Teaching Present Perfect

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect - Prompt Teaching Idea   Here now is a teaching idea for the present perfect tense. If you remember back, one of the main usages of the present perfect tense is to talk about past experiences at an indefinite time. Here, will be having students work in small groups. Each small group will receive a prompt. This prompt has various past experiences. However, not conjugated into the question. The challenge for the students will be to take one of these prompts and to create a question based upon it. For example here they see 'win' and 'a competition'. One at a time, the students will take turns forming the question. 'Have you ever won a competition?' The other people listening to the question in the small group, will...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect -- Teaching Ideas 2 -   The teaching idea covered in this video is a fun group game that should generate a good deal of student talk time using the Present Perfect tense. The students will be in small groups and each student will have the question sheet with a number of pictures and word prompts. Students take turns forming their question with the aid of the prompts. The groups then give their answers using the Present Perfect. The prompts include: win/a competition, go/scuba-diving, meet/ a famous person The questions would be: Have you ever won a competition?, Have you ever been scuba-diving?, Have you ever met a famous person? Group members would answer, Yes I have...., No I haven't... After a given amount of time each group share their answers...  [Read more]

Mon, 18 Jun 2018 Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas 7 Activities for Teaching the Present Perfect for the ESL Classroom Teaching new tenses to students of a foreign language is often not as easy as you might anticipate, especially when the tense you are trying to teach them does not exist in their native language. The following 7 activities for teaching the present perfect for the ESL classroom will help your students pick up the tense in no time! Table of Contents Listen to this blog post: 1. Great Accomplishments 2. Have You Ever? 3. How Many Times Since? 4. Great Ambitions 5. Most Deprived 6. Bucket Lists 7. Since or For? Are you ready to teach English abroad? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Listen to this blog post: 1. Great...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect -- Teaching Ideas 3 -- Teaching Abroad Salaries   The Present perfect tense is a very useful tense. It is the tense that relates the past to the present. It also tends to be the tense that can often present some difficulties to the English language learner and sometimes the English language teacher. The activity in this video has the students examining two pictures, picture A and picture B. The pictures depict a scene in a house; Picture B is similar to A but with a number of changes. Students are asked to spot the changes and to express the change using the Present Perfect. For example in Picture A, a pile of unironed clothes can be seen next to the ironing board but in picture B the clothes are ironed. So the student would say "He has done the...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect Continuous - Guessing Game   Now here's a teaching idea for the present perfect continuous tense. If you remember we use this tense to talk about actions that had been continuing up until the present moment or very recently. In this activity, you'll be giving a student a card. That card will include the past activity as well as some results. This card says 'You've been driving in the rain on your motorbike. You're all wet and your clothes are too.' The results are 'you're all wet and your clothes are too.' You'll present that information to the rest of the class and, therefore, it's up to the class to guess the action that was occurring up until the certain point in time. What will happen in this activity is, the...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect Continuous - Comparing Cards   Here's an idea for teaching the present perfect continuous tense. However in this activity what the students will be doing, is comparing and contrasting this tense with the present perfect tense. This is something that a teacher will want to do after they've explored both tenses and because both tenses are quite confusing, we'll ask the students to compare and contrast the two, making sure that they can tell the difference. In this activity, the teacher will have cut out each individual card. The teacher will distribute the cards to the students and after a minute has gone by, the teacher will then ask the students to fold their cards over and get into a pair. One student in the pair...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect Continuous -- Teaching Ideas -- TEFL Courses   Being able to use the correct tense when communicating with others is essential. We often use more than one tense when talking to others so it is important that our students have the confidence to be able to know which tense to use in any given situation. For the teaching idea in this video a card game is used to give students the opportunity to ask questions and give answers using more than one tense, in particular reinforcing the Present Perfect Continuous tense. The activity requires the students to work in pairs, taking it in turns to ask a question and give a correct answer. Each card will have a result and a reason, and one student will be required to form the correct question and the other...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect Continuous -- Teaching Ideas 2 -- TEFL certification   The teaching idea covered here is one that would be particularly appropriate for more advanced English language learners, those who can use different tenses accurately. The activity is a board game that focuses on comparing and contrasting the tenses, focusing on the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous. Each student takes a turn at rolling the dice and moving around the board. For example a student could land on a square that says "Something you have been learning for a long time." An appropriate answer for the student could be "I have been learning English for a long time." The next student takes a turn and could land on a square that says "A beautiful place you have visited."...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect Continuous -- Teaching Ideas 3 -- Pay for English Teachers   In this video we look at a TESOL teaching idea for the Present Perfect Continuous. This tense is the one we use when we want to say what has been happening. The activity in the video is called "Guess what I've been doing?" It is a fun activity that can generate a lot of student talk time. Students each receive a card that has two pieces of information on it, a past activity and a result. Each student has a turn of telling the class the result and the class then has to guess the activity using the Present Perfect Continuous. For example, the past activity on a card is "You have been driving your motorbike in the rain", the result written on the card is "You are all wet. Your clothes are...  [Read more]

English Grammar - Past Perfect Continuous - Teaching Ideas 2 - ESL Jobs   The teaching idea for the past perfect continuous tense covered in this video is an adaptation of a present perfect continuous idea. The past perfect continuous is rarely used so it can be quite hard to think up original and interesting ideas for it so adapting ideas for other tenses where suitable is useful. For this idea students are given situation that was happening in the past and the other students having to say what they think had been happening before that event to cause it. For example: Yesterday you were crying (because you had been watching a sad film). If you are thinking about becoming an English teacher you should consider getting yourself properly qualified. In addition taking a TEFL certificate...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect -- Usage --   We have seen that the key word that helps us to remember the Present Perfect tense is forms of the word 'have' plus the past participle form of the verb. This ITTT video looks at the three main usages of the Present Perfect. First usage: To talk about indefinite past actions. I have been to Italy twice. / I have eaten snake. Second usage: To talk about unfinished past actions I have lived here for three years. / She has been a teacher since 2010. Third usage: To talk about past actions with present results. I have lost my keys. / I have left my computer in the office. When teaching the Present Perfect tense or any other grammar point it is always important to look for patterns and make it as clear as possible for your students. The...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses Overview - Present Perfect   The present perfect always relates the past to the present. This can be through the unfinished past, where we're expressing duration, such as 'I have played football for 10 years,' the indefinite past expressing experience in your life, such as 'I have been to Italy and Spain,' and also to show the present results of a past action 'I have broken my leg.' I broke it in the past and it remains broken in the present. Our final present tense is the present perfect continuous tense. Our example sentence here 'I have been playing football for 10 years' has the structure subject plus auxiliary verb 'have' or 'has' and then a second auxiliary verb here 'being' plus 'verb-ing'; 'I have been playing.' Very much like...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect - Usages   The main function for the present perfect tense is to relate something in the past to the present. We can do so in a number of ways. First, we have indefinite past actions. 'I have been to Italy twice'. We're not concerned with when it happened, we just simply want to say that it has happened in the past. It's a fact of something I have done in the past but yet it's still true in the present. Unfinished past actions: 'I have lived here for three years'. I started living here in the past and it's still true now. With this usage, you will typically see time expressions. Finally, we have past actions with present results. I have lost my keys. It's implied that I still haven't found them. I lost them in the...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect - Overview   Now we'll have a look at the present perfect tense. The form for the present perfect tense is again our subject here, our auxiliary verb, or helping verb, in this case it's 'have'. For subjects 'I,' 'you,' 'we,' 'they', we leave the auxiliary verb as 'have'. For 'he,' 'she' and 'it', our auxiliary verb needs to be conjugated or changed into 'has'. Following these helping verbs, we have our main verb in the past participle form. Here we have the verb 'to play'. 'To play' is a regular verb. So for regular verbs we simply add '-ed'. The result is sentences such as 'I have played football today,' or 'He has played snooker today'. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect - Spelling Patterns   As mentioned earlier, our example sentence has used a regular verb 'to play'. With the regular verbs we simply add '-ed'. This spelling pattern changes for words that end with a consonant and a Y: 'cry' goes to 'cried', 'try' to 'tried'. Another spelling pattern we have to be aware of is our consonant plus vowel plus consonant. In these instances, we double the consonant used: 'shop' needs the double P; 'ship' needs the double P. With these spelling patterns, and most spelling patterns in general for the English language, there are always exceptions to the rules. So we have to be aware of those exceptions. We also have to impart those exceptions on to our students. We can do so through various...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses Overview - Present Perfect Continuous   We can see that this particular usage of the unfinished past can be used for both the present perfect and the present perfect continuous. Where we've got action verbs, we usually prefer to use the present perfect continuous. However, there are state verbs which don't usually go into the continuous form, such as 'know'. We would say 'I have known her for 10 years,' not 'I have been knowing her for 10 years.' So when we have these state verbs, such as 'know', 'be', 'seem' and 'appear', we would usually put these in the present perfect but with the action verbs, such as 'play', 'cook', 'work', we will use these in the present perfect continuous. Normally, we also use the present perfect continuous...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect Continuous - Overview   And now we'll have a look at the present perfect continuous tense. As its name suggests, what we're going to do is combine the present continuous usages and the present perfect usages into a tense that basically expresses the fact that we've got an action continuing up until the present point in time. For the form of this tense, again, we're going to combine into various aspects of both the perfect and the continuous tenses. If we have a look we always begin with our subjects, then we have our, two now, helping verbs. The helping verb 'to have' for the perfect tenses, as well as the helping verb 'be' for the continuous tenses. For our subjects 'I', 'you', 'we' and 'they', we leave 'have' as...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect - Irregular Verbs   As mentioned earlier, to form this tense, we have to use a special form of the verb. Technically it's called the past participle form with irregular verbs. Of course these past participle forms change quite a bit from its base form of the verb. Here are a few examples 'go' moves to 'gone', 'be' moves to 'been', 'write' to 'written', 'speak' to 'spoken' and 'read'. Although very confusing for the non-native speaker, doesn't change its spelling, but does change its pronunciation, resulting in 'read' going to 'read'. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect -- Structure 2 --   This ITTT video is the second part of a lesson looking at the structure of the Present Perfect tense. It reviews an example of the structure with a regular verb -- played. I/you/we/they have played. She/He/It has played. The video then examines some of the spelling patterns that are used with irregular verbs. For example, verbs ending with a consonant + y. cry changes to cried, try changes to tried. Another spelling pattern with irregular verbs ending with a consonant + a vowel + a consonant Shop changes to shopped, ship changes to shipped. When teaching this particular point, as with other grammar points, it is important to explain to students that there are exceptions to most rules in the English language. Where specific...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect -- Structure -- TESOL   This video is the first of two that looks at the structure of the Present Perfect tense. Positive: subject +auxiliary verb have/has + past participle I have played. / She has played. Negative: subject + auxiliary verb have/has + not + past participle I have not played. / She has not played. Question: auxiliary verb have/has + subject + past participle Have I played? / Has she played? This verb tense requires the use of the past participle. With regular verbs the past participle is the verb plus ed, for example work - worked. However there are many irregular verbs that do not follow this pattern and have to be learnt from memory. For example, eat- eaten, drink-drunk, teach-taught. Most good grammar books will provide you with...  [Read more]

Overview of All English Tenses - Present Tenses - Present Perfect Continuous - Board Game   There's another activity for comparing and contrasting the tenses focusing here in this activity on the present perfect and the present perfect continuous. So in the activity, students will start at the start and roll a die. Perhaps they can roll a 5. They will read 'something you've been learning for a long time'. The appropriate sentence may be 'I've been learning English for a long time.' The next student may go and roll 4. They read 'a beautiful place you've visited.' Then, rather than the present perfect continuous, they would use the present perfect tense: 'I visited Paris.' You can encourage students to even ask follow-up questions, which would also include other tenses: 'What was so...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect Continuous -- Structure -TESOL Course   This ITTT video outlines the structure of the Present Perfect Continuous tense, the tense that is used for events which started in the past and are still continuing, or which have stopped, but whose effects are still ongoing. This one of two videos -- this one focuses on the structure of the positive and negative forms. Positive form: subject + auxiliary verb 'have'/'has' + been + present participle I have been working for ten years. Negative form: subject + auxiliary verb 'have'/'has' + not +been + present participle She has not been working here for some time. It is essential for any TESOL Course to provide teachers with a sound knowledge of the English language tense system and to give teachers the...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect Continuous -- Usage -- TESOL Course   This video explores the usages of the Present Perfect Continuous -- the tense that relates past activities to the present. It implies that the activity is likely to continue in the future or that the activity was in progress for some length of time, or both. The first usage is to talk about an incomplete and ongoing activity, when we want to say how long it has continued. For example, "I have been teaching for ten years." It talks about an action that started in the past and is continuing now. The second usage is to describe recently finished activities that have present results. For example, "He is tired because he has been chopping trees." It is talking about an action that was continuing until very recently....  [Read more]

TEFL in Mexico - Mexico City Date posted:2006-12-12 | Writer: The Global Approach Language Institute | Email: [email protected] If you are looking for some international experience, have some time to travel and are interested in new places and cultures, then we have the perfect opportunity for you. The Global Approach Language Institute is seeking qualified Native English teachers to teach English at all levels-from children's classes to executive classes-in Mexico City. Teaching hours vary between 7am and 7pm depending on the students schedules. Classes are taught at the students home or office in various parts of the city. Classes are paid on an hourly basis of $100 pesos per hour and teachers have about 15 hours a week. Airfare and accomodations are ot included by the institute...  [Read more]

Sun, 03 Mar 2019 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences A Summary of All English Tenses for ESL Teachers and Learners The tense system of English is probably one of the most daunting areas for many speakers of other languages. Multiple tenses should be taught through explaining strict grammar rules while allowing the students to practice proper structure, as well as evaluating themselves with quizzes and examples. Table of Contents Listen to this blog post: 1. The Past Tenses 1) Simple Past Tense 2) Past Continuous Tense 3) Past Perfect Tense 4) Past Perfect Continuous Tense 2. The Present Tenses 1) Simple Present Tense 2) Present Continuous Tense 3) Present Perfect Tense 4) Present Perfect Continuous Tense 3. The Future Tense 1) Simple Future Tense 2) Future Continuous Tense 3) Future...  [Read more]

English Grammar -- Present Perfect Continuous -- Structure 2- Teach English Abroad   This is the second ITTT video that looks at the structure of the Present Perfect Continuous tense. This time we focus on the question form. Question form: auxiliary verb 'have/has' + subject + been + present participle Have I/you/we/they been teaching for five years? Has he/she/it been teaching for five years? To learn more about the Present Perfect Continuous tense and the other tenses, why not have a look at our other videos online. You may then want to consider completing one of our popular courses. ITTT's courses will equip you with the necessary skills needed to make sure that you can become an effective English language teacher and to be able to confidently teach all aspects of the language....  [Read more]

Wed, 13 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Difficulties of Learning English for Arabic Speakers When native Arabic learners attempt to learn the English language, they are faced with a variety of difficulties since there are fundamental differences between the two languages. Arabic words have a three-consonant root as its base, so all words are formed by combining the roots with either a fixed vowel pattern or and affix. The Arabic language has 28 consonants and 8 vowels which is three times less than the English language in terms of vowel sounds. Due to those differences, Arabic learners struggle in the following areas; writing, grammar, phonology, and pronunciation when learning the English language. Table of Contents Writing Grammar Phonology Do you want to teach...  [Read more]

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Challenges and Principles of Teaching Tenses and Conditionals In the early lessons of the course, I was able to better understand the components of the sentence, and the knowledge about word types was expanded. It includes a definite article, adjective, noun, verb, preposition, adverb, conjunction, gerund, personal pronoun. Table of Contents Tenses Conditionals The five main conditionals are as follows: Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Phuong P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Tenses In unit 4, we have started talking about tenses in English. I looked at the four present...  [Read more]

Tue, 28 May 2019 Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Teaching Multiple Tenses: Should You Do It and If So Which Ones? Teaching multiple tenses might sound frightening as teaching a single tense can sometimes be a challenge on its own. However, while it might seem difficult the first time you try it, it isn't as daunting as you would think. When teaching more than one tense at a time there are two main factors to consider: which tenses to teach together and what language level you are teaching. Table of Contents Simple Rules to Consider When Teaching Tenses Future Tense Forms Perfect Continuous Tenses Other Tense Options Are you ready to teach English grammar abroad? Related Articles: Listen to this blog post This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate...  [Read more]

Register now & get certified to teach english abroad! Verb Tense Timeline   Here's a useful infographic showcasing the different verb tenses in the English language.   The Past Tenses Past Perfect = used for an action that was completed before some point in the past, for example: "I had written a book."   Past Simple = used for an action that occurred in the past, for example: "I wrote a book."   Past Perfect Continuous = used for an action that was completed over a period of time before some point in the past, for example: "I had been writing a book."   Past Simple Continuous = used for a continuing action that began in the past, for example: "I was writing a book."   The Present Tenses Present Perfect =...  [Read more]