Our Lesson of the Week is Are You…? (in the Are section of the Grammar School). This lesson is a great introduction (or review) of the BE verb as it is used in the two most basic tenses in English: the simple present and the present progressive.

This four-page lesson includes written exercises to practice questions and answers using the BE verb. Your students can practice the simple present with two exercises on questions using nouns and adjectives. They can also practice the present progressive with an exercise on actions. After your young learners have written their questions and answers, pair them up and have them ask their partner questions for speaking and listening practice. You can choose to do all the pages within the same lesson to compare the two tenses, or do them on different days as separate lessons.

The verb flashcards included in this lesson can be used in many different ways. Activity 1: Try putting your students into small groups and get them to take turns picking up a card and acting out the action. The student who guesses the action by saying the correct present progressive sentence gets to keep the card (e.g., He is painting!), and the student with the most cards at the end, wins. Activity 2: You could also do this as a Pictionary-type game. Divide the class into two teams. Take turns having a student come to the front, pick up a card, and draw the action on the board. Whichever team calls out the present progressive sentence first gets a point (e.g., She is crying!). These activities would be great as a warm-up, filler, or wrap-up for your lesson!

At Sprout English this week, our focus is on the simple present and the present progressive. Stayed tuned for Tanya Trusler‘s blog post on Tuesday, Simple Present Vs. Present Progressive, for ways to present and compare these two tenses with your young learners. On Thursday, Tara Benwell will blog about activities you can use with your students in her post Visualizing the Present Progressive.

Find this lesson in the Grammar School – Are section.

For our other Simple Present and Present Progressive materials, check out the following:

• Over 100 lesson and worksheets in the Grammar School

• 32 Present Simple Stories and Present Continuous Stories in the Library

• 48 Present Simple Dialogues and 53 Present Continuous Dialogues in the Conversation Station

     

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