User Guide

One of the most basic but difficult things for an English language learner is to know when they should  use the present simple and the present continuous.

You may not realise this until your students are quite advanced learners, maybe three or four years down the line.

This is because students are taught the two present tenses separately, usually the present simple then the present continuous.

Students tend to be taught through doing guided practice exercices where they are asked to use the correct verb form in each sentence and they usually manage to do this quite well.

It’s only when they have to use both of these tenses together, to describe a picture or produce some writing, that they come unstuck!

Hopefully the material included here will help you overcome that. This is mainly for A1 to B1 level learners.

Firstly we have six videos on the present simple A1-A2 level

Then eight videos on the present continuous A1-A2 level

Finally ten videos which cover the differences between the present simple and the present continuous for A1-A2 level except the last four which are more suitable for B1 students because of the content.

At the bottom of the page you will find links to worksheets and lesson plans including links to a website called « All Things Grammar » where you will find a big selection of worksheets and videos to illustrate most grammar points.

On the British Council lessons you will find really helpful explanations, exercices, and a grammar practice reference card to print out.

To make it easier for you to find things I have colour coded the worksheets below:

red for present simple
blue for present continuous
green for present simple/present continuous

There are also two homework quizzes for you to send to your pupils, which are here:

Level A1/A2

Level A2/B1

Please let me know if there is a problem with any of the links, and also if you would like me to add anything else!