This is a fun board game to practise asking and answering questions in the past simple tense. Students ask and answer questions about a variety of topics and get points for each correct question.

Level: B1+

Time: 45 minutes


  1. To practise asking questions.
  2. To answer other students’ questions.


  1. A trip down memory lane board game and an online dice roller if you are teaching online 😉


  1. Display the game on the screen and put students in pairs or small groups of 3 or 4.
  2. Students take it in turns to throw the dice and move the numbers thrown.
  3. To obtain a verb for the speaking activity students throw the dice twice. The first throw indicates which column they should use, and the second throw which row they should use to obtain the verb.
  4. Next students write down as many questions as possible related to the expression in the square making sure they use the actual verb in some of the questions. You can set the time limit and tell students they will be racing against other teams/students. If the students land on 2:1 (To argue with a friend) they could think of the following questions: When was the last time you argued with a friend? What did you argue about? Did you reach an agreement? Did you cry/get upset/ shout at each other etc.? How long did you argue for? Who started it? etc. Encourage them to start with Who, What, Where, When, Why and How and not just an auxiliary verb. You could take this opportunity to also revise subject and object questions.  A quick reminder: Subject questions (Question word + verb in simple past in this case +object e.g. Who started the argument?). Object questions (Question word +auxiliary verb + subject + main verb e.g. What did you argue about?).
  5. Go through the questions together and award a point for each correct question.
  6. In their groups, the students then answer the questions in as much detail as possible.
  7. The game continues until you run out of steam or are saved by the bell 😉 Just kidding.
  8. At the end, ask students to write down 4 additional questions for their classmates about a topic that sparked their interest the most.

Related posts:

Simply perfect

Double Decker

Best birthday ever

Summary of past or recent events

Ir(regular) Xmas

Soap Opera

What’s with all the questions?

How well do you really know your place of work?

Also have a look at one of my activities that has been published on onestopenglish where students practise forming questions and affirmative or negative sentences whilst using the time expressions typically used with the past simple and present perfect tenses:

P.S. Happy birthday dad 😉


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