A selection of English ESL be: was or were printables

Practice the verb to be. Conjugate the verb in the present simple and the past simple. Fill in the correct form of the verb. Find keywords that help you find out what tense has to be used.

The verb to be

Information gap activity. Speaking. Focus on the time, places, verb to be in the past.

Students have to fill in their chart with information that other classmates have in their photocopies. There are 3 different types of photocopy, each of them with different information that is useful for other students.

INFORMATION GAP - THE TIME AND PLACES

This is an ask-and-answer speaking activity which is about was/ were wh-questions and adjectives to describe the city. Students will take turns asking and answering the questions with the given clues.

Describe your vacation in a city with was/ were

Here is another worksheet from my (( TO BE )) series.If you are looking for worksheets about (( TO BE )) my worksheets about (( to be )) will help you. i hope you enjoy it.

TO BE (( AM IS ARE WAS WERE ))

Use the correct form of the verb to be in the following activity. Complete each part of the activity according to the instructions. Verb to be in present, past, and future including the short form.

The form and uses of the verb to be

This worksheet is a pair work exercise. Students will work in pairs SS-A and SS-B. Students need to complete the charts by asking and answering questions like:

Where was he/she born?

When was he/she born?

in the firts exercise.

Then SS work invidually and complete the short paragraphs about people who were famous in their times.

Then they will practise the other use of verb to BE and places, again it's a pair work exercise.

And finally as a closure SS wil answer questions with the past form of verb to Be about themselves. 

PAST TENSE: BE

I've created this scrambled sentence worksheet for those learners who want to practice the structure of English sentences. I hope that you enjoy using this worksheet.

Scrambled sentences

Here is another worksheet from To Be series. Learners who want to practice rules of using (( am is are was were)) this worksheet will help them.I hope you like it and enjoy  practicing my worksheets. 

To Be

here is another worksheet about to be ((  am , is , are , was , were )) from my to be series . if you are looking for a good worksheet about to be this worksheet and other worksheets from my to be series will help you.i hope you like it

TO BE 

Past simple (was/were)

singular : I, It, He, She + was

plural : You, We, They + were. Example : It was. They were. I was with my Grandma. You were outside and ...

Past simple (was/were)

Alibi is a game for intermediate and above. It can be used for teaching past tense. Students are made to fabricate a story so as to make the police officers believe that they are not at that place when the actual crime took place. 

I have my students play Alibi to review the past tense after learning it, the game is ideal for intermediate and above students, so I have to make it easier to play it with my pre-intermediate level students. That’s why I use this template to help my students create questions when we play Alibi in class. 

Here is a worksheet that explains one possible dynamic for the game: https://en.islcollective.com/resources/printables/worksheets_doc_docx/alibi/intermediate-b1/84898 Since, my students are not so advanced, I do it the other way around, I have the livelier students make up their story outside the classroom, and I prepare a list of possible questions with the rest of the class. After 15 minutes of preparation, I divide the class in groups and have them interview the students that made up the stories. so they can ask them and write their answers. Then they compare their answers and decide whether they are guilty or not.

You can find a nice worksheets to hand out to the students so that they can work on their stories, like this one: https://en.islcollective.com/resources/printables/worksheets_doc_docx/alibi/past-simple-/39488   

I created this worksheet because, I’ve noticed that many of my students struggled comming up with questions.

Question-builder supplement to play Alibi

Some exercises + a short text to practise was/were and vocabulary for different emotions. The list of emotions was taken from this website:
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/word-games/emotions-feelings-1
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/word-games/emotions-feelings-2

Was/were + emotions

BE: WAS or WERE

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

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152 BE: WAS or WERE English ESL worksheets pdf & doc