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7 Present ContinuousListening/Speaking Exercises and Worksheets

Updated March  21st, 2021

At a basic level the present continuous or progressive tense is fairly easy to teach. It lends itself to miming activities and  exercises using pictures. At a more advanced level it becomes more difficult and students have to understand that some verbs may be used  differently depending on the context (ie.stative vs progressive).

1 What are they doing ? for routines  (present continuous with audio and answers )

  A worksheet for practicing the present continuous tense for routines. One of the easiest ways to teach the present continuous is with the aid of pictures. Students have to describe the action in the pictures with phrases or sentences. They should feel free to use their imaginations and be creative. This now includes audio so it can also be used as a listening activity)

Picture worksheet for teaching routines and present continuous tense

What are they doing? with answers (PDF)

(audio mp3)

Related Resources:

Present continuous home

Pic Tac Toe: classroom game for present continuous

Phrasal verbs and the present continuous

7 Brainstorming and Speaking Activities for Routines, Interests and Hobbies

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes (PDF)

Adverbs Listening/Speaking Exercises

Gerunds/Infinitives Listening/Speaking Exercises

2 What are they doing ? for general situations (with audio and answers)

 
  This is an elementary ESL listening/speaking exercise  practicing the present continuous tense for general situations. Students make sentences about each picture in the present continuous. This can be done as a listening/speaking or writing activity.  As a listening activity, the students have to match the items to the pictures.

Pictures of general situations for present continuous

What are they doing ?- general situations (PDF)

(audio mp3)

3 Present simple vs present continuous

 
  This is an elementary writing and  speaking exercise  to help students understand the differences between the present simple and present continuous tenses.

Present simple vs present continuous (PDF)

4 What is he doing ? with answers (present continuous tense)

 
  This is an elementary ESL speaking exercise  practicing the present continuous tense. Students make sentences about each picture in the present continuous. This can be done as a speaking or writing activity.

 

 

What is he doing grammar worksheet

What is he doing ? (PDF)

5 Stative/progressive verbs sorting worksheet (with answers)

 
  This is a sorting exercise that helps students learn  when to use verbs in the present simple or present continuous/progressive tenses.  

Stative-progessive-verbs-grammar sorting worksheet

Stative vs progressive (PDF with answers)

6 Have collocations worksheet (with answers)

 
  This is a sentence writing exercise to help students understand collocations with “have” and also the stative and progressive uses of “have”. Students are often confused about whether to use the verb “have” in the present simple or present continuous/progressive tense. This exercise aims to clarify that a little bit.

 

 

Grammar practice using the verb "have" correctly in the present tenses.

Have collocations (PDF)

Related Resources:

10  Adjectives Exercises Including Adjectives for People and Things 

3 Parts of Speech Exercises

7 Picture-Based Present Continuous Worksheets (PDF)

8 Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)

5 Future Tense Vocabulary and Speaking Exercises

5  Useful Passive Tense Practice worksheets

6  Present Perfect Language and Speaking Worksheets

11  Incredibly Useful Past Tense Simple Teaching Activities (PDF)

8 Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)

3 Great Exercises for the 2nd Conditional (PDF)

7 What is happening ?  with answers (present continuous tense)

 
  This is a more advanced and challenging ESL exercise  practicing the present continuous tense   for actions and events  happening now. Students need to have a broader knowledge of nouns and verbs to be able to complete this exercise. Students have to describe what is happening in the events and situations depicted in the pictures.

What is happening picture worksheet for present continuous

What is happening ? (PDF with answers)

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