Are you looking for present progressive tense activities for ESL that are fun and engaging? If so, read on for 4 simple present progressive tense activities that are always a hit in my classroom.
How the Present Progressive Tense is Used in English
We use the present progressive verb tense to express actions that are happening right now or around the present time. For example:
- Jake is reading a book now.
- Mara and Pat are looking at the laptop.
- They are not eating or drinking.
We form this verb tense with be + verb + ing. A common mistake for English learners is not conjugating the be verb according to the subject.
Present Progressive Tense Activities
Act It Out
Have students think of 4-5 activities to act out, or give them a list of actions. For example, they can brush their teeth, sing, drive, ski, dance, sleep, eat, drink, type, or play basketball. They can take turns acting them out in pairs, groups, or in front of the class. The audience will say what they are doing in the present progressive tense. This can be a speaking activity, or it they can write sentences on the board.
What Are They Doing?
Have students flip through a magazine or display several pictures on the board. Have students say or write sentences about what the people in the pictures are doing. Another option would be to write a list of places (grocery store, school, office, airport, hospital) and have them discuss or write about what people are doing in these places.
Simple Present vs. Present Progressive
Provide a list of time signal words and phrases such as right now, always, today, this year/week/month, never, at the moment, and usually. Students can write or say sentences about themselves using the simple present and the present progressive and the correct time signal words. Then they can share and compare sentences. As a variation, have students write about famous people or people they know. For simple present tense activity ideas, check out this post.
Try these present progressive verb tense activities in your ESL class today!
Check out this no-prep present progressive tense grammar lesson for adult ESL. If you are teaching beginners, grab the grammar bundle and save.
