How To Teach The Simple Present Tense?

Introduction

This blog post delves into how to teach the simple present tense. Teaching this tense presents a key challenge, particularly with irregular forms like “be” and the third-person singular “s” in verbs, which many learners struggle to remember.

Before delving into essential teaching tips for the present simple tense, let’s outline the common difficulties teachers encounter when instructing it.

Unlock English Proficiency with Our Simple Present Practice Worksheet

Difficulties in Teaching the Simple Present Tense

Teaching the simple present tense involves several considerations that teachers need to address.

• Firstly, irregular verbs can be a source of confusion for students. For example, verbs like ‘have’ and ‘be’ have different forms in the simple present (has, am, are,…).
• Secondly, many students tend to forget to add the ‘s’ for the third person singular.
• Another difficulty lies in the spelling of third-person singular forms. Sometimes, only ‘s’ is added (close – closes), while in other cases ‘es’ is added (watch – watches).
• Finally, forming interrogative and negative sentences with the auxiliary ‘do’ can be challenging for beginner students.

Contrasting tenses

Considering the above difficulties, I typically approach teaching a tense by contrasting it with another tense. For the simple present tense, I contrast it with either:

• The present progressive tense (e.g., “I’m reading a book now; I always read it in the morning”),
• Or the simple past (e.g., “I usually play tennis on Sundays, but last Sunday I didn’t play tennis; I was ill”).

Contrasting tenses provides students with the opportunity to make finer distinctions between tenses and place situations in time. Learners can also discover nuances in meaning and structure. In the case of the simple present, my ultimate goal is to help students understand that this tense is used to describe routines, habits, daily activities, and general truths.

How to Teach the Simple Present Tense Using the PPP Approach: Tips and Procedures

The PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) procedure for teaching grammar consists of three steps:

• Presentation: This is where the target language is introduced and explained within a specific situation or context.
• Practice: In this stage, students engage in exercises to practice the forms and uses of the target language.
• Production: Finally, students are encouraged to use the newly learned target language in specific situations.

Presentation

Step 1: Contrasting the Simple Present with the Present Progressive

Introduce the simple present by contrasting it with the present progressive through a context (e.g., texts, videos, etc.) or situations.

For example, you may use the following situation:

Then, Write similar examples on the board.

• I am watching TV now. I watch TV every evening. I love watching movies.
• I am playing soccer. I play soccer every Sunday. I like soccer, but I don’t like tennis.
• I am driving to work now. I drive to work every morning. I live far away from work.
• I am having lunch now. I usually have lunch at home. I don’t like to have lunch in a restaurant.

Draw a table on the board like the one below and ask students to identify the actions that are routine habits or facts and those that take place at the time of speaking.

Routines, facts, and habitual actions	Actions that take place now
I watch TV every evening. I like playing soccer. I don’t like playing tennis. …	I am watching TV now. I am playing soccer. I am driving to work now. …

Step 2: Forms of the Simple Present

Introduce the following forms of the simple present tense:

• Interrogative forms.
• Negative and affirmative.
• Third-person singular forms.

Use the following examples:

Ask students to complete this chart:

Affirmative Forms	Interrogative forms	Negative forms
I like soccer	Do you like soccer?	I don’t like tennis
My sister has many friends	…	…
…	…	…

Step 3: Adverbs of Frequency

Now, it’s time to introduce adverbs of frequency and prepare a questionnaire like the following:

Adverb	Frequency	Example
Always	Every time (100%)	He always brushes his teeth before bed.
Often	Most of the time (75-…%)	She often goes jogging in the morning.
Sometimes	Half of the time (50%)	They sometimes eat out on weekends.
Rarely	A small portion of the time (25-…%)	I rarely watch TV anymore.
Never	Never (100%)	She never eats fast food.

Practice

Step 4: Appropriating Learning

Write negative sentences:

1. I like horror movies. → I don’t like horror movies.
2. She drinks coffee in the evening. →
3. They play video games all day. →
4. He reads a book every evening. →
5. He watches TV in the morning. →
6. They eat fast food. →

Rewrite the sentences as questions:

1. They like spicy food. → Do they like spicy food?
2. We study English twice a week. →
3. He usually goes to the gym in the morning. →
4. My parents watch TV after dinner. →
5. You speak French. →
6. She lives in New York. →

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb in the simple present tense:

1. They ________________ (not, like) spicy food.
2. She ________________ (read) a book every night.
3. ________________ your brother ________________ (play) basketball?
4. We ________________ (study) English twice a week.
5. He ________________ (usually, go) to the gym in the morning.
6. My parents ________________ (watch) TV after dinner.
7. I ________________ (enjoy) hiking on weekends.
8. She ________________ (not/drink) tea with breakfast.
9. We ________________ (play) board games on Fridays.
10. She ________________ (not/work) in a bank.
11. They ________________ (not/play) soccer on Saturdays.
12. He ________________ (eat) lunch at noon.
13. ________________ you ________________ (speak) French?

Production

Step 5: Survey

To encourage the students to use the newly learned target language, use a survey like the following:

Ask students to answer this survey:

Choose the appropriate choice for you:

• I eat breakfast in the cafeteria.
  a. Always b. Sometimes c. Rarely d. Never
• I drink strong coffee in the morning.
  a. Always b. Sometimes c. Rarely d. Never
• I have lunch at a fast food restaurant.
  a. Always b. Sometimes c. Rarely d. Never
• I eat fruits after lunch.
  a. Always b. Sometimes c. Rarely d. Never
• I have dinner at home
  a. Always b. Sometimes c. Rarely d. Never

Students work in pairs to discuss their answers, taking notes. The final aobjective is to write short paragraphs about their partners.

My partner never has breakfast in a cafeteria. He sometimes has strong coffee…

Follow-up

Step 6: Personalizing Learning

As a follow-up, ask students to complete these sentences about themselves to personalize the newly acquired langauge:

• My name is…
• I am from…
• I … every morning.
• I work  in …
• I like…, but I don’t like…
• I go to…. school.
• I go to bed at…

Walk around and provide any help. Then ask students to write a paragraph using the examples they provided.

Expansion

Step 7: Contrasting the Simple Present and Past Simple Tenses

To deepen students’ understanding of the simple present, you may want to help students distinguish between the simple present and the simple past.

Provide examples like the following:

Invite students to provide similar examples.

Unlock English Proficiency with Our Simple Present Practice Worksheet

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