Engaging and Interactive ESL Lesson Plans to Teach the Present Continuous Tense
This unit from SuperEnglishESL.com introduces Level 2 students to the Present Continuous tense, focusing on verbs ending in -ing and sentence structures using am, is, are. Through interactive stories, phonics practice, engaging games, and real-world applications, students will confidently use the Present Continuous tense in everyday situations.
This unit is designed to help ESL teachers by providing structured lessons with minimal prep time. Each lesson builds progressively, reinforcing essential grammar concepts while keeping students engaged with fun activities and downloadable worksheets. By the end of this unit, students will master how to describe ongoing actions, ask and answer questions in the Present Continuous, and use key verbs related to daily activities.
Students are introduced to Present Continuous verbs with everyday action words like running, eating, sitting, playing, and learning.
✔️ Warm-up: Memory game with action pictures.
✔️ Reading & Discussion: “A Fun Day at the Park” – Students describe what different people are doing.
✔️ Vocabulary Focus: put on, take off, wear, buy, shorts, pants.
✔️ Grammar & Sentence Structures: “What are you doing?” / “I am playing.”
✔️ Phonics: Long Oo words (robe, note, code).
✔️ Interactive Elements: Chutes and Ladders game, rhyming activities, sentence matching.
✔️ Real-Life Applications: Describing personal actions using Present Continuous.
Students practice sentence-building with Present Continuous, focusing on verbs related to clothing and daily activities.
✔️ Warm-up: Odd-one-out activity with clothing items.
✔️ Reading & Discussion: “Flying a Drone at the Park” – Students describe what people are doing.
✔️ Vocabulary Focus: shirt, T-shirt, shoes, sweater, hat, pants, skirt.
✔️ Grammar & Sentence Structures: “What is she doing?” / “She is buying a T-shirt.”
✔️ Phonics: Long Oo words (home, cone, bone).
✔️ Interactive Elements: Tic-Tac-Toe, fill-in-the-blank exercises, matching activities.
✔️ Real-Life Applications: Talking about clothing choices and daily routines.
Students learn how to use Present Continuous tense to describe actions happening at home.
✔️ Warm-up: Singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
✔️ Reading & Discussion: “Cole is at Home” – Describing family members’ actions.
✔️ Vocabulary Focus: running, sleeping, washing, sitting, playing.
✔️ Grammar & Sentence Structures: “Where is he sitting?” / “He is sitting at his desk.”
✔️ Phonics: Long Oo words (hose, rose, nose).
✔️ Interactive Elements: Listening games, rhyming words, and role-play activities.
✔️ Real-Life Applications: Talking about daily routines at home.
Students practice Present Continuous tense in a classroom setting.
✔️ Warm-up: Rhyming word match (note, poke, joke).
✔️ Reading & Discussion: “A Day at School” – Describing what students and teachers are doing.
✔️ Vocabulary Focus: learning, writing, giving, taking, sitting, listening.
✔️ Grammar & Sentence Structures: “What are they doing?” / “They are listening to the teacher.”
✔️ Phonics: Long Oo words (coke, smoke, joke).
✔️ Interactive Elements: Classroom role-playing, action-based charades, tic-tac-toe.
✔️ Real-Life Applications: Asking and answering questions about school activities.
A comprehensive review of all Present Continuous vocabulary, sentence structures, and phonics from the unit.
✔️ Warm-up: Fun counting rhyme.
✔️ Assessment Tasks:
✅ Beginner ESL learners (A1-A2) in classrooms, online lessons, or homeschool settings.
✅ 1:1 ESL tutoring or group lessons.
✅ ESL teachers looking for structured, engaging, and low-prep lesson plans.
📝 Lesson Previews & Worksheets
🎲 Games & Activities
📚 Reading Passages & Rhymes
🔊 Phonics & Sentence-Building Exercises
📌 Use real-time actions to reinforce Present Continuous (“I am writing. You are listening.”).
📌 Encourage students to act out verbs for interactive learning.
📌 Pair students for question-answer role-playing games.
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