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Diploma in Higher Education Studies

What is happening now: the present continuous

HES 104 · Developing English Language Skills — Week 2 of 16

CourseHES 104
Week2 of 16
SemesterI
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This week’s topics

What is happening now: the present continuous

  1. Now or usually?
  2. Describing a picture

What you will be able to do

  • 1.1 Use present, past and future verb forms accurately.

Activity

Describe what people are doing in a busy street photo.

Study materials

Further resources

  • Writing for Success, ch. 5.5: Verb tenses (present progressive) · PDF · Saylor (2012), now or usually?; pp. 186–199 · for registered students
  • Writing for Success, ch. 10.3: Description · PDF · Saylor (2012), describing what you see; pp. 373–375 · for registered students
  • Teaching English Tense and Aspect with the Help of Cognitive Grammar · Open-access article · Bielak & Pawlak (2011), Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching. Classroom study on present continuous for things happening now versus present simple for habits. · for registered students
  • Towards More Context and Discourse in Grammar Instruction · Open-access article · Celce-Murcia (2007), TESL-EJ. Practising tenses in short dialogues and texts, including present continuous. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
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Course plan
  • Week 1: Talking about yourself: the present simple
  • Week 2: What is happening now: the present continuous
  • Week 3: Telling a story: the past simple
  • Week 4: Building vocabulary: word families and collocations
  • Week 5: Reading for gist and detail
  • Week 6: Listening for key information
  • Week 7: Speaking clearly: sounds and word stress
  • Midterm: Midterm evaluation
  • Week 9: Talking about the future: will and going to
  • Week 10: Giving advice and rules: should, must, have to
  • Week 11: Writing good sentences
  • Week 12: Writing a paragraph
  • Week 13: Comparing things: comparatives and superlatives
  • Week 14: Writing an email
  • Week 15: Review and coursework completion
  • Final: Final assessment and submission
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