Using Timelines to Make English Grammar Easy: A Teacher’s Guide

Teaching English Grammar with Timelines: A Teacher’s Guide to Making Tenses Easy

By Klara Nolan a Professional Teacher Trainer

As an English teacher, I often see students struggle to make sense of verb tenses. Concepts like when to use the present perfect or how to differentiate between the simple past and past continuous can feel abstract, especially for language learners. That’s where timelines come in.

Timelines are simple but incredibly effective visual tools that help students grasp the tricky world of verb tenses. Over my years of teaching and training educators, I’ve found that using timelines simplifies verb tenses and makes grammar lessons more engaging and accessible. This article explains how you can use timelines in your classroom to make grammar lessons more interactive, using real examples from my experience.

Why Timelines Work So Well

Before diving into specific techniques, let’s explore why timelines are such a powerful tool for teaching grammar. At their core, timelines provide a visual representation of time, helping students see when actions take place. Most learners, especially beginners, find it easier to understand time relationships when they can actually see them. Timelines take abstract ideas and turn them into something concrete.

For example, when teaching the difference between the simple past (“I walked to school”) and the present perfect (“I have walked to school”), drawing a timeline on the board clarifies things. The simple past is placed firmly in the past (yesterday, last week, etc.), while the present perfect stretches from the past to now, emphasizing that the action connects to the present moment.

In my experience, students who struggle to understand these tenses through explanations alone start making connections much faster with this visual aid.

1. Visualizing Time and Verb Tenses

One of the best ways to introduce timelines is to start with the basics—simple present, past, and future tenses. I usually draw a horizontal line on the board and mark the middle point as “now.” I place the simple present directly over this “now” point, explaining that it describes actions happening at the present moment or things that happen regularly.

Then, I place the simple past on the left side of the line, explaining that it represents actions that already happened. Finally, I mark the simple future on the right side, showing that it refers to actions that happen later.

Here’s a classroom example:

Let’s say I’m teaching a beginner class about daily routines. I ask students questions like, “What do you usually do after school?” and “What are you doing tomorrow?” As students respond, I place each verb on the timeline. This simple visual breakdown helps them understand how each tense relates to different points in time.

2. Teaching Continuous and Perfect Aspects with Timelines

When teaching the continuous and perfect aspects of verbs, timelines help make things clear. These tenses can be intimidating for students because they involve a deeper understanding of time relationships.

For the continuous aspect, which indicates ongoing actions, I usually draw a line or shaded area over a portion of the timeline to show the duration of the action. For example, when teaching the past continuous (“I was reading”), I draw a line in the past section of the timeline to show that the action was happening over time in the past.

Here’s an example from a recent lesson I teach on continuous tenses:

I ask my students to think about what they were doing last night at 7 p.m. One student answers, “I was watching TV.” I then draw a line starting at 7 p.m. in the past and explain that this line represents the time he was watching TV. This visual clicks with students, who immediately grasp that the past continuous describes actions happening at a specific point in the past.

For the perfect aspect, which connects two different time periods, timelines make it easy to show these relationships visually. For instance, when explaining the present perfect (“I have eaten”), I draw a small mark in the past and then connect it to the present, emphasizing that the action happened in the past but remains relevant to the present moment.

3. Using Time Adverbs to Reinforce Verb Tenses

Timelines also work well for teaching time adverbs like “yesterday,” “tomorrow,” “last week,” or “next year.” Time adverbs confuse many students, especially when they aren’t sure which tense to pair them with.

In my lessons, I draw a timeline and plot these adverbs directly onto it. For example, I place “yesterday” on the past section of the timeline and explain that we use the simple past (“I went to the store yesterday”). Similarly, I place “next month” on the future section of the timeline and demonstrate the simple future (“I am going to visit my grandparents next month”).

This strategy gives students a clear visual representation of when the action happens, and I often see fewer errors with tense and time adverb usage.

4. Helping Students with Narrative Sequencing

One area where timelines transform my teaching is helping students with narrative sequencing—getting them to organize a series of events in a story using the correct tenses.

I often use timelines to teach students how to sequence events properly, especially when writing. For example, when writing a story about their weekend, I ask students to list key events (e.g., “I woke up,” “I had breakfast,” “I met my friends”). We plot each event on a timeline and decide which verb tense matches that point in time.

This method helps students not only choose the correct tenses but also understand the flow of time in their narrative. Timelines give them a clear framework for organizing their thoughts, making writing smoother and reducing mistakes with tense shifts.

5. Timelines for the Future Tense

The future tense can be tricky, especially with its different forms (simple future, future continuous, future perfect). Using timelines clears up a lot of confusion.

For instance, when teaching the simple future, I mark future events on the timeline, like “tomorrow” or “next week,” and pair them with sentences such as “I am going to study tomorrow.” For more advanced students, I use the timeline to show how the future perfect (“I am going to have finished the project by Friday”) connects a future action to an even further future point.

This visual breakdown helps students make sense of complex future structures, and I notice it builds their confidence in using these tenses correctly.

Conclusion: Why Timelines Are a Must-Have for Teaching Grammar

Timelines are an incredibly effective tool for teaching verb tenses in English grammar. Whether working with beginners or advanced students, they provide a simple yet powerful way to visualize time and clarify tense relationships. Over the years, I see how timelines not only help students understand grammar more quickly but also make the learning process more engaging and interactive.

So next time you teach verb tenses, try incorporating a timeline into your lesson. With just a simple line on the board, you can transform a confusing concept into something clear and understandable. Trust me—your students thank you for it!