Past Tenses

Taylor Swift – So Long, London

To practise: Irregular verbs, Past simple, Past Tenses
Band/singer:

Be the cool teacher in your school and connect with your “Swiftie” students while practising past simple verbs in your ESL class with this song, So Long, London from Taylor Swift’s 2024 album “The Tortured Poets Department”. There are 20 different verbs in the simple past tense in this song (12 of which are irregular):…

Justin Bieber – Love yourself

To practise: Irregular verbs, Past simple, Past Tenses
Band/singer:

Practice past simple verbs in your ESL class with this song, Love yourself by Justin Bieber. There are 12 different verbs in the simple past tense in this song (8 of which are irregular): rained, broke, didn’t want, didn’t see, told, hated, was, tried, came, made, fell & felt There is a suggestion on how…

Brandy – Have you ever?

To practise: Past Tenses, Present perfect, Present perfect simple
Band/singer:

Practice the present perfect and especially the interrogative form have you ever… ? in your ESL class with this song, Have you ever? by Brandy. The 8 different examples of have you ever… in this song are: have you ever loved…, have you ever needed…, have you ever tried…, have you ever been…, have you ever…

Eagles – Hotel California

To practise: Multiple Tenses (for revision), Past Tenses
Band/singer:

Revise multiple tenses, but especially the past simple in your ESL class with this song, Hotel California by Eagles. These song lyrics include 29 different verbs in 6 different tenses: There is a suggestion on how to use this song in your ESL classes below, but for more ideas, click here. Lyrics On a dark desert highway,…

Shania Twain – Whose bed have your boots been under?

To practise: Interrogative, Past Tenses, Present perfect, Present perfect simple, Question words, Questions, Whose
Band/singer:

Practice the present perfect simple tense and/or the interrogative with the question word “whose” in your ESL class with this song, Whose bed have your boots been under? by Shania Twain. You can find the following examples of the present perfect and whose in this song’s lyrics: whose bed have your boots been under whose heart did you steal…

Queen – We are the champions

To practise: Past Tenses, Present perfect, Present perfect simple
Band/singer:

Practice the present perfect tense in your ESL class with this song, We are the Champions by Queen. These song lyrics include 7 examples of the present perfect simple: “I’ve paid”, “I’ve done”, “I’ve made”, “I’ve had”, “I’ve come”, “I’ve taken” & “it’s been”. There is a suggestion on how to use this song in your ESL classes…

Mariah Carey – All my life

To practise: Past Tenses, Present perfect, Present perfect continuous
Band/singer:

Practice the present perfect continuous in your ESL class with this song, All My Life by Mariah Carey. These song lyrics include 6 examples of the present perfect continuous: “I’ve been waiting/wishing/praying/taking”, & “[it]’s been waiting…” and 2 examples of the present perfect simple: “I have taken” & “I’ve got”. There is a suggestion on…

The Kinks – Come Dancing

To practise: Past Tenses, Used to
Band/singer:

Practice used to and would with this song, Come Dancing by The Kinks. These song lyrics include 7 examples of “used to” and 8 examples of “would” meaning “used to”, as well as one example of the conditional “would”. There is a suggestion on how to use this song in your ESL classes below, but…

The Who – Odorono

To practise: Past perfect, Past Tenses
Band/singer:

Practice the past perfect in your ESL class with this song, Odorono by The Who. The 8 examples of the past perfect which appear in these song lyrics are: “…she’d ever sung”, “she’d seen him”, “he had stared”, “she had really looked”, “she’d failed”, “she’d felt”, “…she’d ever been” & “she had seen”. There is…

John Lennon – Jealous guy

To practise: Past continuous, Past Tenses
Band/singer: ,

Practice the past continuous in your ESL class with this song, Jealous Guy by John Lennon. The lyrics of this song include the following 7 examples of the past continuous: I was dreaming, my heart was beating, I was feeling, I was shivering, I was trying, you was (sic) trying, I was swallowing There is…

The Beatles – A day in the life

To practise: Irregular verbs, Past simple, Past Tenses
Band/singer:

Practice the past simple (especially irregular verbs) in your ESL class with this song, A Day in the Life by The Beatles. The 14 irregular verbs in this song are: read, made, was, had, saw, blew, stood, woke, fell, found, drank, spoke, went & were but there are also 6 other regular positive and negative…

Bryan Adams – Summer of ’69

To practise: Irregular verbs, Past simple, Past Tenses
Band/singer:

Practice the past simple, and especially irregular verbs, in your ESL class with this song, Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams. The 13 irregular verbs that appear in this song are: got, bought, bled, was, had, quit, were, spent, met, told, held, knew & went but this song also contains 4 regular verbs: played, tried,…