. This means that I started getting ready before 9 pm and I continued after 9 pm.
What were you doing this morning at 10? I was playing soccer. This means that you started playing soccer before 10, and continued to play after that time.

Teaching the Past Progressive FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about the past progressive tense. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

What is the past continuous tense used for?

It is used to describe actions that were in progress at a specific point in the past.

How is the past continuous formed?

It is formed with the past tense of “to be” (was/were) + the present participle (-ing form) of the main verb.

Can you give an example of a sentence in the past continuous?

Sure! “I was studying when she called me.”

When do we use the past continuous instead of the simple past?

We use the past continuous for actions that were in progress at a specific time in the past, or for actions that were happening around a particular time in the past.

How can we practice the past continuous tense?

We can practice by creating sentences about what people were doing at a specific time in the past or by describing past events in more detail using the past continuous.

Teaching English Grammar

39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Grammar Activities and Games: For English Teachers of Teenagers and Adults...

Amazon Kindle Edition
Bolen, Jackie (Author)
English (Publication Language)
87 Pages - 10/24/2019 (Publication Date)

If you want to teach English grammar like a boss, then you’re going to want to get a copy of this book: 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Grammar Activities and Games. The key to better TEFL classes is a wide variety of activities and this book will help you get there in style.

You’ll have a ton of fun activities and games that are ideal for a range of grammar concepts, including the past progressive. Pick up a copy today, and get ready for better English classes tomorrow: