Have You Ever…?

Present Perfect Tense

Objectives
By the end of this class meeting, students
should be able to discuss dreams and
experiences, use present perfect tense
correctly and appropriately in their speech,
ask others questions using present perfect
tense, show interest through good listener
feedback and continue a conversation by
asking short questions.
Materials and Resources
● Google Slide Presentation

● Never have I ever Game Slips

● Students’ Textbooks and Workbooks

● Whiteboard(s)

● 1 projector and screen

Background
The homework included a review of that day’s topic-- human
characteristics/behaviors and horoscopes-- and grammar--
adverbs describing adjectives (extremely wealthy, totally
laid-back etc.).

Homework also included a listening activity that previewed

this week’s topic, and two pages of textbook reading and
practice for this week’s grammar point.
Background
This lesson plan was designed for a class of sixteen, adult
high-intermediate students from multiple first language
backgrounds including Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese,
Thai, Hindi, and Nepali. The original class lasted 5 hours
and met once a week. It can, however be easily adapted to
accommodate other proficiency level and language background
groups, and be adapted to fit a shorter class time.

Enjoy!
Warm up!
After finishing some basic housekeeping, announcements, and
checking of the previous weeks homework, have students get
into groups and discuss the questions on the next slide
together. After about 8-10 minutes of discussion, ask
members from each group to share what they discussed with
the class. This will just get them thinking about the topic
for the day, and can activate some of the students’ prior
knowledge.
Think of some special
experiences you hope to havee
in the future.

● a place you’d like to goo

● something you’d like to see
● a person you’d like to meet
● something you’d like to do
or accomplish in your life
Listening
(Pre-Listening) Inform students that they are going to watch a short
video in which a native speaker is talking about some of her best
travel experiences of the past and top travel wishes for the future.
On the board, write the following questions:

1. What words would you use to describe this girl? What kind of
personality do you think she has? [review of previous week’s
information]
2. Where does she say she has been? When did she go to each place?
3. Where does she say she would like to go? Why has she chosen those
places?

Play video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GR6ZUvlYb4

Experiences, Hopes, and Dreams…
Listening
(Post-Listening) Discuss the questions with students. Ask students
to share some of their own favorite travel experiences and hopeful
destinations. Listen for when a student says “I have gone/ have
visited/have been to/etc.,” vs. “I went/ visited/ was in/etc.,” and
write some contrastive student-made examples of both forms on the
board.

Ask students, “Why do we sometimes say ‘I have gone’ and other times
we say ‘I went’?” This should provide an opportunity for noticing.
Hopefully students should be able to identify that in situations
where exact time of a past event is not explicitly stated or
relevant, we use present perfect tense. Wait for a student to
identify this pattern, reinforce their discovery in your own words,
provide examples from the video.
 “This past summer,
I took a trip to
New Orleans in
Louisiana with my
sister.”

“My favorite
country to visit
is Italy. I’ve
been there four
times.”
 “This past summer, When you talk about
I took a trip to experiences and
New Orleans in events that happened
Louisiana with my at some time before
sister.”
now, but you don’t
say when that
happened, you can
“My favorite
country to visit sometimes use the
is Italy. I’ve present perfect verb
been there four form.
times.”
From the first day of the class, the instructor has used 2 distinct ways of
presenting different grammar forms, which by now, students are quite familiar
with. First, is diagramming, which is useful for illustrating the functions of
the various parts of sentence in a visual manner. Second, for verb tense, the
instructor creates a chart similar to following example:

PAST TENSE Formula Sentence: he/ “travel”

Statement S+V (+ed) He traveled.

Negative S+did+not+V He did not [didn’t] travel.

Y/N Que Did+S+V? Did he travel?

Info Que Info+Did+S+V? Where did he travel?

Review the past tense in a chart on the whiteboard by drawing the outline and
filling in the first column on the left hand side and top row. Have students
fill in the remaining blank spaces one at a time by handing different students
the dry erase markers. Similarly, collectively construct a chart for the
present perfect tense and check students’ ability to create sentences use a
regular verb like ‘travel’.
-Present Perfect Tense-
sentences

I have seen that movie

many times.

He has not seen that

movie at all.
Present Perfect Tense
For this lesson, students would have already been exposed to the construction
of present perfect tense from their homework in their textbooks. This is a
strategy adopted from the flipped classroom design in which students do much
of the explicit grammar instruction at home and classroom time is exclusively
reserved for communicative activities only. If you’d like to attempt a version
of this lesson plan that more closely follows the flipped classroom method,
you can skip this grammar instruction step and instead record yourself
teaching the grammar or find a YouTube video on the topic for students to
watch before class.

Whatever you decided to do you should still briefly outline the structure, but
prompt students to do much of the talking by asking leading questions like
“What come next?”, “How would we say ____” etc. This would be a good time to
take students’ grammar questions as well.
Present Perfect Tense
I (subject)
have (have/has)
Past
Participle met (past tense verb)
+ him (object)
= I have met him.
= I’ve met him.
Present Perfect Tense
I (subject)
have (have/has)
Past
Participle met (past tense
Sometimesverb)
, t he
past part
iciple
form of t
+ him (object)
is differ
he verb
ent
from the
simple
= I have met him. past form
.
= I’ve met him.
-Present Perfect Tense-
questions

Have you ever seen

that movie?

What movies have you

seen?
Present Perfect Tense
Have (have/has)
Past
you (subject)
Participle
met (past tense verb)
+ him (object)
= Have you met him?
Present Perfect Tense: You Try!
Formula they/ “travel”

S+have/has+V(past
Sentence They have traveled.
tense)

S+have/has+not+V
Negative They have not [haven’t] traveled.
(past tense)

have/has+S+V
Y/N Que Have they traveled?
(past tense)

Info+ have/has+S+V
Info Que Where have they traveled?
(past tense)
Present Perfect Tense: You Try!
Formula they/ “travel” -the world

S+have/has+V(past
Sentence They have traveled.
tense)

S+have/has+not+V
Negative They have not [haven’t] traveled.
(past tense)

have/has+S+V
Y/N Que Have they traveled?
(past tense)

Info+ have/has+S+V
Info Que Where have they traveled?
(past tense)
Group Work
Have students break into groups of 4. Each group is give a marker and a
large space on one of the 3 whiteboards. Projected on the screen is a slide
that says:

Try:
● he/ “think” -about it
● Frank and Jill/ “to be” -married,
● We/ “swim” in the ocean
● They/ “buy” many fancy cars

This is a good opportunity to assess the students’ grasps of the grammar

form, as well as to provide an opportunity for noticing what happens in
present perfect tense when we encounter irregular verbs such as “swim.”

Announce the winner of the activity and review the correct answers together.
Point out the irregular verb “swim” → “swum”
Present Perfect Tense: You Try!
Formula they/ “travel” -the world

S+have/has+V(past
Sentence They have traveled.
tense)
Try:
● he/ “think” -about
S+have/has+not+V
Negative it
They have not [haven’t] traveled.
(past
● tense)
Frank and Jill/ “to be” -mar
● We/ “swim” in the oc ried,
Y/N Que
have/has+S+V ean
Have they traveled?
● Th ey/ “buy” many fancy
(past tense)
cars
Info+ have/has+S+V
Info Que Where have they traveled?
(past tense)
Pair Work
At this time, students will be given the opportunity to take a look at the
past participle forms of irregular verbs. For this particular class, students
can work in pairs filling in a partially completed chart of irregular verb
forms. Most textbooks come with a chart which you can modify for this activity
using a table on Word or GoogleDocs. You can also easily find on numerous
websites such as:

http://www.englishpage.com/irregularverbs/irregularverbs.html.

Base Simple Past Past Participle

be was/were been

do did done

see saw seen

Eraser Game
This is basically just a quiz game. Split the classroom into two-
three teams. Place a whiteboard eraser or some other object on a
chair at the front of the classroom. One at a time a representative
from each of the two teams will come up and stand at either side of
the chair. A question will be projected on the screen. On “Go!” the
first student to grab the eraser off the chair has a chance to
answer the question. If the question is answered incorrectly, the
other team has an opportunity to steal. In the case that both teams
answer incorrectly, the teacher gets the point. :) Without fail,
this simple game gets very competitive and is extremely useful for
quickly boosting classroom energy.
Eraser Game
For this lesson, students will simple look at the subject/verb
combinations in the sentence and formulate the present perfect form.
ERASER GAME.
I/always/do a lot of traveling.
I guess it/ always/be a main interest in my life.
she/be to lots of places.
We/always/enjoy traveling together.
We/walk on the Great Wall of China.
They/be so lucky.
Frank and Jill/visit some amazing places.
He/not/have a chance.
I/always/think about going back to school.
I/never/eat Moroccan food before.
My/not/be to India yet.
I/never/go to Australia before.
We/not/make a decision.
You/do/ever anything scary?
She/try/ever kickboxing?
They/own/ever a large restaurant?
You/ever/see the Northern Lights?
Things I’ve never done
For this activity, the students are able to interact with
the grammar and content a bit more freely. Ask students to
write on a piece of paper the following items:

1. a sport you’ve never done

2. a local attraction you’ve never visited
3. a food you’ve never eaten
4. a drink you’ve never drunk
5. something you’ve never been able to understand
Things I’ve never done
Once everyone has finished writing, tell students to get up,
mingle, ask others if they’ve ever done anything on their
own list. Example: if Student A has written “I have never
visited the White House.” They should be asking “Have you
ever visited the White House?”. If the answer is “No” they
get no points. For every person that answers “Yes,” Student
A gets one point. The person with the most points will be
the winner. BE SURE TO MODEL THIS ACTIVITY. The directions
can be a bit confusing at first.
Listener Feedback
 What
should I be
doing?
Listener Feedback
After a winner has been chosen, have students return to their seats. For this
part of the lesson, a script is used from the textbook, but for your own
purposes, you can create a similar one. Ask two students to read the dialogue
first. Follow up with some content questions afterwards.

Lea: Have you done anything fun lately?

Jason: Yea, we went to a new club called Fizz last week. Have you been there?
Lea: No, but I’ve heard good things about it. How was it?
Jason: Yeah, it’s neat. The DJ was really good. Do you like techno music?
Lea: Yeah, it’s OK, um, not my favorite. I prefer hip-hop.
Jason: Do you? Have you seen that new movie about hip-hop artists?
Lea: No. Is it good?
Jason: Yeah, I’ve seen it a couple of times.
Lea: Have you? Well, I’m kind of in the mood for a movie. Do you want to see it again?
Jason: Well, I enjoyed it, but… I’ve never seen a movie three times.

McCarthy, M., McCarten, J., & Sandiford, H. (2014). Touchstone Level 3 Full Contact (Vol. 2).
Cambridge University Press. Print. p. 16
Listener Feedback
Ask students what the very first topic is that is being discussed.
Then ask what topic comes next and after that, etc. Write the topics
they identify on the board, perhaps in a flowchart like the
following example:

Ask students what the speakers are doing to move the conversation
forward and how the topic continues to evolve. This should bring
their attention to the conversational strategy of asking short
questions to move the conversation along.
Listener Feedback
This is a good opportunity to talk about good listener
feedback practices. Ask students what a good way is to show
someone you are interested in and listening to what they are
saying. Ask a student about something they’ve done that you
learned from the previous activity. Model this strategy by
asking “Did you?” or “Have you?” and add your own
information question.
Listener Feedback
● Smile, nod, make (light) eye contact.
● Say: “Mhmm” “Yeah” “Okay”
● Show interest by asking short y/n questions
○ Do you?
○ Did you?
○ Have you?
● ...or information questions
○ With who? Where? When?
● Don’t say- “Okay, okay, okay”
DISCUSSION
Keep it going!
Discussion
Now is a great time for students to get some
naturalistic practice in. Introduce the
activity by posting up or projecting some
pictures of local attractions. Here’s my
example for the DC-Baltimore area ---->
Discussion
Ask students if they have ever visited any of these places (or pick
out a specific place of the group and ask). If they say yes, respond
with “Have you? What did you think?” etc. After doing this at least
twice, tell the students to get into groups and think of their own
favorite local places. Tell them they don’t have to be extremely
popular or famous places, but instead just place they really enjoy
going. Give them a few minutes to think of some places on their own.
Tell them to ask the people in their group if they have ever been to
these places. For the people who haven’t been to those places, they
should listen as ask about the places they haven’t been.
Keep it Going!
● What are some fun things to do in the
area? Restaurants? Sites? Activities?
● Ask your partner if they’ve been to
some of your favorite places and if
they know somewhere similar!
● Keep the conversation going by asking
yes/no and information questions.
GAME
Never Have I Ever
Never Have I ever… I have Never Ever…
The game is starts with the players getting into a circle
(groups of four-five). Everyone holds up their hands with
their fingers spread out. Then, the first player says a
simple statement starting with "Never have I ever". Anyone
who has done what the first player says, must lower one
finger. Play then continues around the circle, and the next
person makes a statement. If anyone must put all five
fingers down, they are out. The last person left in is the
winner.
Never Have I ever… I have Never Ever…
For our purposes we have pre-determined topics (see following
slides), cut up into strips, folded and placed in paper cups. We
also will tell students to use the grammatically correct form: “I
have never…” If a particularly interesting topic comes up, students
should be encouraged to ask the members in the group who must lower
a finger “Have you? What happened?” etc.

If there is enough time, you can re-run the game, with new topic
strips and have students and volunteers pay careful attention to
formulations in the present perfect and simple past and to provide
some corrective feedback for one another when necessary.
… injured myself while trying to impress
somebody.
… had to run away to save my life.
… cried my way out of a speeding ticket.
… taken part in a talent show.
… seen an alligator or crocodile in the wild.
… accidentally sent something on fire.
… ridden an animal.
… had a bad fall because I was walking and
texting.

… accidentally broken something that belonged … gone surfing.

to someone else.
… walked out of a movie because it was bad.
… had a vacation completely ruined.
… broken a bone.
… walked for more than six hours.
… tried to cut my own hair.
… jumped from a roof.
 … hitchhiked.
… completely forgot what to say in a play or
presentation.
… been trapped in an elevator.
… shot a gun.
… sung karaoke in front of people.
… had a surprise party thrown for me.
… been on TV or the radio.
… cheated on a test.
… been terribly, terribly, TERRIBLY sunburnt.
… gotten stitches.
… been awake for two days straight.
… fallen in love at first sight.
… gotten sick on or after riding a roller coaster.
… had a paranormal experience.
… accidentally sent someone to the hospital.
… woken up and couldn’t move.
… accidentally said “I love you” to someone.
… dyed my hair a crazy color.
… spent a night in the woods.

… fallen in love at first sight.

… gone vegan.

… worked with someone I hated.

… been without heat for a winter or without A/C
for a summer.
… danced in an elevator.
… gone scuba diving.
… cried in public because of a song.
… lied in order to get out of doing something.
… chipped a tooth.
… bungee jumped.
… gone hunting.
… had a bad allergic reaction.
… had a tree house.
… fainted.
… been screamed at by a customer at my
job.
Possible Homework Assignment
Write about a country or city that you have always wanted to
visit. Describe it in a short paragraph (6-10 sentences)
Where is it? What is it like? Why have you never been? How
long have you wanted to go? What specific place would you
visit and why? Include any other information that you think
is interesting.
Possible Assessment
For next class, prepare a small presentation about a place where you have been
(country, city, site, restaurant, museum etc.). It should last no longer than
2.5 minutes. In your presentation, you should say:

● where the place is

● when you went
● what was it like
● your favorite thing about it
● why you wanted to go
A thoughtful/creative presentation can include pictures-- on your phone or on
paper. Don't be nervous! The presentations will be in groups and not in front
of the whole class.
Think carefully about when to use past or present perfect tense.
Additional Talking
Points
Pronunciation and More i
n

Listening
your
textbo
ok

“My parents have been to Mexico

several times. Have you ever
been?”

“No, I haven’t”
Try it out!
I’ve never been
able to…
I’ve always ___________
wanted to…
___________
Have you been to… ? When… ?_
Have you been to… ? When… ?_