LFO Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 136
5. Language Focus!
Present Progressive – Positive
Have the students look at the chart on page 109. Ask them when
they think the actions in the picture are happening? Elicit from
them that they are happening now as we see the people in line
buying the ice cream now.
We use the Present Progressive to describe actions that are
happening now. For example, ‘I am talking now’, ‘I am looking at
you’, etc.
AL: Students know how word
order, sound and writing
systems in English are
organized and how these
elements compare with their
home language.
Explain how we form the Present Progressive. Explain that we need to use the verb ‘be’ to
match the subject. Have them look at the second column of words in orange. These are
helping verbs. Then we add the verb, the action we want to talk about and to that action we
add ‘ing’.
So, we get a sentence: Albert is buying ice cream.
Subject + To Be + Verb+ing + object.
TIP: Show the students that the Present Progressive sentence is like a butterfly. The left
wing has ‘am/is/are’, the body has the verb and the right wing has ‘ing’. The same way the
butterfly can’t fly without both wings, neither can a verb in the Present Progressive exist
without all the parts.
am / is
/ are
Verb
Remind students of the short form they learned in unit 1. Remind students that they can use
the short form here. When we create the short form we omit one letter and in its place we
add an apostrophe and we push the two words together, like in ‘he is’ = ‘he’s’. Do a few
examples on the board with the students to remind them of what they’ve learned. It is
especially important here to show them how to shorten the pronouns and the verb ‘be’: I’m,
you’re, he’s, she’s, they’re, we’re.
Look at the Spelling Rules at the bottom of the chart and explain the rules for adding ‘ing’.
You can and should explain this in their L1 so it’s clear.
1. If the verb ends in ‘e’, drop the ‘e’ and add ‘ing’: write – writing
2. If the verb ends in ‘ie’, drop the ‘ie’ and add ‘y’, then add ‘ing’: tie – tying, lie – lying
3. If the verb ends in a CVC combination (consonant – vowel – consonant):
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