The present progressive in Spanish is used to express actions in progress. Because of the active nature of the verb tense, it’s a really fun structure to teach in Spanish using TPR. If you work in a school that requires you to use a textbook, but you want to incorporate more Comprehensible Input (CI) strategies into your teaching, here is a list of 5 CI friendly activities that will reinforce the present progressive in Spanish.
Reading in Spanish
This story uses 26 repetitions of the present progressive structure in Spanish. Through reading, students will see and hear the grammar in context. The story is written in comprehensible Spanish and great for acting out. Students will really enjoy it! It also includes audio for differentiated learning abilities and to provide extra input in the target language. Students can listen again for homework or use this reading with a sub. This is probably the most CI friendly activity you could present to students, while still meeting the requirements of your curriculum.
Spanish Charades
Charades is an incredibly fun way to practice present progressive verbs in Spanish! This video demo demonstrates how to prepare students to play charades in Spanish.
You can easily create your own charade cards, or have students create their own by writing a sentence using the present progressive. If you want to save some time though, I also have these premade cards available for purchase. This includes a set of 24 cards with images to make the sentences more comprehensible for all students.
Serpiente Game
This is a variation of the “Tengo…¿Quién tiene?” game. Each student receives a card with a Spanish sentence in the present progressive form. Once at a time, each student reads their sentence aloud and acts out what is on the card before asking “¿Quién está…?” Eventually, the cards snake around the room and every student has read his/her card aloud.
One variation I like with this game is timing my students. I use my phone to time their first attempt and write the results on the board. Then I ask them to predict how much faster they think they can do it? Once I have their prediction, I make them swap cards (so sneaky, right?!) and then try again. I keep the first class’s best time on the board and let other periods try to beat them. Students really love the competitive nature of the game and want to try over and over until they beat the best time. This gives them even more repetition of the present progressive structure in context! It’s win-win!
Formal notes and practice with present progressive
You may be thinking, “Ok all these games are great, but how do I first present the material?”
I would argue that you can present the material with any of these activities, but if you like the structure of formal notes and practice, I have created that for you as well. Here is a simple one-page guided notes handout on presente progresivo for your students, as well as a teacher presentation to accompany it.
Notes are animated to give students built in practice with wait time, and conclude with a TPR game to provide movement and increase engagement.
Present Progressive Tic-Tac-Toe
One of my students favorite Spanish grammar games is Tic-Tac-Toe. I have tricked them into doing a worksheet by formatting it as a game. –Mwah-ha-ha!—
Students compete against their partner to earn three-in-a-row while conjugating verbs in the present progressive form. Answers are included on the back so that they can check their work. It’s a fun and interactive way to provide individual practice.
I include two boards so that students can practice and play longer. I place the boards in plastic sheets and let kids write in dry-erase markers because that’s even more fun and cuts down on the number of copies I have to make!
