Present simple or present continuous?

Chalkplay teamESLGrades 6–8CEFR A214 itemsGroup sort makerEnglish
Copy & edit
Group sort
Present simpleShe walks to sch…Present continuousLook! It's snowi…I usually g…I'm reading…My dad work…They're wat…

Options

Theme Saved per activity

Questions and answers

· 14 itemsShow answers

Present simple

  1. She walks to school every day.
  2. I usually get up at seven.
  3. My dad works in a bank.
  4. We have English on Mondays.
  5. He doesn't like spinach.
  6. Do you often play tennis?
  7. Water boils at 100°C.

Present continuous

  1. Look! It's snowing.
  2. I'm reading a book right now.
  3. They're watching TV at the moment.
  4. Be quiet! The baby is sleeping.
  5. She isn't working today.
  6. What are you doing now?
  7. Listen! Someone is knocking at the door.

Teaching notes

Fourteen short sentences to sort by tense: habits, routines and facts in the present simple ("I usually get up at seven.") and actions happening now in the present continuous ("Look! It's snowing."). Time expressions such as every day, usually, right now and at the moment give the clues, so it suits A2 learners who confuse the two.

After each drop, ask the learner which word told them the tense. Then pairs change three sentences to the other tense with a new time expression ("She walks to school every day" becomes "She's walking to school now"). Play it live so every learner sorts on their own phone, or print it as a worksheet with the answer key.

Leaderboard

No scores yet. Play it live and the class's scores appear here.