The Pesantren Time Capsule
An A1-level escape room where teen ESL learners practice simple past tense verbs through stories about daily life at an Islamic boarding school.
A free Escape Room for Teens at CEFR A1 level. Topic: Simple Past Tense – My Experiences at Islamic Boarding School.
Long ago, a group of Grade 8 students at an Islamic boarding school hid a special box in the library. Inside the box is a message about their daily life: praying, studying, reading Qur'an, and helping friends. To open the box, you must solve puzzles about things they did in the past. Collect the…
Solve all 5 puzzles about past activities at the pesantren to find the 5-letter master code and open the time capsule.
Puzzles
- 🕌 Puzzle 1: The Morning Prayer: Yesterday, Ali ___ to the mosque for prayer.
- 📖 Puzzle 2: English Class: Last night, the students ___ (study) English in the class.
- 🧹 Puzzle 3: Dormitory Duty: Unscramble this word: ecalnde
- 🕋 Puzzle 4: Verb Forms: One of these past verbs is different from the others. Find it.
- 🤝 Puzzle 5: Helping a Friend: Decode the number cipher (A=1, B=2, C=3...) to find the past tense verb.
Printable worksheet
This Escape Room comes with a free printable worksheet: 1 part for students to do after the game, and an answer key for the teacher. It prints at three levels (Support, Core and Challenge); this is the Core sheet. Sign in free to print the whole sheet.
What's on the worksheet
- Escape on paper · Open every lock. Write each answer.
Part 1: Escape on paper
Open every lock. Write each answer.
- 🕌 Puzzle 1: The Morning Prayer Yesterday, Ali ___ to the mosque for prayer. a) gone b) go c) goes d) went
- 📖 Puzzle 2: English Class Last night, the students ___ (study) English in the class.
- 🧹 Puzzle 3: Dormitory Duty Unscramble this word: ecalnde N E E D C A L