A few months ago, I was going through the coursebook for my elementary level class. I noticed the unit covered the Present Simple and Present Continuous tenses, and although I’ve taught this many times, I realised I didn’t have a board game for it. It suddenly occurred to me that a board game could work really well for this language point.
As I started drafting out some ideas, I remembered that this grammar point is also covered at Pre-intermediate level (A2). At that level, students learn more details on the difference between these two tenses.
As I kept working on this, I soon realised I would need to create two board games, one for Beginner and Elementary level (A1) and another for Pre-intermediate (A2).
Beginner Level Present Simple vs Present Continuous Board Game
This board game came together pretty quickly, as I combined ideas from a few previous board games. For the speaking prompt, ‘What is he or she doing?’ accompanies a picture for the present continuous, and then there are questions about routine for practising the present simple tense.
I wanted to use a lot of images in it to make it easier for the lower levels to comprehend. Like most of my resources, I wanted to use Ron Leishman’s cartoons. I love his work, and the cartoons appeal to both adults and kids without making resources look juvenile.
I’m really happy with the final results.
Pre-intermediate Level Present Simple vs Present Continuous Board Game
This board game took a lot longer; in fact it took me over a month. I wanted to add an element of flexibility into it, so that teachers could have more choice on the questions and activities. After a bit of brainstorming and a few drafts, I settled on a board game plus cards combo resource. I’ve done this once before for my Superlative Adjectives board game, and it worked well.
The game board has 17 squares with question prompts, along with 17 squares that say ‘card’. Students landing on the card squares pick a card from the pack placed in the middle of the game board.
Cards
What kind of card prompts should be included though? I settled on three:
- Mime cards, great for Present Continuous.
- Question cards, with two gap-fill sentences that contrast routine and temporary actions.
- Correct the sentence cards, ideal for stronger groups.
Flexible Card Options for the Classroom
Teachers can choose to mix two or three sets of cards, or just use one set. This gives them plenty of flexibility, whether they need quick speaking prompts or more challenging grammar tasks. If their class is fairly weak, they might choose the mime cards. If the class is strong, they might prefer the correction cards and the question cards. Teachers with mixed-ability groups might choose different card sets as a differentiated activity.
Final Thoughts
You can find the links to these two board games below. I have more activities to practise these grammar points, and I’ll include links to the bundles below as well.
Do you have a favourite activity for teaching these two tenses? Share it in the comments below. I’d love to hear your ideas.
Want to get more out of board games in you classroom? Check out this article.
Present Simple vs Present Continuous Board Game for A1
Resources mentioned in this article:
Present Simple vs Present Continuous A1 Bundle