392. Present continuous: "What is he doing?"


From the web site of British Council – BBC, www.teachingenglish.org.uk It’s a comment by me, about the usage and difference between present continuous and the present participle. Photo from andreselbarbero blogspot com Oh, sorry, I got to say that this, my comment, is one more contribution to what other teachers have said on this site. Worth to visit this teachers’ web site, no doubt, awesome.



Submitted on 3 July, 2010 - 12:29


Hello shyamag, Heath, mhinde, and everyone,


For present continuous and related progressive tenses:


I'm trying to give some, hopefully, useful clues. For my classes I draw puppets or sort of characters, even with their names, and I ask: "So, what is Anne doing?", emphasising the -ing word, and my students say, e. g., "Eating!". Funny: they shout out the same word!, as high as possible, as though that shouting would make them be more right than their classmates. Well, this is the way Spanish kids do; I had two German brothers, few years ago, and, oh man, they spoke so calmly and low.


The same stuff could be applied to, for example, past continuous.


When practising present perfect continuous, I draw nothing, but I speak slowly and by gestures and by doing I don't quite know what else. I try to make them understand the sentence: "How long have you been living in Granada?" I use similar sentences to that one just said, chunks, examples, and the like. Even for kids aged 11 years.


Oh, something else regarding present continuous: I gently demand from them to say full sentences. A single word is ok, but little by lttle they've got to say full sentences. I mould those sentences through examples. The thing looks to turn out fine.


Besides, it's funny, for me and from them, as I've said. If you have fun, they'll have fun.


Present participle? Let me see. Well, firstly it's part of present continuous, as you teachers have said. What else? You all have said it too, in some words or in other ones. The present participle is the nominalisation of the verb. "Skating is so great!". In Spanish we say the infinitive ("Hacer skateboard está guay" - colloquial teenageish language, sorry).


Also, present participle is the predicate of a transitive verb; look, so simple also: "I can't stand seeing the football players spitting on the ground".


I think our goal in the class ultimately is communicating. And grammar? The skeleton, so as to speak.


I hope to have been any helpful.


Fernando Diez Gallego


Teacher of English. Teacher trainer.


Granada (Spain)

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