Simple Present vs. Present Progessive Tense

[teachercha]

hi!

I am a newly graduate English Teacher.

I've encountered some problems in teaching verb tenses to my students,
the simple present tense vs. present progressive tense in particular.

Need some help.

Thank you.

[Tdol]

What are you teaching and how are you doing it at the moment?

[Romeo4755]

Have you got problems with explaining the idea or are you short of training materials?

[teachercha]

Thanks for replying.

Basically I had a hard time explaining to my students the difference between the two. And I also lacked teaching materials that would help my students understand their differences.
Don't get me wrong, I knew the difference between the two tenses but my students are having a hard time grasping the concept. Could you give me some reference or website where in I could get some teaching materials about it?
Thanks again.

[riverkid]

Thanks for replying.

Basically I had a hard time explaining to my students the difference between the two. And I also lacked teaching materials that would help my students understand their differences.
Don't get me wrong, I knew the difference between the two tenses but my students are having a hard time grasping the concept. Could you give me some reference or website where in I could get some teaching materials about it?
Thanks again.

I understand because I've been there, T. Your story brought shivers as I thought back to my first class. [where's the shudder emoticon, Tdol?]

You sure picked a couple of doozies to compare, T. They don't compare well, especially for. I'd start with fewer explanations and more real life practice, eg.

I'm bouncing a ball / rolling a ball / walking to the blackboard / picking up a piece of chalk / writing my name / erasing my name / kneeling /standing /sitting / crouching / etc.

I'm sure that there's a lot a words to learn for your students and the present continuous is one of the best for doing so. My advice, leave the ethereal type tenses, the ones that require more outside thought for later.

[Naamplao]

Thanks for replying.

Basically I had a hard time explaining to my students the difference between the two. And I also lacked teaching materials that would help my students understand their differences.
Don't get me wrong, I knew the difference between the two tenses but my students are having a hard time grasping the concept. Could you give me some reference or website where in I could get some teaching materials about it?
Thanks again.

Just use Google search. Type in (the quotes are important)

"present tense" "present progressive tense" ESL

(you might use "continuous" instead of "progressive")

Do the Google search and you will find lots of material. This is a skill that you need to learn. So find it yourself.

[riverkid]

Just use Google search. Type in (the quotes are important)

"present tense" "present progressive tense" ESL

(you might use "continuous" instead of "progressive")

Do the Google search and you will find lots of material. This is a skill that you need to learn. So find it yourself.

That certainly could work, Naamplao, depending of course, on the level of the students, but empty sentences[meaningless without context] don't help students learn language. That's long been the problem with grammars.

When a student can see the action, there's no need for translation, even in the students' minds, so they can focus more on the language.

Why not get a picture dictionary, Teachercha. Any good one has a section on daily life and some other present simple type language situations.

[Naamplao]

That certainly could work, Naamplao, depending of course, on the level of the students, but empty sentences[meaningless without context] don't help students learn language. That's long been the problem with grammars.

Hahaha....I think you need to improve your internet search techniques as well. There is a wealth of information on teaching ESL out there...not just empty sentences. You need to be creative in your searches and weed out the good from the bad.

[riverkid]

Hahaha....I think you need to improve your internet search techniques as well. There is a wealth of information on teaching ESL out there...not just empty sentences. You need to be creative in your searches and weed out the good from the bad.

I think that's probably true, Naamplao.

[teachercha]

Hi!

Yah, I did search the net. It's true that there are plenty of materials or references that you can find there. I already used some of it. Still, my
students had a hard time understanding the difference between the two tenses.
Maybe the reason why they're having difficulty, is that the form or structure of English language differs from our native language. We're ESL learners.

Still, thanks for replying. I'm already done with the lesson and I'm about to teach Adverbs.

Thanks again.