Are your students or children ready for a review of the basic verb tenses? This week’s Spotlight lesson, Juan and Sofia – Simple Past Reading, includes the simple present, present progressive, and simple past tenses, and will engage your kids with a hilarious story and fun, educational activities!

This lesson includes a short reading, comprehension questions, sentence puzzles, a crossword, and a group discussion activity to review the simple present, present progressive, and simple past. There is also a helpful spelling review on forming the past tense of regular verbs.

All of the readings in our Library section have a digital component, so teachers and parents can choose how to present the reading and comprehension questions—either on paper or online!

Other simple past resources: (more…)

The simple future is a bit more complicated than the other simple tenses in English. There is more than one way of making a future verb. You can use the modal will + base verb, the modal expression be going to + base verb, or the present progressive form of be + -ing verb. What’s the difference between these forms? How can you teach them all to your students? In this post you’ll find information on the three future forms, a handy comparison chart that you can print out, fun activities using the future (for warm-ups or fillers), and links to practice exercises.  

COMPARISON CHART – 3 SIMPLE FUTURE FORMS (more…)

Turn Off the TV, in the Simple Past Dialogues 2 category of the Conversation Station, is Sprout English’s lesson of the week.

This one-page dialogue is the perfect way to review the simple present, present progressive, and simple past. All three tenses are used naturally in this conversation between a father and his daughter. The topic of a parent wanting a child to stop watching TV and go study is something kids can definitely relate to! (more…)

Are your students learning the present progressive tense for the first time? Have you explained the difference between the simple present and the present progressive? If yes, then they know that one use of the present progressive is to describe temporary actions that are happening right now.

After you’ve introduced a specific use of a verb tense, it really helps to get the grammar off the paper. Help your students learn a specific use of the present progressive tense by getting them to visualize it. Keep in mind that this is how native English babies learn the present progressive. They see something happening, and their parent or caregiver points and says, “What’s Daddy doing?” or “What’s Daddy eating?“. At first, the child might respond with the word “apple”. The parent probably praises the child, saying, “You’re right! Daddy is eating an apple.” Eventually, the child will respond in a full sentence using the present progressive.

Here are three activities for getting your students to visualize the present progressive tense:   (more…)

The simple present tense is one of the first things English language learners learn. Later on, grammar textbooks introduce the present progressive (also known as the present continuous), and students learn how to describe actions that are happening at that time. The problem is that most textbooks don’t compare these two present tenses together, so young learners don’t often realize which one to use in different situations.

When I was teaching TOEIC test prep classes to beginner and intermediate students, I would compare and contrast the two tenses side by side, and my students would tell me that this method really helped them understand the differences. Try the method outlined below with your young learners as an introduction to the present progressive or as a review of these two essential tenses.   (more…)

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. (more…)

The present progressive, also called the present continuous, is a very common verb tense in English. It is natural in speaking since a lot of conversations start with “What are you doing?” It’s also useful when talking about sports and actions. Since the Lesson of the Week this week is our coloring activity about Baseball, I thought it would be a good time to review this grammar tense. The method below is one I’ve often used with my students for presenting the present progressive. Next week, I’ll blog about comparing the simple present and the present progressive. Being able to use each one in the correct context is the ultimate test of your students’ understanding.

1. Form

BE + -ING Verb

Remind students that the BE verb must be conjugated according to the subject (I am, you are, he/she/it/third person singular count nouns/non-count nouns is, we are, you (pl.) are, they/third person plural count nouns are). (more…)