Past simple and continuous tense
I love teaching this grammar point. Using modern technology, it is very easy to show the difference between these two tenses, and students usually understand everything quickly. However, it is important to follow a specific sequence to teach the difference effectively.
I will start my sequence by assuming students already know the past simple tense. Here’s what we need to do:
- Teach the past continuous tense form.
- Teach the basic usage of the past continuous tense.
- Contrast the two tenses (past simple and past continuous).
By following this structured approach, students can better grasp the past continuous tense and its differences from the past simple tense.
Quick overview of the activities
Activity | What the students do |
1 Song | Listen and complete the lyrics |
2 Song | Highlight the examples of the past continuous tense |
3 Explanation | Follow the teacher’s explanation |
4 Find the treasure game | Make sentences in the past continuous tense and look for treasure |
5 Video game | Watch the video and make sentences in the past continuous tense. |
6 Infographic | Read and understand the basic usage of the past continuous tense |
7 Worksheet ex. 1 | Write sentences in the past continuous |
8 Video explanation / part 1 | Watch and understand the usage |
9 Video explanation / part 2 | Watch and use the past simple or continuous tense |
10 Worksheet ex. 2 | Complete the sentences with the past simple or continuous tense |
11 Worksheet ex. 3 | Listen and number the strips |
12 Speaking | Retell the stories |
Past continuous – form
To introduce the past continuous tense, I use the following song. Students listen to the song and complete the lyrics:
Here is the worksheet. Download
You can also use other activities to introduce the past continuous tense, which you can find here.
Explanation
Once you’ve introduced the form, ask students to identify and highlight examples of the past continuous tense in the song lyrics. Then, use the following presentation to explain the basic rules and usage.
To teach the structure of the past continuous tense, I use this PowerPoint presentation: :
Once I am confident that the students understand the explanation, we play the following game. Use the presentation below, and students must find the treasure. To reveal a field, they have to construct a correct sentence. There are two versions of the game, so you can play it twice for extra practice.
You can use the following video for additional practice. In this activity, students see a set of words on the screen and must create a correct sentence in the past continuous tense using all the words provided.
Past continuous basic usage
Now, it’s time to explain the basic usage of the past continuous tense. To make this clear, I use the following infographic, which visually illustrates how and when to use this tense effectively.
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After explaining the grammar rules, move on to the worksheet below for further practice
To practice the usage of the past continuous tense, I have prepared a worksheet with three engaging exercises. These activities are designed to help students reinforce their understanding and apply the tense correctly. You can download the past simple and continuous worksheet here:
Start with Exercise 1. In this activity, students describe what the people in the pictures were doing at 6 o’clock yesterday evening. They should write that the people were doing the action shown in the picture and weren’t doing the alternative action suggested by the clue.
To check the students’ answers I use the following presentation. I display it on the board, and as students read their answers aloud, I click to reveal the correct responses.
Do only the first exercise in this part of the lesson.
Past simple vs Past continuous
Once your students are confident about the form and basic usage of the past continuous tense, it’s time to explain the difference between the past simple and past continuous tense. To make this clear, I use the following video, which has been highly effective in my lessons.
In the second part of the video, students should whisper the sentences before hearing them. This helps reinforce their understanding of the past simple and past continuous tense.
After the video, move on to Exercise 2 from the worksheet provided earlier. Students will complete the text by filling in the gaps with either the past simple or past continuous tense. They can check their answers using the presentation with the answer key.
Next, continue with the worksheet. For Exercise 3, you will need the recording from the workbook Project 4, 4th Edition. It is the recording number 3. Fortunately, the recording is available online.
Students listen to the recording and number the strips accordingly. One strip does not have a corresponding recording. Once again, check their answers using the presentation above.
After checking the answers, have students work in pairs. Their task is to retell the five stories in their own words. I hope you’ll experience the same success I did—students naturally and correctly using the past simple and past continuous tense while speaking.
Have a nice day and God bless you.
Zdenek