Learning The Present Continuous

To get the learner grasp the present continuous I have students talk about what they do on a regular basis and what they are presently doing. I remind the student that this tense is used to describe the now, in other words what is happening at the moment the speaker is talking. I will avoid backing up the tense with a sentence referring to something in the future unless I add that it is also used for something in the near future.

 A grammatical explanation is given to the learners. They read sentences where the gerund can be used or left out according to the circumstances. They see completed sentences and visuals that match. An explanation of what is ‘now’ is given so that the speaker knows that the activity  is not just happening at the moment the speaker is talking but it is something that is currently in progress or something that is about to happen in the near future.

Some oral, listening  and visual activites are introduced so that the student can apply his acquired knowledge.

1)      I have the students work in pairs and imagine different weather results. One will ask the other what is happening outside and the other will answer while looking out a window or at a small sketch representative of the imagined weather forecast.

2)      I simply have each student in the group take turns doing a simple action, which takes several seconds to complete, like writing a sentence on the board or dialing a phone number. The ones observing will ask their colleagues questions about their activity using “what are”.

3)      Students can practice the same tense describing each other’s dress. This gets them to see something that is very obvious.

4)      If this is a French group I might that the progressive translates as “ entren de” before the infinitive form of verb.

If there is some difficulty leaning this I remind the student that the present simple is just used to express a habit, rule or law like I get up at 7 every day. The I tell then I am not getting up right at the moment I am explaining the tense so I cannot use the progressive form for something I just do on a regular basis.