HOW TO EFFECTIVELY TEACH THE

PAST CONTINUOUS TO EFL AND ESL

STUDENTS
by Kenneth Beare

The main concept to introduce when teaching the past continuous is the idea that the past
continuous expresses an interrupted action. In other words, the past continuous speaks about
what was going on when something important happened. The past continuous can be used by
itself to express what happened at a precise moment in the past. However, the most common use
is together with the past simple (when something happened).

You might want to consider teaching the past simple together with the past continuous for
intermediate level classes, as the past simple will be review for students.

Introduction

Start by speaking about what was interrupted. Describe an important past event and then fill in
the details as a painter would fill in background details by using the past continuous form. This
immediately illustrates the idea that the past continuous is used to set the context of what was
happening at that moment in time.

I'd like to tell you about the day I met my wife. I was walking through the park, the birds were
singing and it was raining just a little bit when I saw her! She was sitting on the bench and
reading a book at that moment. I'll never be the same. etc.

This example is admittedly exaggerated. However, it conveys the point. Continue introducing the
past continuous by asking students simple questions in the past simple about events.

Follow up these questions with a question asking what was happening when...

When did you leave home this morning - At nine o'clock.

What was your sister doing when you left home?
Where did you meet your girlfriend? - At school.
What were you doing when you met her?

The next step in teaching the past continuous is to include simultaneous actions using 'while'.

Explain that 'while' is used when two actions happen at the same time in the past. It's a good idea
to point out the difference between while and during, as well to help avoid future confusion.
Practice

Explaining the Past Continuous on the Board

Use a past continuous timeline to illustrate interrupted action. Contrasting this timeline with the
past continuous for something happening at a specific point in the past may help illustrate the
difference between the two uses. Make sure that students understand the use of time clauses with
'when' and 'while' to help them use the past continuous in context.

Comprehension Activities

Comprehension activities such as using photos in magazines will help with the past continuous.
In this case, make it clear to students that they are to describe the event in the past. You can
model this by using a photo in a magazine to describe such an event. Dialogues beginning with
"What were you doing?" will help students practice. A creative writing exercise on the past
continuous will also help students build their ability to integrate the past continuous into more
advanced structures.

Challenges

The single greatest challenge to the past continuous is deciding which action is the main event.

In other words, which event interrupted the action in progress in the past moment in time. Other
challenges can include the use of the past continuous to express an activity that happened over a
period of time. It's crucial for students to understand that the past continuous describes a
particular moment in time, and not a completed event. Here are examples of this type of issue:

I was studying my homework yesterday.

She was cooking dinner last night.

In other words, the past continuous needs the context of another event when stopped the action in
progress at the time.

https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-teach-past-continuous-1212108
Learning the basic structure and usage of the past continuous is usually not that difficult for most
students. Unfortunately, this is not the case when it comes to actively integrating the past
continuous into everyday conversations or written communications. This lesson is aimed at
helping students actively use the past continuous in speaking and writing. This is done through
the use of the past continuous as a descriptive tense to "paint a picture" in words of the moment
when something important occurred.

Aim

To increase active usage of the past continuous

Activity

Speaking activity followed by a gap fill exercise and creative writing

Level b

Intermediate

Outline

 Begin teaching the past continuous by telling a story with exaggerated details through the
use of the past continuous. For example, "I remember that day well. The birds were
singing, the sun was shining, and the children were playing games peacefully. At that
moment, I saw Alex and fell in love." Point out how the past continuous is used to paint a
picture of the scene.
 Quickly review the past continuous structure with the class. Go over differences in usage
between the past simple and past continuous. Point out that the past continuous focuses
on a specific moment in the past.
 Write various examples on the board of sentences combining the past simple and past
continuous to illustrate the idea of an interrupted past. For example, "I was walking
through the park when I met David." Ask students to comment on what function the past
continuous plays in the example sentences.
 Have students divide into small groups of 3-4.
 Ask students to complete the activity by providing an appropriate response with the past
continuous to describe an action that was interrupted.

 Next, have students first conjugate verbs in the past simple to complete the story. Next,
ask them to insert past continuous clauses into the appropriate place in the story.
 Correct this exercise as a class. Make sure to note differences between the past
continuous and past simple as you review.
 Ask students to complete the written exercise focusing on a special day in their lives.
 Once they've written their paragraph, ask students to find a partner. Each student should
read their paragraph and ask questions to check understanding. 
Interrupted Actions

Use the verb suggestion to complete the sentence with an appropriate phrase expressing an
interrupted action:

1. I (watch) ____________ when her boss called with a job offer.

2. My friends (play) _____________ when they felt the earthquake.
3. When I walked in the door, they children (study) _________________.
4. We (eat) _________________ when we heard the news.
5. My parents (travel) ________________ when I telephoned that I was pregnant. 

Use of the Past Continuous in Writing

Put the following verbs into the past simple:

Thomas _______ (live) in the small town of Brington. Thomas _______ (love) walking through
the beautiful forest that surrounded Brington. One evening, he ____ (take) his umbrella and
_____ (go) for a walk in the woods. He ______ (meet) an old man named Frank. Frank _______
(tell) Thomas that, if he _____ (want) to become rich, he should invest in a little-known stock
called Microsoft. Thomas ______ (think) Frank _____ (be) foolish because Microsoft ____ (be)
a computer stock. Everybody _____ (know) that computers _____ (be) just a passing fad. At any
rate, Frank _______ (insist) that Thomas _____ (be) wrong. Frank _______ (draw) a wonderful
graph of future possibilities. Thomas ______ (begin) thinking that maybe Frank ______
(understand) stocks. Thomas _______ (decide) to buy some of these stocks. The next day, he
______ (go) to the stock broker's and _____ (buy) $1,000 worth of Microsoft stock. That _____
(be) in 1986. Today, that $1,000 is worth more than $250,000!

Improve the Story

Insert the following past continuous fragments into the above story:

 As Frank was drawing the graph, ...

 ... while he was walking to work,
 it was raining, so...
 While they were discussing the stock, ...
 When he was returning from his walk, ...
 As he was walking through the woods,

Written Exercise

1. Write a description of an important day in your life. Include the most important events
that occurred during that day in the past simple. Once you have written the important
events using the past simple, try to include a description of what was happening at some
of the specific moments when those events occurred to provide more details.
 2. Write out a few questions about your important day. Make sure to include a few
questions in the past continuous. For example, "What was I doing when I found out about
the job?"
3. Find a partner and read your story twice. Next, ask your partner your questions and
discuss.
4. Listen to your partner's story and answer their questions.

https://www.thoughtco.com/grammar-lesson-plan-integrating-past-continuous-1211075

The past continuous and continuous forms, in general, are used with action verbs such as talk,
drive, play, etc. The continuous form is not used with stative verbs such as 'be', 'seem', 'taste', etc.
Some stative verbs can be used as action verbs so there are some exceptions. For example, 'smell'
- It smelled good. (stative verb) / He was smelling the roses when she walked by the
window (action verb.)

Positive Form

Subject + to be (was, were) + present participle (ing form of verb) + objects:

Jane was typing the letter when he walked into the room.
They're were discussing the problem at 11.

Past Continuous Negative Form

Subject + to be (was, were) + not + verb + objects

Jack wasn't watching TV. He was cooking dinner.

We weren't wasting time! We were working hard.

Past Continuous Question Form

(Question Word) + to be (was, were) + subject + present participle (ing form of verb)?

What were

you doing at seven o'clock?

Was Jennifer paying attention during the meeting?

Past Continuous Usage

The past continuous is used to talk about what was happening at a specific moment in the past.

Alex was knitting a sweater at 10:30 yesterday morning.

My friends were waiting for me at nine o'clock.
The past continuous is also often used together with the past simple to express what was
happening when something important occurred.

They were working on the project when she burst into the room.
I was thinking about him when the telephone rang. Guess who it was?!

Important Time Expressions

These time expressions are commonly used with the past continuous to express a past
action occurring at a specific moment in the past.

At/At that Moment

'At' and 'at that moment' refer to a specific point of time in the past. These two expressions are
often used with the past continuous. It is more common to use the past simple to speak in
general, but if you want to express what was happening at a precise moment of time in the past,
use the past continuous.

She was having breakfast at 6.45 this morning.

We were working on his request at 10 pm.
Alan wasn't meeting with Tom at 9. He was meeting with Dennis.

When/As

'When' is used with the past simple to express an important event that occurred in the past. The
past continuous is used to express what was happening at that moment.

They were getting ready when he came home.

Alice wasn't thinking when she said that.
What were you doing when he asked the question?

While

'While' is used with the past continuous to express something that was happening at the same
moment in time that something else was occurring.

During

'During' is used with a noun or a noun phrase to express an event during which something was
happening.

I was typing while he was dictating.

She wasn't paying attention during the meeting.
Jackson was working while she was having a good time.
Past Continuous Worksheet 1

Conjugate the verb in parentheses in the past continuous tense.

In the case of questions, use the indicated subject as well.

1. What _____ (you do) when he arrived?

2. She _____ (watch) TV at two o'clock.
3. They _____ (not sleep) at five o'clock.
4. Peter _____ (work) when I telephoned.
5. Tim _____ (study) German while they were studying French.
6. I _____ (not pay attention) during the presentation.
7. _____ (Brian talk) during the lesson?
8. We _____ (not cook) when he walked in the door.
9. Jason _____ (play) the piano at three o'clock yesterday afternoon.
10. When _____ (Howard give) the presentation exactly?
11. Andrea _____ (not expect) you to arrive so early!
12. What _____ (you think) when you said that?!
13. _____ (she do) the housework when you telephoned?
14. Carlos _____ (drink) tea when I walked into the room.
15. They _____ (meet) with Smith and Co at exactly 2.35 pm.
16. My cousin _____ (not have) a good time when I arrived.

1. They _____ (discuss) the issue when she telephoned.

2. _____ (they work) in the garden when you arrived?
3. She _____ (sleep) so he entered the room softly.
4. They _____ (not take) notes during the presentation, but paying attention to every word.

Past Continuous Worksheet 2

Choose the correct time expression used with the past continuous tense.

1. What were you doing (while/during) the meeting?

2. Tim was finishing the report (in/at) five o'clock.
3. They were discussing the problem (when/at) I walked into the room.
4. Jackson wasn't listening (while/during) he was explaining the situation.
5. Was Alice paying attention (while/during) the presentation?
6. They were having a quiet breakfast (this/at) morning when he arrived.
7. What were they doing (when/in) that happened?
8. Sheila was playing the piano (while/during) he was working on the computer.
9. I was working at the computer (at/on) seven o'clock this morning.
10. Alex wasn't playing golf (this/at) morning. He was working.
11. What were they doing (in/at) four o'clock?
12. She was working quietly (when/for) he opened the door.
13. Peter wasn't doing the housework (that/yesterday) morning. He was working in the
garden.
 14. Where were they sleeping (at/when) he got home last night?
15. Jason was thinking about the problem (when/at) he asked for an answer.
16. Our teacher was explaining math (from/when) he burst into the room with the news.
17. Dilbert was working at the computer (on/at) four o'clock this morning!
18. Were they listening (as/at) he asked the question?
19. She wasn't working (when/in) he came into the office.

1. They weren't thinking about that (at/when) they made the decision.

Answers Worksheet 1

1. were you doing

2. was watching
3. weren't sleeping
4. was working
5. was studying
6. wasn't paying attention
7. was Brian talking
8. weren't cooking
9. was playing
10. was Howard giving
11. wasn't expecting
12. were you thinking
13. Was she doing
14. was drinking
15. were meeting
16. wasn't having
17. were discussing
18. Were they working
19. was sleeping
20. weren't taking

Answers Worksheet 2

1. during
2. at
3. when
4. while
5. during
6. this
7. when
8. while
9. at
10. this
11. at
12. when
 13. yesterday
14. when
15. when
16. when
17. at
18. as
19. when
20. when

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