A Lesson on the Present Perfect Continuous Tense for EFL Students

Dec 11, 2010 Lynne Evans

Present perfect tenses are tricky for students. - The British Library

The present perfect continuous tense sometimes causes problems for students and teachers. Here is one way of teaching it, which may be helpful.

Many new EFL/ESL teachers are very wary of teaching the past perfect tenses, but there is no reason for this. Native speakers are not used to thinking about the tenses and the way they are used, and this is a problem. Often non-native speakers know the grammar rules better than we native speakers do, and this can also be a little daunting. However this article is an attempt to demystify the present perfect continuous.

The objective of the lesson is that by the end of it students should be able to understand and use the present perfect continuous tense.

Prepare Pictorial Prompts

Prior to the lesson find some pictures which show someone looking hot and bothered, someone with dirty clothes, dirty hands and other pictures or photos in which someone or an animal has clearly been doing something prior to the pictures being taken and ask students in pairs to decide what has happened to the person or animal before the photo was taken. You will need copies of each picture so that the activity can go on for five minutes.

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Introductory phase of the lesson

You could start by asking your students if they know what the present perfect continuous tense consists of and try to elicit that the present part is the verb to have so will be have or has, depending on whether or not it is the third person singular use of the verb that is required. The perfect part is the past participle of the verb to be (been) and the continuous, the ‘ing’ form, i.e. the present continuous of the main verb.

When we use the present perfect continuous

Once again, find out if the students know how to use this tense. They might have reasonable idea, depending on whether they have the same tense with an identical usage in their mother tongue. You should check this out with a non-native speaker teacher beforehand, and if there is such a tense, ask how it is used. If it is not used in the same way as in English you will have to explain this in your lesson to ensure students don’t get confused later.

Point out that we use the present perfect continuous when the results of a past action are still visible. For example if you are covered in engine oil you would explain your appearance to a visitor by gesturing and saying, “I’ve been working on the car.”

Answering questions in the same tense as that used in the question

Point out that when asked a question it is usual to respond in the same tense when answering. For example, “How long have you been learning English?” The answer will use the same structure, “I’ve been learning English for three years (now).”

Read on 

• Refresher EFL Lesson Plan to Revise Present Perfect Tense
• Teaching the Present Continuous Tense in English
• ESL Teaching – The Present Perfect Continuous

Test your students’ understanding by asking “How long have you been sitting in class?”

Other questions could be “what have you been doing since I last saw you?” Make sure they give you long answers and later point out that the whole tense can be avoided in spoken English by giving short answers. For example they could just say “nothing” instead of “I haven’t been doing anything in particular.” Make a point of showing where the negative goes in negative sentences: - with the auxiliary verb “have” rather than the main verb.

Pair Work Activity

Ask students to tell each other what they have been doing since the last class. Tell them that they should use the present perfect continuous only when necessary, but to use it at the beginning of this interaction. Explain that they should listen to each other carefully so that they can say which tense was most frequently used by their partners.

While they are doing this activity you should go around the class making sure that they are using the past tense rather than the present perfect continuous.

At the end of the activity, which shouldn’t take longer than 3 minutes, ask what tenses they used in their conversations. They should have noticed that they used the simple past more often than the present perfect continuous. This is because they were referring to actions which ended at some time in the past, the results of which are not now evident. Therefore they should have said “On Monday I went to work.” Or “Yesterday I went to the cinema.”

Second Pair Work Activity

Put students into mixed ability pairs and hand out the pictures. Ask them to take turns to speculate about what the subject of each picture has been doing immediately prior to the picture being taken. Encourage students to speculate and use their imaginations and to discuss what has happened with their partner before deciding. Explain that they should use phrases such as “He/She might have…/may have/could have /probably...” etc.

Walk around the class encouraging and helping the weaker students where necessary.

The text book stage of the lesson

Now that students have practised the use of the present perfect continuous, they can be asked to turn to the textbook they are using and follow the tasks in it if that is what you have to do. In this way you can assess how well they have understood the usage of the tense and whether the objective of the lesson has been achieved.

As an extension activity you can ask students to write a short personal recount and give them a scenario in which they will have to use the present perfect continuous tense. For example: You were walking beside a lake when you fell in. On your way home you bumped into your friend and felt you should explain why you were wet. Write the conversation you had with your friend and say what you did after you had explained what had happened.

You can further evaluate whether they have understood the use of the present perfect continuous from this written work.

Read more at Suite101: A Lesson on the Present Perfect Continuous Tense for EFL Students http://www.suite101.com/content/a-lesson-on-the-present-perfect-continuous-tense-for-efl-students-a319342#ixzz18zhAETxE