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Has anybody ever had difficulty explaining the different present and past tenses? I would love to hear what solutions people have and what difficulties you may have encountered teaching the tenses

The problem I have had with elementary stems from U.S. English (my vernacular) being looser than British English in the use of the past simple. All our teaching material (except Azar) is British based. It is hard for me to adhere to the rules given in these books. This especially comes up with exercises where students have to choose what is correct (gap fills).

Being British english I would be interested to know how US english uses the past simple and present perfect. For me past simple is always dated. This can be expressed in the sentence or be understood by those speaking. Present perfect however is not concerned with when something happened. Present perfect is before now but we are looking to a present consequence. We are not telling a story. Looking forward to hearing your take on these tenses.

Actually, after using so much BE material, I get [I've gotten/ I've got?] a little confused, but let's go.

First, here are a few sites that discuss the issue. Then I'll try to give examples of the past simple that I would use that might not comport with BE usage.

https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... an-english - an exchange of views

https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/the ... n-english/ - a clear explanation. The examples with called and having done home-work are fully in line with what I would tend to say. The example with winning the lottery is particularly interesting (though totally irrelevant to me as a nongambler). I think which version I would use depends on the setting, especially the immediacy. If I (have) just rubbed off the covering on the numbers (I think that's one way to find out about winning the lottery), I would shout either "I've just won" or "I won! I won!" A minute later, I might call my spouse to say, "I just won the lottery."

https://www.onestopenglish.com/support- ... 20.article - The AE examples are good, but the implication that in AE the present perfect cannot also be used is uncalled for.

Now a few examples from my idiolect:
+ Have you ever been to Paris? - Yes, I was there last year. [I guess you do this in BE too,but I'm not sure.]
+ Ow ow! -What's wrong? -I just banged my thumb with this stupid hammer. [I think it would be quite {quite = very] unusual for an American to use the present perfect in this action setting.
+ I just saw Gone with the Wind (for the first time) [With or without the prepositional phrase, the past simple is more likely].

The most unBritish english is "I just won the lottery" because if this ever happened you wouldn't be thinking of the moment when you dicovered the numbers but rather thinking of all you are going to do with the money i.e. before now but present consequence.

Your other examples tie in with what a brit would say too.
+ Have you ever been to Paris? - Yes, I was there last year. [I guess you do this in BE too,but I'm not sure.]
What is not said but understood is "Yes, I have. I was there last year
+ Ow ow! -What's wrong? -I just banged my thumb with this stupid hammer. [I think it would be quite {quite = very] unusual for an American to use the present perfect in this action setting.
Here you are telling the story of what happened so past simple is more logical
+ I just saw Gone with the Wind (for the first time) [With or without the prepositional phrase, the past simple is more likely].
Here it would be fifty fifty what a Brit would use. It depends on what they are thinking. Are they thinking back to the experience of waching the film or are they seeing it as an accomplishment i.e. at last I have seen this film.
Tenses are my hobby horse. I used to be unsure about tenses but then I discovered a method which made everything clear. If you are interested don't hesitate to ask me.

Sure, bring it on!