Progressive and Continuous Tenses

EnglishGrammar & PunctuationAges 9–10

Form and use the progressive (continuous) verb tenses — past progressive (was walking), present progressive (am walking), and future progressive (will be walking) — to convey ongoing actions at different times

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Teaching Table

Set out your lesson

Use past, present and future progressive forms to describe actions in progress at stated times.

Activity

Ask for a sentence about an action yesterday, a usual action and an action tomorrow. If simple tense choice is not clear, revisit Simple Past, Present and Future first. Check the learner can find the whole verb group, not just the -ing word.

Policy

Check readiness directly. Prerequisite availability is not attainment.

Use paper and the three supplied time captions. The adult can move a finger along the captions to show when an action is in progress. No clock, phone call or actual journey is required. Put all examples aside for Try. Read the active prompt on screen and write on plain paper; no printer, cutting or purchase is needed. An adult may read instructions without naming target forms. Record reading help, verb hints and scribing separately. Oral answers can show language choices but do not show independent written composition or handwriting. Pause or split the lesson if needed. Adult-only. Keep all keys and scripts off learner pages. Share only the active Show solution. Put Show and Guided examples aside before Try. Do not show a future-stage key. Use invented characters and ordinary paper. Do not collect names, home-language samples or private family events. All rules, clubs and events are fictional.

Record the actual response and assistance. These tasks do not establish mastery.

Use the complete materials on screen or print only the current sheet. Keep adult guidance out of learner view. Retain an earlier model only when the current step supplies it as context.

Teaching limits and safe use

These are finite task opportunities, not proof of mastery. Record what was attempted and what support was used.

Only action verbs are sampled. The lesson does not claim every verb works naturally in a progressive form.
The supplied scenes specify the intended ongoing meaning; spontaneous choice in extended writing is not assessed.

Record the actual response and assistance. These tasks do not establish mastery.

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Use past, present and future progressive forms to describe actions in progress at stated times.

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Check understanding

Write sentences using past progressive to describe an action that was ongoing at a particular time, e.g. 'She was reading when the phone rang'
Distinguish present progressive from simple present, e.g. 'I am eating lunch' (right now) vs 'I eat lunch at noon' (habitual)
Form the future progressive using 'will be' + present participle to describe an action that will be ongoing, e.g. 'Tomorrow at 3pm I will be travelling'

“If your child wants to describe an action that was happening over a period of time in the past — like "I was reading when the phone rang" — can they write the verb in the right ongoing-past form?”

Curriculum record

Type: Procedural
Subject: English
Domain: Grammar & Punctuation
Age range: Ages 9–10

Standards

ccss-ela:L.4.1b