Ready, Set, Action Verbs : Help your students use the Present Continuous!
The present continuous is one of the most engaging verb tenses to teach young English learners because students can see the meaning in action. When learners move, mime, and describe what is happening, the grammar becomes memorable and useful—not just another rule to copy.
These classroom activities help students build an action-verb vocabulary, form positive and negative sentences, and ask and answer questions in the present continuous. Use them as a lesson opener, a speaking station, a movement break, or a focused review after teaching the tense.
Build a strong action-verb foundation
Before students can describe what people are doing, they need a reliable bank of action verbs. The Action Verb Charades: Present Continuous Tense Miming Game gives learners a natural reason to listen, move, and speak. One student mimes an action while classmates guess the verb and make a complete sentence such as “She is jumping.”
The 65-card set works well with ESL and EFL learners as well as primary students. It gets children moving, gives them repeated exposure to useful vocabulary, and creates plenty of opportunities to hear the target structure. A color version and an ink-friendly white-background version are included, so you can print the format that suits your classroom.
Practice positive, negative, and question forms
Once students know the verbs, move into sentence building with the Action Verb Card Game: Present Continuous Tense. In small groups or teams, students use the cards to make affirmative sentences, negative sentences, and questions. The game format keeps the repetition purposeful and encourages learners to listen carefully to their classmates.
Card games are especially effective for young learners because every turn creates another chance to use the grammar. Explore more printable card games for English language learners when you want to extend the practice to new vocabulary or verb forms.
Move from vocabulary to complete sentences
For a hands-on follow-up, use an action-verb activity set with cootie catchers, worksheets, and sentence matching. Fortune tellers are a playful way to recycle vocabulary: students open a catcher, identify the picture, and describe it with a complete present continuous sentence. The same routine can be used for pair work, early-finisher practice, or a small-group reteach.
The activity sequence also supports differentiation. Students can first learn the infinitive, then write the present continuous form, and finally match a complete sentence to the correct picture. With multiple ways to rehearse the same language, learners have time to become accurate and fluent.
Simple classroom routines that work
- Model the structure: write “subject + am/is/are + verb-ing” and say one example aloud.
- Mime and guess: let one student act while classmates identify the verb.
- Expand the answer: ask “What is he doing?” and require a complete sentence.
- Change the form: turn an affirmative sentence into a negative sentence or a question.
- Review with a partner: students choose a picture, describe it, and check each other’s verb forms.
When students can connect movement, pictures, and conversation, the present continuous becomes much easier to remember. Keep the activities short and repeat them regularly so learners build both grammatical accuracy and the confidence to describe the world around them.
