How to teach present simple versus present continuous without tears

Level: Elementary to Intermediate (could also be useful for higher levels as a

revision exercise)

Time: 30- 90 minutes (depending on the group)

Language Focus: Functions of present simple and present continuous and

how they contrast with each other.

Skills: Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing

1. Start by telling the learners that you are going to show them the uses/ functions of
two tenses/ forms/ structures in English. Then draw two boxes on your board/
flipchart/ piece of paper and in the top one write:

1)

 permanent situations
 facts
 routines

2. Check that these terms are all familiar to the learners before you continue to draw
another box underneath the first in which you write:

2)

 live actions
 something you´re in the middle of
 start X end

3. Check that these terms are also clear and highlight the meaning of the final point
in the second box: there is a start in the past (or before now) and an end in the future
(or after now) and you are in the middle between the two.

4. Make the point that we do not usually talk about our live actions (what we are
doing at the time when we´re speaking) because this is normally clear to the other
people we´re with. For example, saying: "I´m wearing a grey shirt today and I´m
sitting on a chair" is redundant language nearly all of the time. Elicit from the learners
the situations in which they would possibly need to describe what they are doing at
the moment they are speaking or writing: these could be while talking on the phone
or writing an email, i.e. when the person you´re communicating with can´t actually
see you or is in a different place to you, for example, during a video conference.

5. Continue to avoid using the terms present simple and present continuous and go
on to give the learners a few situations. They have to decide if this situation should
go into box 1(present simple) or box 2 (present continuous). These situations could
be:

 Where you live

 Your current project
 When you´re on holiday
 Where you work
 When you usually start work and go home
 Your weekly meeting
 Saying where you are on phone
 Something you´re learning
 What you do in your free time

You can then write up the situations on the board or flipchart next to the box that they
go in.

6. Once, while I was doing this activity, one member of the group- Heinz- was absent
because he was on a business trip to Hamburg. I asked the rest of the group to
consider what box we would put "Heinz" "stay" "Hamburg" and "three days" into. This
kind of personalisation seems to make the language come alive for the learners and
gives them a situational memory which they can go back to when trying to remember
which tense to use.

7. Don´t forget to highlight the fact that some activities or situations could go into both
boxes, depending on what the details are. We would usually put where you live into
box 1 (present simple), but if you are only living in a place for a limited/ short time and
plan to leave it and go somewhere else, then it should go into box 2. The same can
be true of where you work if you are only working there for a limited/ short time.
Something you are learning could also go into both boxes depending on the way
you present it. If you say: "I learn English every Monday afternoon at work," this is
clearly box 1 (present simple), but if you say: "I´m learning some Italian before I go
on holiday to Sardinia this summer," then this must be box 2 (present continuous).
Encourage the learners not to see things in black and white, but rather to appreciate
the shades of grey in between and the complexities of our real lives. This should also
help to make the language more real for them.

8. It would also be a good idea not to exhaust the possibilities for activities or
situations which could go into one of the two boxes yourself, and to give the learners
the chance to make their own suggestions and put them to the rest of the group. This
will also help with the personalisation aspect and give you, the teacher, a chance to
see how well they have assimilated the concepts you´ve presented them with.

9. Finally, you can ask the learners which box, 1 or 2, is for the present simple and
which is for the present continuous. Reassure them that´s it not a big problem if they
don´t know which is which and say that you´re just telling them this for their
information and not because it is very important that they know and remember it.
Have the learners make a few short sentences using the present simple and present
continuous, include negatives and he/ she/ it forms based on the activities and
situations that you have just discussed together.
10. The next stage is to see if the learners can actually produce the language they
have been given. The traditional way to do this would be through an exercise in a
course book where learners have to say which of two sentences is grammatical
correct, or which option- present simple or continuous- is appropriate or the old-
faithful gap-fill exercise. Perhaps a more interesting and stimulating way to get the
learners producing this language though, is to do a L2-L1-L2 translation exercise.

The trainer writes six or seven sentences on a piece of paper or on the flipchart/
whiteboard, some of which should be in the present simple and some in the present
continuous. It would also be a good idea to include at least one negative form. If
possible, use some of the learners´ own activities or situations for these sentences.
Then have the learners translate the sentences into their first language (they are
allowed to talk to each other in their first language while they are doing this, if they
wish). When they have finished the first set of translations, have them turn their
papers over or flip your flipchart over so the original English is no longer visible and
then ask them to translate the sentences in their first language back into English.
This gets them producing the language, selecting the correct tense in English and
also draws their attention to the difference(s) between talking about the present in
English and in their first language.