In Nigeria, English isn’t just a subject in school — it’s the language of government, business, and national exams like WAEC, NECO, and JAMB. Yet, for many learners, knowing how to teach past tense and use it correctly remains a challenge. From “Yesterday I go to school” instead of “Yesterday I went to school,” to mixing up “eat” and “ate,” these mistakes can cost marks in exams and affect confidence in speaking.
For teachers and parents, this struggle is frustrating. You may explain the past tense rules over and over, but the errors keep popping up. The problem? Many methods used are not tailored to Nigerian learners’ realities, culture, and everyday language environment.
In this article, you’ll learn practical, culturally relevant, and easy-to-use methods that will help you teach past tense in a way Nigerian learners instantly understand. Whether you’re a classroom teacher in Lagos, a parent in Kano, or a home tutor in Enugu, you’ll get step-by-step strategies that actually work in Nigeria’s context.
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Understanding the Past Tense in Nigerian English Grammar
Before you can effectively teach past tense, you must understand how it works in Nigerian English and where learners often go wrong.
What is Past Tense?
The past tense refers to actions that happened before the present time. It’s essential in telling stories, reporting events, and writing essays. In Nigerian classrooms, the simple past tense is the most frequently tested in exams.
Example:
• Correct: I played football yesterday.
• Incorrect: I play football yesterday.
• Common Past Tense Mistakes Nigerian Learners Make
• Using present tense instead of past tense
• Wrong: Yesterday, she go to market.
• Right: Yesterday, she went to the market.
Confusing irregular verbs
• Wrong: He run fast last week.
• Right: He ran fast last week.
• Mixing Nigerian Pidgin with Standard English
• Pidgin: I don chop yesterday.
• Standard: I ate yesterday.
Why This Happens: Many learners hear and use Nigerian Pidgin daily, where tense usage is more relaxed. This influences their Standard English.
Why Nigerian Learners Struggle with Past Tense
Teaching becomes easier when you understand the root causes of the problem.
1. Influence of Mother Tongue
Many Nigerian languages (Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, etc.) don’t change verb forms to indicate past tense. Instead, they rely on time markers.
Example (Yoruba): Mo lo lana → “I go yesterday” (literal translation).
2. Overreliance on Rote Learning
Some teachers simply list past tense rules and expect memorization. Without real-life usage, learners quickly forget.
3. Lack of Real-life Context
If learners don’t hear past tense in everyday English conversations, they struggle to apply it.
Proven Nigerian-Friendly Methods to Teach Past Tense
This is where we make teaching past tense easy, practical, and fun — using strategies that reflect Nigeria’s cultural context, daily experiences, and exam requirements. The goal is to move beyond just memorizing past tense rules to creating an environment where learners actually apply them in real-life communication.
A. Use Nigerian Daily Life Examples
Learners grasp grammar faster when it connects to their reality. Nigerian students are more likely to remember a sentence about their own cities, foods, and traditions than one about faraway countries they’ve never visited.
• Instead of: I visited London last summer.
• Use: I visited Abuja last Christmas.
This approach makes the concept of simple past tense more relatable and reduces common past tense mistakes caused by unfamiliar vocabulary or situations.
Classroom Tip: Ask students to share what they did over the weekend using full sentences in the past tense. Encourage them to talk about:
• Visiting a local market.
• Attending church or mosque.
• Playing football with friends.
• Going for a naming or wedding ceremony.
Why It Works: Learners will be actively thinking in the past tense while describing events they personally experienced — a method proven to help Nigerian learners learn past tense faster.
B. Storytelling with Local Events
Storytelling is one of the most effective tools to teach past tense because it places grammar in a natural, engaging flow. When learners narrate an event, they instinctively switch to past tense — making it an effortless way to internalize Nigerian English grammar patterns.
Activity:
Pick a popular Nigerian event that most students know, such as Independence Day celebrations, a state governor’s swearing-in, or the last AFCON match involving the Super Eagles.
Ask each student (or group) to narrate what happened using simple past tense verbs.
Encourage the use of descriptive details so they can practice both regular and irregular past tense verbs.
Example Sentences:
• Nigeria won the match after a tense penalty shootout.
• The crowd shouted with joy when the final whistle blew.
• The players danced on the pitch to celebrate their victory.
Extra Tip: Record the stories on a phone (with permission) and play them back, pausing to highlight correct usage and correct past tense mistakes. This auditory feedback is especially effective for learners who benefit from hearing correct grammar repeatedly.
C. Past Tense Charts with Irregular Verbs
When you teach past tense in Nigeria, irregular verbs often cause the most confusion. Unlike regular verbs that simply add “-ed” (walk → walked), irregular verbs change completely or stay the same — making them harder to memorize without context.
To help learners learn past tense more effectively, create a colorful classroom chart of the most common irregular verbs used in Nigerian English grammar. Make sure the chart is large enough for everyone to see and includes clear examples.
Examples to Include:
• go → went
• eat → ate
• take → took
• drink → drank
• see → saw
• give → gave
Pro Tip: To avoid past tense mistakes, add local, relatable context sentences that reflect Nigerian life:
• Yesterday, I took okada to school because it was faster than a bus.
• We ate jollof rice at the party and drank zobo afterwards.
• I saw the governor at the stadium last week.
Why It Works: Learners remember verbs better when they connect to familiar events, foods, and activities. This also helps them apply past tense rules naturally without overthinking.
D. Role-Play Nigerian Scenarios
Role-play turns grammar into a living experience. Instead of passively memorizing simple past tense forms, learners act them out — which makes retention much easier.
Activity Ideas for Role-Play:
• Buying Food from a Bukka – One student plays the customer, another plays the vendor.
Example Dialogue:
• Yesterday, I bought amala and ewedu soup.
• I paid with cash because the POS was not working.
• Attending a Wedding – Students describe what they wore, ate, and saw.
• We danced until midnight.
• The bride’s family gave everyone souvenirs.
• Visiting the Village During Christmas – Learners share experiences of traveling, cooking, and celebrating.
• We visited my grandparents and fetched water from the stream.
• I played football with my cousins in the compound.
Why It Works: Role-play allows learners to “live” the grammar, turning abstract rules into real, memorable actions. It also mirrors real conversations in Nigerian contexts, reducing past tense mistakes that often come from practicing in unrealistic situations.
E. Past Tense Games Nigerian Learners Love
Games are one of the most powerful ways to teach past tense because they combine fun, competition, and learning in one activity. Nigerian learners — whether in primary, secondary, or adult education — tend to respond enthusiastically to playful challenges, especially when they involve real-life examples and teamwork.
By turning past tense rules into engaging activities, students get multiple chances to practice without feeling like they are doing “boring grammar drills.” This makes it easier for them to learn past tense, remember irregular verbs, and avoid common past tense mistakes.
1. Past Tense Bingo
How to Play:
• Prepare bingo cards with different past tense verbs (both regular and irregular) arranged in a grid.
• Call out the present tense form (e.g., go, eat, buy).
• Students must find the correct simple past tense form (went, ate, bought) on their cards and mark it.
Example Nigerian Context:
• Teacher calls: drink → Students mark drank on their bingo card.
• Teacher calls: sell → Students mark sold.
Why It Works: The game is fast-paced, promotes quick recall of Nigerian English grammar verbs, and helps students reinforce memory while having fun.
2. Who Did It Yesterday?
How to Play:
• Write short past tense clues on slips of paper.
• One student reads the clue aloud, and others guess who performed the action.
Example Clues in Nigerian Context:
• This person cooked jollof rice for the class party.
• This person took okada to school last Friday.
• This person saw the governor at the stadium last week.
Why It Works: This game encourages speaking, listening, and thinking in the simple past tense without overthinking grammar structure. It also uses events and actions Nigerian learners can easily relate to, making the learning process natural and enjoyable.
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Step-by-Step Lesson Plan to Teach Past Tense in Nigeria
To effectively teach past tense to Nigerian learners, having a structured classroom plan is essential. This plan is designed to work in private, public, or home-school settings, using Nigerian-specific examples and activities that make past tense rules easy to grasp and apply. By following these steps, teachers and parents can help learners avoid common past tense mistakes and strengthen their command of simple past tense verbs.
Step 1: Warm-Up (5 minutes)
Begin the lesson with an interactive warm-up to engage learners. Ask questions like:
• What did you do yesterday?
• Who went to church last Sunday?
• What did you eat for breakfast today?
Write their answers on the board, gently correcting past tense mistakes and highlighting correct usage. This activity encourages learners to start thinking in past tense immediately and sets a Nigerian context using familiar daily activities.
Step 2: Introduce the Rule (10 minutes)
Explain that most verbs form the past tense by adding “-ed”:
• walk → walked
• play → played
Next, introduce irregular verbs with a Nigerian-specific list:
• go → went
• eat → ate
• take → took
• see → saw
Use examples relevant to Nigerian life to make the lesson relatable:
• Yesterday, I went to the market in Lagos.
• We ate amala and ewedu at the party.
• I saw my friend at the church service.
Highlighting both regular and irregular verbs ensures learners understand Nigerian English grammar patterns and reduces common errors.
Step 3: Practice in Context (15 minutes)
Have learners form sentences using verbs in Nigerian settings:
• Markets: I bought tomatoes yesterday.
• Churches/Mosques: We prayed at the mosque last Friday.
• Schools: I studied for my WAEC exams last night.
This contextual practice allows learners to learn past tense through real-life examples, reinforcing both simple past tense usage and proper verb forms. Encourage students to pair up or work in small groups to increase participation and peer learning.
Step 4: Group Activity (15 minutes)
Divide students into small groups and assign them a creative task:
• Write a short story in past tense about a Nigerian holiday, festival, or memorable local event.
Examples include:
• Christmas in a village in Enugu
• Independence Day celebrations in Abuja
• Visiting a traditional market in Lagos
Afterward, have groups share their stories aloud. This exercise strengthens sentence formation, encourages cultural relevance, and allows teachers to spot past tense mistakes for immediate feedback.
Step 5: Review and Feedback (5 minutes)
End the lesson by reviewing key points:
• Highlight correct usage of past tense verbs in students’ sentences.
• Correct common errors gently to reinforce learning.
• Praise learners for using both regular and irregular past tense correctly.
This final step ensures learners leave the class with confidence in applying past tense rules in speaking and writing, bridging classroom learning with real-life usage.
Tips for Parents to Reinforce Past Tense at Home
Helping Nigerian learners master past tense doesn’t stop in the classroom. Parents play a vital role in reinforcing what children learn in school. By incorporating simple, practical strategies at home, you can help your child learn past tense more effectively, avoid common past tense mistakes, and gain confidence in Nigerian English grammar. Here are some proven tips for parents:
1. Talk About Yesterday
Encourage your child to narrate daily events using past tense verbs. Ask questions like:
• What did you do yesterday?
• Who did you meet at school?
• What did you eat for breakfast?
Prompt them to use full sentences rather than single words. For example:
• Yesterday, I went to the market with my mother.
• I played football with my friends at the park.
Why It Works: Talking about real-life events helps children practice simple past tense naturally, reinforcing past tense rules without making it feel like a formal lesson.
2. Watch Nigerian-English TV Shows
Select age-appropriate Nigerian-English programs, news segments, or educational shows that use correct grammar. Avoid shows with heavy Pidgin English for beginners, as this can reinforce past tense mistakes.
Examples:
• Educational programs by NTA Learning Channel
• Kid-friendly Nigerian TV series in standard English
Activity Idea: Pause the show at a scene and ask your child to describe what just happened using past tense verbs.
Why It Works: Exposure to correctly spoken English in familiar contexts improves listening skills and helps learners internalize Nigerian English grammar patterns.
3. Daily Sentence Challenge
Make practicing past tense a fun daily routine:
• Give your child one verb per day (e.g., eat, go, see).
• Ask them to write or say a sentence in the past tense using that verb.
Example:
• Verb: take → Yesterday, I took my younger sister to school.
• Verb: drink → I drank zobo at the party last Saturday.
Why It Works: Small, consistent practice ensures learners internalize past tense rules and reduces the likelihood of past tense mistakes.
By combining these strategies — talking about real events, watching Nigerian-English programs, and practicing a daily sentence challenge — parents can significantly enhance their child’s ability to learn past tense and apply it confidently both in school and daily communication.
Mistakes to Avoid When Teaching Past Tense in Nigeria
Even with the best methods, some common pitfalls can slow down Nigerian learners’ progress when you teach past tense. Avoiding these mistakes ensures lessons are effective, engaging, and culturally relevant. Here are key mistakes to watch out for:
1. Teaching Only from a Foreign Textbook
Many English textbooks used in Nigerian classrooms are written for foreign contexts. Sentences like “I visited Paris last summer” may be unfamiliar and hard to relate to Nigerian learners.
Why It is a Problem: Learners struggle to apply past tense rules when examples are disconnected from their reality. This often leads to past tense mistakes in exams and daily conversations.
Solution: Always localize examples to Nigerian settings, events, and daily life. For instance:
• I visited Abuja last Christmas.
• We ate jollof rice at a wedding party.
• Using familiar contexts helps students understand and retain simple past tense structures more easily.
2. Correcting Too Harshly
While it’s important to correct past tense mistakes, doing so in a harsh or intimidating way can discourage learners. Students may become afraid to speak or try new sentences, which slows progress.
Solution:
• Praise correct usage before pointing out errors.
• Offer gentle corrections with clear examples:
• Incorrect: “I go to school yesterday.”
• Corrected: “I went to school yesterday. Notice we change go to went in the past tense.”
Why It Works: Positive reinforcement encourages students to practice more often, helping them learn past tense naturally rather than fearfully.
3. Ignoring Listening Practice
Many Nigerian learners focus only on writing and reading, neglecting listening. Without hearing correct usage in context, learners may continue to make mistakes, especially with irregular verbs.
Solution:
• Include listening exercises using Nigerian-English materials: news, TV shows, or recordings of past events narrated in correct English.
• Ask learners to repeat what they hear, focusing on simple past tense verbs.
Example Activity:
• Play a clip of a Nigerian football match commentary.
• Ask students to recount what happened using past tense verbs:
• Nigeria scored a goal.
• The fans shouted with excitement.
Why It Works: Listening to correct grammar reinforces Nigerian English grammar naturally and reduces errors in both speaking and writing.
Avoiding these common mistakes ensures that when you teach past tense, learners remain confident, engaged, and able to apply what they learn in school, exams, and daily Nigerian life.
In Conclusion: Mastering the past tense is a game-changer for Nigerian learners. When teachers and parents use local examples, storytelling, role-play, and interactive games, learners grasp the concept faster and apply it naturally in speaking and writing. In Nigeria’s exam-driven environment, this skill is not just academic — it’s a life skill for communication and confidence.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What is the easiest way to teach past tense in Nigeria?
Use real-life Nigerian examples, storytelling, and role-play to make lessons relatable.
2. Why do Nigerian students mix present and past tense?
Influence from mother tongue and Nigerian Pidgin, plus lack of consistent practice.
3. How can I teach irregular verbs effectively?
Use charts, songs, and examples from Nigerian daily life.
4. Can past tense be taught in one lesson?
No. It requires continuous practice and reinforcement.
5. Are there special techniques for younger learners?
Yes. Use songs, games, and visual aids with Nigerian contexts.
6. Should I correct every past tense mistake immediately?
Correct gently during practice, but avoid breaking the learner’s flow.
7. How can parents help at home?
Encourage daily conversations in past tense and reward correct usage.
8. Is past tense important for WAEC and NECO?
Yes. It appears in essay writing, comprehension, and grammar sections.
9. How can teachers make past tense lessons fun?
Incorporate games like Past Tense Bingo and Nigerian storytelling sessions.
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