Looking for engaging ways to teach the present simple tense? You’neve come to the right place. Below you’ll find a selection of fun, reliable present simple activities that are perfect for beginners and low-intermediate learners. These games and exercises get students speaking, asking questions, and using English in meaningful ways—without relying on drills or heavy grammar explanations.
Snap! – Forms of To Be
This printable card game is a fun way to practise am, is, and are using short answers.
Students work in pairs with a shuffled deck of “Snap” cards—half with questions (Are you tired?) and half with answers (Yes, I am.). First, they match the questions and answers as a warm-up. Then they reshuffle and play:
Each student places a face-down pile in front of them. They flip cards at the same time—if the question and answer match, the first to shout “Snap!” wins the pile. The student with the most pairs at the end is the winner.
Model the game first to make sure students understand how it works. This quick and competitive game is ideal for lower-level learners practising the verb to be.
Download the Snap! cards – to be
What do you never do? – practising adverbs of frequency
To help your students understand how often things happen, try drawing a diagram on the board using adverbs of frequency and situations. Then, use the table provided to ask students random questions and have them ask each other questions as well. Encourage your students to go off-script and have fun with it!
Find someone who
This is one of those classic present simple activities that never gets old. It’s perfect for practising present simple questions and short answers, especially in the early stages of a course when students are just gaining confidence in speaking.
Give students a grid of statements like …gets up before 6 a.m., …plays a musical instrument, or …never drinks coffee. They must circulate, ask each other questions, and write names next to the items. It’s a great icebreaker and ideal for getting students out of their seats.
Download the Present Simple Find Someone Who Activity
See the full Find Someone Who activity post for printable sheets and classroom tips.
Dream Job – Present Simple Guessing Game
Ask students to imagine their dream job—something they’d love to do now or perhaps wanted to do as a child. They write four or five present simple sentences describing what they do in this job (I help people. I work at night. I wear a uniform.).
Each student then reads their sentences aloud to the class without saying the job title. The others ask closed questions in the present simple (Do you work outside? Do you use a computer?) to try and guess the job.
Model the activity using your own dream job first, and write useful example questions on the board. This activity encourages personalisation and lots of natural first-person present simple use.
Third-person interviews
This is a fun and effective present simple third person activity which I often use when introducing the third person form of the present simple. Students interview their partner and then rotate around the class asking for and giving information about their original partner – includes full details and printable interview sheets.
What’s the Movie? – Describing Plot Summaries
This enjoyable activity introduces movie and storytelling vocabulary while practising use of the present simple for talking about film and book plots.
Begin by taking a popular film and writing some present simple sentences describing the plot and setting.
It’s set on a big ship
It stars Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett
Kate Winslett plays a bored, rich American girl
It takes place in the early 1900s
It’s about a rich girl and a poor boy who fall in love
Unfortunately, the ship sinks and the boy dies
In the final scene, the girl, who is now an old lady, revisits the scene of the tragedy
Students try to guess the film and then in pairs or alone write similar sentences to describe their own choice of movie. The class then tries to guess each other’s choices. Alternatively, this makes a good writing activity for homework.
Present simple board game
Board games are always a hit in class. This present simple board game gets students forming questions, answering in full sentences, and thinking quickly. Suitable for groups of 3–4, and easy to adapt depending on student level.There are also ESL board games available for other grammar forms.
You’ll also find online versions of present simple activities—like this board game—at our partner site LearnHip.com, which offers online-friendly grammar games and practice tools.
Teaching Online
You can find online present simple exercises and activities at our online-focused site LearnHip.com.
MY STUDENTS LOVED THE BOARD GAME…
THAT’S GREAT!