The past progressive tense can be tricky for students to grasp, but teaching it doesn't have to be boring. With creative activities and tools, you can make learning the past progressive engaging and fun. Here are some ideas for teaching past progressive in an interactive way that will resonate with students.

Hands-On Activities for Teaching Past Progressive

Getting students out of their seats and involved in an activity is one of the best ways to make grammar lessons memorable. Here are some hands-on ideas:

Past Progressive Charades

Have students act out different past progressive sentences like "I was walking" or "She was reading" while classmates try to guess the sentence. This gets them moving and lets them practice proper pronunciation.

Past Progressive Drawing

Give each student a worksheet with various pre-written sentences leaving a blank space, such as "The girl ____ eating pizza." Have students draw a picture of what was happening in each sentence using the past progressive verbs.

Past Progressive Modeling

Use modeling clay, pipe cleaners, cardboard, etc. to have students create 3D scenes or dioramas that depict past progressive sentences. They can refer to photos or written examples for ideas.

Interactive Past Progressive Games

Games add excitement and competition to grammar lessons. Try these game formats:

Past Progressive Bingo

Call out different past progressive sentences for students to find on bingo cards. Award prizes to winners.

Running Dictation

Post past progressive sentences on walls around the classroom. Have student pairs take turns running to read a sentence and remember it to write down. See who gets the most correct sentences down.

Past Progressive Ball Toss

Have students form a circle and toss a ball, naming a past progressive sentence when they catch it. This gets students moving and speaking.

Digital Tools for Teaching Past Progressive

The right tech tools can make it easy to create engaging past progressive activities. Useful options include:

• Padlet: Have students post examples of past progressive sentences on a shared board.
• Kahoot: Build a past progressive grammar quiz or game to play.
• Wordwall: Find past progressive templates or make your own activities.
• Edpuzzle: Add voice notes explaining the past progressive to any video.

Real-World Past Progressive Practice

Connecting grammar to real situations helps cement the lesson. Try these:

• Write a story in the past progressive tense about your last vacation.
• Imagine you're reporting on a sporting event and give live commentary using the past progressive for actions.
• Act out a cooking show video where you describe steps using the past progressive tense.

Make Past Progressive Lessons Unforgettable

Getting creative with hands-on, interactive activities makes teaching grammar like the past progressive tense engaging for students. Tools like to-teach provide templates and ai assistance to easily build customized exercises, worksheets, and lesson plans that resonate with students. The past progressive doesn't have to put them to sleep - liven it up with the ideas above!