Present Continuous/ Present Progressive Tense - Full Lesson Presentation + Activities & Answers!

A full lesson presentation (PowerPoint) teaching how to use the present continuous/ present progressive tense complete with all the activities required to consolidate writing in this tense.

The present continuous tense is made up of the present tense form of the verb ‘to be’ (is, are or am) + the progressive/ continuous form of the verb (a verb with the -ing suffix). It is used to describe actions and events that are happening now. It can also be used to refer to future plans.

This lesson presentation on the present continuous tense includes:
√ Learning objective
√ Three success criteria
√ Starter activity
√ Review of prior learning (identifying the tenses of a variety of sentences)
√ Teaching input/ information slides (explaining how to identify and construct sentences in present continuous tense)
√ Multiple differentiated group & paired activities (3 levels)
√ Differentiated independent activities (3 levels)
√ Extension of learning and application challenges
√ Reading, writing, speaking and listening tasks
√ All answer slides
√ Plenary activity

The lesson covers the following:

• Review of other tenses
• Difference between ‘is’, ‘are’ and ‘am’ (plural and singular subjects)
• How to describe the actions of plural and singular subjects in the present continuous tense
• How to describe the actions of both regular and irregular plural subjects in the present continuous tense
• How to describe the actions of both countable and uncountable nouns in the present continuous tense
• How to describe the actions of collective nouns, exceptions and pronouns using the present continuous tense
• Changing verbs into their progressive/ continuous form
• Purposes of using the present continuous tense
• Using the present continuous tense to describe current events and actions
• Using the present continuous tense to describe future plans

Consolidation activities include fill in the blanks, spot the mistakes, change the sentences to present continuous tense, match-ups, speaking and listening tasks, reasoning questions, sorting activities, writing tasks and quiz-type questions etc.

The lesson builds upon prior learning and gradually develops in difficulty as the learners become more familiar with the content. The majority of activities are differentiated three ways and it also covers in detail the reasons for using the present continuous tense when speaking and writing.

PLEASE NOTE - Please look at the ‘notes’ section of the PowerPoint for additional information about each slide. These include teaching tips, ideas and further explanations.

This lesson is also suitable for being delivered remotely through online learning with some slight adaptations. It could combine very well with platforms such as Pear Deck and Nearpod.