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- Present Continuous Tense Speaking Activities In The Classroom Pdf
- Present Continuous Tense Speaking Activities In The Classroom Activities
This is a drawing and speaking activity that is fun to use with primary classes to revise the present continuous form. It is easy to set up and requires no preparation. Positives and Negatives. In this present continuous worksheet activity, students use 20 verbs to complete positive and negative present continuous sentences. Each student is given a copy of the worksheet. Students begin by finding 20 verbs in a word search and writing them in the spaces provided on the worksheet.
Many students learning English as a foreign language struggle to use the different verb tenses effectively, appropriately and consistently. Frankly, I know a few native English speakers who could use a little practice. In any case, over the course of five years of teaching, I have found that writing prompts which focus exclusively on a single tense can be extremely helpful for students.
Effective use, especially in creative writing, develops over time as the student learns to shift between tenses for accuracy and effect. This approach is especially effective for students who are not particularly concerned with the various names of each tense, as it emphasizes the situations for which each tense is most often used. This allows students to 'get a feel' for the different voices and how they all work together.
Below, I have supplied some of the more popular tense-specific writing prompts. I encourage anyone who uses these prompts for practice to leave some feedback about what worked, what didn't, and anything else that might be helpful.
Tips for Classroom Use
Before we jump in, here are some tips for using these prompts in the classroom.
- Collect your favorites and tweak them to suit your students' backgrounds.
- If doing these exercises orally, have your students write down the verbs used.
- For repeated situations such as, 'running into an old friend on the street,' compare the way different tenses affect the meaning of the answer.
Present Tense Writing Prompts
The present tense, in these cases, includes the simple present ('She always forgets something') and the present continuous ('I am coming'), as well as the trickier present perfect ('We have seenThe Matrix far too many times') and present perfect continuous ('She has been singing since her second glass of wine'). However, it is of course possible to split the four into their own writing prompt, or to combine any number of them as is deemed necessary.
Simple Present
- Describe your daily routine.
- Describe a person (real or imaginary) in as much detail as possible.
- What's the most interesting thing you've learned in school or in life? State the facts.
- What is your favorite type of public transportation? Describe it. (This can be a mix of habitual or repeated actions, statement of fact or generalization and scheduled events in the near future.)
- 'The uptown bus is always crowded in the morning, but the evening bus, which leavesat 6pm, is usually very quiet. I guess most people stay in the city for dinner after work.'
Present Continuous (am/is/are + present participle)
- Describe your immediate surroundings. What are the people around you doing? What are you doing?
- You meet an old friend on the street and he asks you, 'So what are you up to these days?' How do you answer? (This one in particular is best if combined with present perfect continuous, below.)
- Make up the most unlikable or annoying character you can think of and describe him or her. (This one is particularly popular with students who work in the service industry and have developed pet peeves.)
- 'He is always talking too loud.'
- 'She is always complaining about how dry the bread is.'
Present Perfect (has/have + past participle)
- You've lost all memory of the past and cannot remember when exactly anything happened. Your grandchild comes to visit you in the nursing home and asks you many questions. Write a conversation between you and your grandchild.
- 'My, you've grown since I last saw you! How long has it been?'
- 'I haven't seen you since my birthday party, three months ago.'
- 'Have you seen a movie in 3D?'
- 'No, sonny boy, I have not seen a movie in 3D.'
- 'Have you been to France?'
- 'Yes, I have been to France twice.'
- What have you/has mankind/has science/has your child accomplished in (pick your time frame)?
- 'Man has walked on the moon.'
- 'We have sent a monkey into space.'
- 'Doctors have [not yet] discovered a cure for cancer.'
Present Perfect Continuous (has/have + been + present participle)
- You go to the doctor and she asks, 'How have you been feeling?' How do you respond? Describe any kind of illness you like. Bonus points if you can also include possible reasons for your illness.
- You run into a friend on the street and he asks you how you've been and what you've been doing. What do you say in response? (Use both present perfect continuous and present continuous to describe things you have been doing and things you're still doing.)
Past Tense Writing Prompts
I'll present the past tense writing prompts in much the same way, although I strongly encourage teachers and students to recombine them as they see fit, and to explore the ways each tense supports and is supported by others. More advanced ESL or EFL students will find the recombination process to be an excellent opportunity to clarify their understanding of particular uses, and to explore common partnerships between the tenses.
Past Simple
- What did you do last weekend?
- Write a short fairytale. (This is perhaps most effective when combined with the past perfect)
- Describe a major historical event.
- Write what you know of your family history. For example, where are your parents and grandparents from? What did they do for work? (This is also good fun when combined with the past perfect.)
Past Perfect [had + past participle]
- Pretend you're a stern parent and your child has made some mistakes. Rather than just saying, 'I told you so,' construct more descriptive 'if' clauses using the past perfect. (You can also give retroactive advice to parents from children, or from citizens to public officials, or from employees to their employer. Whatever suits the situation and student.)
- 'If you had fed your fish as you had promised, they would not have escaped and eaten the dog.'
- Come up with a scenario and an imaginary dialogue. (Reported speech combines past perfect with another tense, usually past or present simple. You can also assign a scenario to your students.)
Past Continuous [was/were + verb-ing]
- Describe a number of interruptions. (This will also require the simple past.)
- Set the scene for a murder mystery.
- 'The storm was howling, and a dog was barking somewhere nearby.'
Past Perfect Continuous [had + been + verb-ing]
- Continue the mystery and transition from stage-setting to the action! (Here, students use the past perfect continuous for its most common purpose: to express actions that were in progress before another action. They will see how it is used to add temporal layers to a story, or to force the plot to progress.)
- Explain the cause of something. (Provide your students with a selection of situations or images, such as someone in detention, someone in a wheelchair or a baby bird on the ground, and have them provide the cause)
- 'The kid was in detention because he had been caught lying to his teacher.'
- Compare with past perfect 'if' clauses (see the 'stern parent' exercise) and determine the difference between the two.
- 'If you had been feeding your fish every day, they would not have escaped and eaten the dog.'
Future Tense Writing Prompts
Future Simple [will + verb in present form]
- Make a New Year's resolution or a promise. (Have your students make promises–either to themselves or others–using the future simple.)
- Make a prediction. What will the coming year bring?
Future Continuous [will + be + verb-ing]
- What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?
- 'I will be playing soccer in the park.'
- What will you be doing at 8 a.m. on Monday morning? (Provide a time in the future and have your students predict what they, their family, or their friends will be doing at that time.)
Future Perfect [will have + verb in past participle form]
- What will you have done by 3 p.m. on Sunday? (Have your students repeat the previous exercise. This time, have them state or guess what they, their family, or friends will have doneby that time.
- 'By 3 p.m. I will have finished playing soccer in the park.'
Future Perfect Continuous [will have been + past participle]
The two main uses of future perfect continuous are: to explain the cause of a future situation or action; and to express a clear future duration.
Ex. 'You will have been driving for more than six hours, so I will drive after dinner.'
- Brainstorm future situations (or use the ones from the previous predictions exercise), then work backwards to supply a probable cause for said prediction.
- Brainstorm an encounter with someone, then postulate how the encounter ended.
Poll for ESL/EFL Teachers, Tutors, and Students
What subjects you would like material or lesson plans for? I would be very happy to provide exercises and explanations for any subject.
© 2012 buckleupdorothy
This guide has been very helpful. Thanks.
very nice article and below is feshop new link 2018
Nice explanation for beginners. Here is another site http://selfawarenesshub.org/ which I found useful.
To be honest I want to learn from you. But can I suggest you something from a student point of view?
I would be grateful if this all grammar terms are taught in a practical manner. I mean you can show some examples of short stories, and at the bottom you can explain the wrong uses of tense. why its wrong. what is appropriate. like wise you can show some examples. I will be first if you keep a contest. Ha Ha
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
Great post! I like the ideas, esp with the perfect tenses. It's hard to find a variety of real life applications and activities for those. Thanks for the post!
Haiii...good evening ,
I wanted write an article about past so which tense could be come ?
Please guide me ..
Thank you .
Gr8. I like this hub. I hail from a country where english is the second language. We speak english but without understanding the grammar. Your's is a good hub for people like me. Keep it up. Expecting more hubs like this. :)
Thanks for the interested article. You are correct! Students should understand how to use each tense and practice helps strengthen achievement. Thanks again!
Your welcome! All right I have done one hub, but there will definitely be more to follow!
Great hub, well written and very informative. Voted up and useful, keep up the good work!
Some great writing prompts for English students at all levels!
I struggle to find ideas for conversation classes - the student want to work on tenses, but hate contrived exercises designed to work with only one or two tenses. Strangely, they are much happier when they write answers to the same exercises! Perhaps it's due to a fear of getting it wrong.
'All right everyone, pair up!'
This sentence can be met in many ways.
Blank stares. Two class troublemakers reaching for each other's hands.
The shy kid in the class trying very hard to become invisible.
It's no secret, getting students to work well in pairs can be hard, and it doesn't stop with just having them pair up.
ESL students doing pair activities can often try to skive off doing the activity at hand. Shyer students can be tempted to let their partner do all the work.
As far as the teacher is concerned, it can be tough making sure that the students who are actually working are speaking correctly.
Well, it's time for all those problems to be ancient history. Here, you'll find the ultimate guide to perfect pair work.
Techniques for ESL Pair Work
The first mistake many teachers make when assigning pair work is letting students choose their pairs.
While that may be fun for those in the class who are already friends, your job as the teacher is to assess each student's strengths and weaknesses and put them with someone they can work with well. In other words: you make the pairs.
If you know that two students are particularly good at conjugation, it might be interesting to put them together so that they have a real challenge. If one student is exceptionally shy, don't stick them with the class loudmouth; they'll only be overshadowed.
The best way to set up pair work in the classroom is to allow no expectations amongst students that they'll be picking their own partners.
'We're going to go about this activity in pairs! Sasha with Kevin. Lucy with Mary.'
By making it obvious that you'll be the one deciding who works with whom, no one will get upset or try to fuss.
Once the pairs have been established, it's time for your most important role: monitoring pair work.
While most pair work should finish with a group discussion or individual evaluation, the purpose of the pair work is lost if you aren't listening and gently correcting. While you should be wary of over-correcting and silencing a student, do wander the room, listening for errors that you know a student can correct him or herself. Then you can gently remind the student how to properly use that language.
This serves two purposes: not only does it reinforce correct use of English, but it also ensures that students know you're listening. This way, they're sure to give the pair work activity their all.
Not all classroom activities are designed for pair work. The best time to use pair work is during oral activities, as these activities allow students to get more speaking time than they would in a class setting.
But you can't just ask students to talk to each other for two minutes—you need a bit more structure than that!
Here are 7 great ESL pair work activities that you can use in a variety of ways to get your students talking.
1. Investigative Journalist
Investigative journalist is a classic pair work activity for a reason: it works!
It can be used in a variety of scenarios and tailored according to specific grammar or vocabulary points that you've been reviewing in class.
The basis of investigative journalist is for students to interview one another in pairs and present their findings. It can be used for groups at all skill levels from beginning to advanced, as long as you tailor it to their levels.
Beginners may do a simple version, asking their partners about their family structure, favorite colors and foods, pets and hobbies. Intermediate students could use investigative journalist to practice past tense structures by asking about their interlocutor's childhood. Advanced students might benefit from a murder mystery version of the game, where each student is assigned a character to play and the game concludes with the 'murderer' being sussed out as a result of the questions.
A great way to prepare students for this versatile activity, no matter their level, is with authentic videos of English conversations. Tools like FluentU offer fun, real-world English videos they can watch either once you've paired them up, or ahead of class for homework.
https://turersgantai1978.mystrikingly.com/blog/add-a-blog-post-title. The FluentU videos are all organized by level and come with interactive captions, flashcards and exercises to help students pick up new words as they watch. Through these supercharged English dialogues, news reports, interviews, movie clips and more, they'll get comfortable with the types of basic English conversations investigative journalist requires.
Have fun with this game, and remember: if you give your students the tools to succeed, they'll surprise you!
2. Debate
Present Continuous Tense Speaking Activities In The Classroom Pdf
Debate is another classic that can incorporate pair or group work, depending on the size of your class. Create groups and assign each group or pair a side of an argument. Use pair work time to allow students to develop their argument and conclude with a class-wide debate.
Debate is made even more interesting when you present students with authentic materials to use as support for their claims.
3. What's Your Secret?
What's your secret? is a pair work activity that truly involves the whole class. In this game, which is a play on investigative journalist, each student writes a secret down on a piece of paper, things like: 'I play the clarinet.' or 'I have a twin.' The papers are placed in a hat and each student draws one: that's where the game begins.
What's your secret? can either be played by allowing students to mill about the classroom freely or by setting up a speed dating scenario, where each pair has 1 minute to speak before rotating. Students may ask one another yes/no questions—they may not ask directly if what's on the piece of paper is true about them or not.
Students then must guess to whom the secret they drew belongs.
4. It's Your Turn: Teach a Class!
Teach a class! is a fun activity for advanced ESL students. In this activity, you assign each pair a grammar, vocab or culture point that they'll have to teach to the class. The pair works together to prepare activities and lesson plans and teaches the point to the class.
Unlike many of these other activities, the conclusion portion of this activity is built right in: when the pair teaches the class, the teacher should play the role of the student, but you may evaluate the lesson at the end and feel free to correct any mistakes the 'teachers' make!
5. Following Directions
Following directions is an interesting game that offers a change from classroom routine.
In this game, each student in the pair draws a picture, keeping their paper shielded from the eyes of their partner. Ideally, pictures should be fairly geometric. Once the picture is complete, they explain to their partner, using words only, how to replicate the image.
For example, if a student has drawn the stereotypical square house with a triangle roof, he might say: 'Draw a square in the middle of the paper that's about a third of the size of the paper. Draw an equilateral triangle on top of the square, using the top side of the square as the bottom side of the triangle.'
The goal of this game is for each partner to replicate the other's drawing going by these spoken directions.
6. Games! Yes, No
Many pair work activities can feel like games, but sometimes it's fun to introduce some real games into the mix.
Yes, no is a game where the only two words that students aren't allowed to say are yes and no. Pair students off and play. When a student loses, he or she is out and the winning partner is paired with another winning partner. In this way, you can create a tournament of yes, no.
Other versions of the game also forbid 'maybe' and 'I.' Consider these versions when the game is lasting too long or students need an extra challenge.
7. Games! Guess Who
The best way to set up pair work in the classroom is to allow no expectations amongst students that they'll be picking their own partners.
'We're going to go about this activity in pairs! Sasha with Kevin. Lucy with Mary.'
By making it obvious that you'll be the one deciding who works with whom, no one will get upset or try to fuss.
Once the pairs have been established, it's time for your most important role: monitoring pair work.
While most pair work should finish with a group discussion or individual evaluation, the purpose of the pair work is lost if you aren't listening and gently correcting. While you should be wary of over-correcting and silencing a student, do wander the room, listening for errors that you know a student can correct him or herself. Then you can gently remind the student how to properly use that language.
This serves two purposes: not only does it reinforce correct use of English, but it also ensures that students know you're listening. This way, they're sure to give the pair work activity their all.
Not all classroom activities are designed for pair work. The best time to use pair work is during oral activities, as these activities allow students to get more speaking time than they would in a class setting.
But you can't just ask students to talk to each other for two minutes—you need a bit more structure than that!
Here are 7 great ESL pair work activities that you can use in a variety of ways to get your students talking.
1. Investigative Journalist
Investigative journalist is a classic pair work activity for a reason: it works!
It can be used in a variety of scenarios and tailored according to specific grammar or vocabulary points that you've been reviewing in class.
The basis of investigative journalist is for students to interview one another in pairs and present their findings. It can be used for groups at all skill levels from beginning to advanced, as long as you tailor it to their levels.
Beginners may do a simple version, asking their partners about their family structure, favorite colors and foods, pets and hobbies. Intermediate students could use investigative journalist to practice past tense structures by asking about their interlocutor's childhood. Advanced students might benefit from a murder mystery version of the game, where each student is assigned a character to play and the game concludes with the 'murderer' being sussed out as a result of the questions.
A great way to prepare students for this versatile activity, no matter their level, is with authentic videos of English conversations. Tools like FluentU offer fun, real-world English videos they can watch either once you've paired them up, or ahead of class for homework.
https://turersgantai1978.mystrikingly.com/blog/add-a-blog-post-title. The FluentU videos are all organized by level and come with interactive captions, flashcards and exercises to help students pick up new words as they watch. Through these supercharged English dialogues, news reports, interviews, movie clips and more, they'll get comfortable with the types of basic English conversations investigative journalist requires.
Have fun with this game, and remember: if you give your students the tools to succeed, they'll surprise you!
2. Debate
Present Continuous Tense Speaking Activities In The Classroom Pdf
Debate is another classic that can incorporate pair or group work, depending on the size of your class. Create groups and assign each group or pair a side of an argument. Use pair work time to allow students to develop their argument and conclude with a class-wide debate.
Debate is made even more interesting when you present students with authentic materials to use as support for their claims.
3. What's Your Secret?
What's your secret? is a pair work activity that truly involves the whole class. In this game, which is a play on investigative journalist, each student writes a secret down on a piece of paper, things like: 'I play the clarinet.' or 'I have a twin.' The papers are placed in a hat and each student draws one: that's where the game begins.
What's your secret? can either be played by allowing students to mill about the classroom freely or by setting up a speed dating scenario, where each pair has 1 minute to speak before rotating. Students may ask one another yes/no questions—they may not ask directly if what's on the piece of paper is true about them or not.
Students then must guess to whom the secret they drew belongs.
4. It's Your Turn: Teach a Class!
Teach a class! is a fun activity for advanced ESL students. In this activity, you assign each pair a grammar, vocab or culture point that they'll have to teach to the class. The pair works together to prepare activities and lesson plans and teaches the point to the class.
Unlike many of these other activities, the conclusion portion of this activity is built right in: when the pair teaches the class, the teacher should play the role of the student, but you may evaluate the lesson at the end and feel free to correct any mistakes the 'teachers' make!
5. Following Directions
Following directions is an interesting game that offers a change from classroom routine.
In this game, each student in the pair draws a picture, keeping their paper shielded from the eyes of their partner. Ideally, pictures should be fairly geometric. Once the picture is complete, they explain to their partner, using words only, how to replicate the image.
For example, if a student has drawn the stereotypical square house with a triangle roof, he might say: 'Draw a square in the middle of the paper that's about a third of the size of the paper. Draw an equilateral triangle on top of the square, using the top side of the square as the bottom side of the triangle.'
The goal of this game is for each partner to replicate the other's drawing going by these spoken directions.
6. Games! Yes, No
Many pair work activities can feel like games, but sometimes it's fun to introduce some real games into the mix.
Yes, no is a game where the only two words that students aren't allowed to say are yes and no. Pair students off and play. When a student loses, he or she is out and the winning partner is paired with another winning partner. In this way, you can create a tournament of yes, no.
Other versions of the game also forbid 'maybe' and 'I.' Consider these versions when the game is lasting too long or students need an extra challenge.
7. Games! Guess Who
Guess who is a version of 20 questions that focuses entirely on people.
Students draw the name of a famous person out of a hat (you'll need to prepare these slips in advance!) and their partner tries to guess who's on the paper by asking a series of yes/no questions.
Like yes, no, guess who can be turned into a tournament-style game.
Concluding a Pair Work Activity
Remember: a pair work activity isn't a lesson in and of itself.
There should be a brief introduction, letting students know what you expect them to do during the activity.
Present Continuous Tense Speaking Activities In The Classroom Activities
There should especially be a conclusion. Be sure to budget it into your class time or the pair work activity will be useless.
During your conclusion, you should gather the information gleaned during the activity and go through it as a group. This will allow you to correct errors and it'll also allow students to learn from their peers.
Many pair work activities also benefit from being followed up by an individual activity such as a written response, worksheet for homework or short oral presentation to the group presenting the student's findings.
Once you've mastered the art of pair work, your students will be speaking up (and correctly!) before you know it!
And One More Thing…
Want your students to learn more about how native English speakers talk? Check out FluentU! FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, cartoons, documentaries and more—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons for you and your students.
It's got a huge collection of authentic English videos that people in the English-speaking world actually watch on the regular. There are tons of great choices there when you're looking for songs for in-class activities. You'll find music videos, musical numbers from cinema and theater, kids' singalongs, commercial jingles and much, much more.
On FluentU, all the videos are sorted by skill level and are carefully annotated for students. Words come with example sentences and definitions. Students will be able to add them to their own vocabulary lists, and even see how the words are used in other videos.
For example, if a student taps on the word 'brought,' they'll see this:
Songsterr app for pc. Browse tabs that are most popular among Songsterr users.
Plus, these great videos are all accompanied by interactive features and active learning tools for students, like multimedia flashcards and fun games like 'fill in the blank.'
It's perfect for in-class activities, group projects and solo homework assignments. Not to mention, it's guaranteed to get your students excited about English!
If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to teach English with real-world videos.