Teacher Discussion Forums

Basically, I think an introduction to the concept shouldn't go any deeper than ing=now whereas present simple = again+again+again. Easy to teach, easy to learn, easy to practice. If the students try and push you much beyond that, it's bad luck. It won't do them any good at that stage, and it will p...

Maybe the problem is just that new teachers sometimes expect a lot. Grasping a concept is one thing, using forms correctly takes a lot of time and effort. If the tense wars are starting up again, I'd like to get my retaliation in first and note that my two year old son uses the present continuous t...

thank you fluffyhamster.

I have decided that this is going to be one of those cases where I simply tell the student that although I cannot provide a grammatical reason against it, we don't use the word in that way.

Your google search confirms the rarity of that usage.

Take care!

Thanks, everyone, today's course went much better. Though the students may not have totally mastered the concept, they did reach a higher level of understanding.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Macavity, I had to laugh out loud at your description of the German tendency to overdo it. It helps me to know that this is a complex issue for them, because they will have to know that so that both they and I do not get too discouraged. I think and hope I have a handle on it for tomorrow, b...

Hello, I have another question. My student wrote a sentence with this as part of it: "and a large range of steel sorts, such as..." The sentence in itself is too long and complex and will have to be revised. However, I have marked that sorts is not the best word choice. My initial reason is that I s...

rblajev, is that: "I have just begun teaching, in Germany" or "I have just begun teaching in Germany though I've taught elsewhere"? bcause if it's the second then I'd find out about German and leave it at that. If it's the first, then don't sweat. We've all been there and find ourselves there again...

Ich fliege nach New York vier mal im Jahr. I fly to New York four times a year. Ich fliege nach New York nächste Woche. I’m flying to New York next week. The trouble starts if you try to compare the languages as there appears to be something missing from German or something unnecessary in English. ...

Hey, "I'm loving it" as Ronald McDonald says. Yes, stative verbs are occasionally used with the continuous aspect. Often the meaning changes when the are used. For example, "I'm having a party" vs. "I'm having a grammar book." Juan, I think you misunderstood my suggestions to some degree. I would n...

My nuggets of help are firstly that you check the students' understanding of the terminology: "continuous" is an extremely unhelpful term for a temporary state of affairs. Another is that you must try to put yourself in the students' shoes. I couldn't see the problem of this particular tense for Sp...

Timelines are often helpful for explaining tenses. Here are some links I found to give you an idea. The timelines that I draw on the chalkboard are more like the 2nd url, but I use color along with different line styles to indicate the duration of the action. http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar...

Hey rblajev and let me be the first to say welcome to the forum! First off, it would help to know a bit more about the students and what sort of questions they're asking. Are they beginners or have they come across the Continuous aspect before? Do you know if another teacher has given them a "list ...

Thank you everyone. I haven't been able to read all of the responses thoroughly, but hope to do so tomorrow or Monday. My next session with the students is Tuesday morning, so I will definitely look more closely at all of these ideas before then.

Until then!

Hello, I have just begun teaching in Germany and am still working through the nervous stage. Yesterday was my second session with my first group of students and we started to review the present simple and present continuous. I went into the class feeling as if I could explain it and understood it my...

"A shrewd light entered his eyes." 1. Did the light come from outside into his eyes or did it come from his eyes? 2. Does the 'SHREWD light' show his anger or love or something else? Thank you. I don't think it matters from where the light came. It is more like it appeared, the way an expression on...