Job Discussion Forums

[seanaway]

You've just completed a gruelling number of sessions on teaching Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous.

A student comes to you with two sentences they have written.

1. I have been a teacher for 20 years
2. I have been teaching for 20 years

The student then asks: 'Which one is correct?'

You reply: 'They both are.'

[sigmoid]

Lack of 'periods' or 'full stops' at the end of the two statements.

[Will.]

ok, just for the fun of it...

"I have been teaching" does not signify a qualification of any sort just completion of the job duties. Like a backpacker.

"I have been a teacher" signifies a point in time when the title of teacher was awarded/received/attained. IE.... a professional. It is not qualified by a reference to any work in the field of teaching from that point on.
So which do you employ?

[seanaway]

So which do you employ?

This is what the student is trying to figure out. How do we help them?

(Thanks again for the comment on my other posting)


Sigmoid - give me a break. I wrote that before I'd finished my first cup of coffee

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

This is what I'd tell your student:

The first one (have been) is called the present perfect simple tense.

The second one (have been teaching) is called the present perfect continuous tense.

Both tenses can be used to indicate actions which began in the past and continue into the present.

The correct answer is: both versions are absolutely correct.

[seanaway]

Ok. So now the student wants to know this:

A friend walks into the room covered in flour. Would it be correct to ask 'What have you done?' and/or 'What have you been doing?'

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

I think it would be correct to ask where the cake is.

Yes; both replies would be fine, imho ---

followed by "Where's the cake, dammit?"

[donfan]

They're pretty much interchangeable but if there is a difference it would be:

"I have been teaching for twenty years." - Teaching is what I've been doing for the last twenty years.

"I have been a teacher for twenty years." - I obtained my qualifications twenty years ago but haven't necessarily been teaching for the last twenty years.

[seanaway]

Both tenses can be used to indicate actions which began in the past and continue into the present.

How to explain these two?


Dinosaurs have walked on this planet.
Dinosaurs have been walking on this planet.


"I have been a teacher for twenty years." - I obtained my qualifications twenty years ago but haven't necessarily been teaching for the last twenty years

What if someone didn't have a TEFL Cert when starting out and took one three years in?


As for flour fights....
You reallly need to plan your fights with more care Entrailicus. Mine always start round the back of bakeries

[donfan]

"Dinosaurs have walked on this planet." - when really doesn't matter

"Dinosaurs have been walking on this planet." - suggests it happened recently

As for the teacher comment I would say that if someone doesn't have at least a TEFL course then they have no right calling themselves a teacher.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

The keyword in my reply above is "can" be used

to indicate actions which began in the past and continue into the present.

The present perfect simple tense is a strange animal, with many uses.

It is also frequently used to indicate completed actions -

where the time is not stated.

i.e., Dinosaurs have walked on this planet. I have seen that film. etc ...

All of this needs to be explained slowly, using concrete examples.

Otherwise you end up with a classroom full of gaping mouths

and blank stares.

Hope that helps?

[seanaway]

The keyword in my reply above is "can" be used to indicate..

Agreed. However, how does this help the student to determine which one to use?

Kent. I couldn't agree more. It is a strange animal.

Can I refer everyone back to the Subject of the thread before we all get caught up in the grammar explanations?

What's wrong with the first scene?

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

^ Experience and personal preference determine which tense we use.

To get back to your original topic - "What's wrong with this?"

The answer is: nothing. Welcome to English 101 !

[sigmoid]

[seanaway]

Kent. 101 it is. It's not a trick question, but it is a question that I pose to teacher trainees when we cover grammar.

Hint: Have a look at what happened to the thread once someone started on grammar explanations. (BIG help! I hear you mutter. )