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: 
Take a Walk
Take your students for a walk outside the school. Find somewhere that has a lot of action going on, such as a shopping mall or a playground. Challenge your students to ask each other present progressive questions without pointing! They have to identify a person and ask a classmate what that specific person is doing.
What is she doing?
What is the man in the blue shirt doing?
What are the children doing?
What is the construction worker doing?
She is walking her dog.
He is parking his car.
They are playing on the swings.
He is fixing the roof.
Encourage them to pose yes/no questions as well.
Is the postman delivering a package?
No, he is delivering an envelope.
Note: You can also encourage your learners to pose questions with other verbs besides “do”. For example, practice common verbs used with present progressive, such as wearing, going, eating, or drinking.
Explore Magazines
Ask your students to bring magazines into the classroom. Put your students in partners or small groups, and have them explore the magazines. Challenge them to point to all of the images of people (or animals). They should take turns asking their partner or group member what the people in the pictures are doing.
The kids are eating breakfast. (cereal ad)
The baby is crawling. (diaper ad)
The lady is putting on lipstick. (makeup ad)
When they get stumped, they can tear out the picture and hand it to the teacher. Tell them to tear out any action scene that they can’t describe easily. They may not know the vocabulary or verb.
What are the boys doing in this picture?
I don’t know. I don’t know the word for that. (points at boys shaking hands)
Me neither. Let’s tear out this page.
After about ten minutes, gather up all of the images that stumped your students. Hold the pages up or walk around the classroom with them. Ask if any of your students can describe the temporary action.
Teacher: Does anyone know what is happening in this picture?
Student: The boys are shaking hands.
Teacher: That’s right!
Pause the Funny Video
You can also use video clips to review the present progressive. Choose a video with a lot of action and a lot of characters. Funny home videos work well for this. Many teachers enjoy using montages from America’s Funniest Home Videos. The key to practicing the present progressive with funny videos is finding the appropriate time to pause the clip. (Unless the whole clip is one funny action, you’ll want to pause the clip before the funniest part). You can always play the full clip the first time through, and then replay it and pause it when it’s appropriate to ask, “What is happening?” or “What is the person/animal doing?”
Teacher: What is the dog doing?
Student: He is chasing his tail.
Teacher: What are the boys doing?
Student: They are racing motorcycles.
Visualizing Other Tenses and Expressions
Funny videos can be used to practise other tenses and expressions that you have already covered as well. For example, some funny videos are more obvious than others. In fact, some look like they are set up! Your students can practise using “going to” to say what they think is going to happen.
Teacher: What’s going to happen? (Pause just before funny part.)
Student: They are going to fall into the water.
Student: The ball is going to hit the man in the head.
Student: The raft is going to blow away.
You can also do what the AFV host does with the studio audience. Give your students two options of what is going to happen and have them guess.
Teacher: Is the dog going to fall into the water or stay on the boat?
Student: The dog is going to fall into the water.
Student: No, the dog is going to stay on the boat. The man is going to fall into the water.
You can also review the past tense with funny videos.
Teacher: What happened?
Student: The raft blew away.
Student: The kids fell in the water.
Student: The tent blew away.
Find Sprout English’s lesson of the week in the Grammar School – Are section.
For our other Simple Present and Present Progressive materials, check out the following:
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Lessons and worksheets in the Grammar School
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Present Continuous Stories in the Library
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53 Present Continuous Dialogues in the Conversation Station
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