iv Table of contents Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table contents iv Part A: Introduction 1 Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Methodology of the study Significance of the study Part B: Development Chapter - Literature review 1.1 Time - tense - aspect relationship 1.2 Present Progressive tense 1.2.1 Forms 1.2.2 Uses 10 1.2.3 Signal words 11 1.2.4 Stative and Dynamic verbs 12 1.3 Present Progressive tense vs Present Simple tense 15 Chapter - The Study 18 2.1 Context of the study 18 2.1.1 Teachers 18 2.1.2 Pupils 18 v 2.2 Research questions 19 2.3 Subjects 20 2.4 Data collection instrument 20 2.5 Data analysis procedure 22 2.6 Results & Discussion 22 2.6.1 Question 22 2.6.2 Question 24 2.6.3 Question 27 2.7 Summary and Recommendations 29 2.7.1 Summary 29 2.7.2 Recommendations 30 Part c: conclusion 37 References 38 Appendices Appendix Test I Appendix Key III Appendix Procedures to present the PP tense IV Appendix Video tasks to practise the PP tense VI Part A: Introduction Rationale English is increasingly becoming an important language in the world nowadays Its significance is reflected in the fact that almost everyone learns it in order to communicate with people from a different country Actually, English is being recognized as a means of global communication As a part of the integrated world, Vietnam is trying to improve its English language education in many parts of the country from urban to rural, and even mountainous areas Teachers as main agents in the classroom can investigate existing serious problems, carry out research, and seek solutions to these problems to eradicate them from the classroom In this way, they will contribute to the overall improvement of the quality of English language teaching and learning in their schools in particular, and in Vietnam in general This study has been done based on this background For my school, Hanoi technical and professional skills training school, English is still considered a minor subject, and the pupils‟ general level of English is rather limited Here, teaching English mainly focuses on grammar, which occupies most of teachers and pupils‟ study time and takes the considerable percentage in tests and exams Nevertheless, the result of this investment is not much optimistic Although the Present Progressive tense is a common tense which is often taught carefully, pupils still make quite a lot of errors in terms of form and use For example, instead of speaking or writing He is studying English, these pupils produced sentences like He studying English or He is studing English, etc In addition, not few of them have difficulty in distinguishing between this tense and the Present Simple tense, so they often make errors such as I live with my friends right now This is mostly evident through their practice and test results, as observed by the researcher before this study was carried out In this circumstance, although documents on the Present Progressive tense are available, most of them are not full and detailed Besides, errors on this tense are rarely mentioned except for in the Master thesis of Pham Viet Huong (2003) named The English present tenses in comparison and contrast with Vietnamese equivalent expressions In her study, common errors and solutions are given but in such a general way In addition, studies conducted at vocational schools are rather spare For the above mentioned reasons, the study entitled The Present Progressive tense and errors made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school has been carried out Aims of the study This writing provides knowledge of the Present Progressive tense fully and systematically as the theoretical framework to investigate common errors made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school, through which offers recommendations for teaching the tense Scope of the study This study is limited to the investigating of written errors which are common on the forms and uses of the Present Progressive tense plus some distinctions with the Present Simple tense The study is carried out on 50 pupils of the first year who are studying English at school Methodology of the study First of all, information about the Present Progressive tense in reliable websites and prestigious books was collected, analyzed and synthesized in the literature review Next, in the study, the quantitative technique ( a multiple-choice test ) was employed Besides, a simple descriptive statistics was applied in the data analysis procedure Significance of the study This writing offers a full and detailed look at the Present Progressive tense as both the studying and teaching materials Besides, common errors mentioned in the study are really helpful especially to non-experienced teachers More importantly, recommendations given are not useful only to this tense but other tenses as well Finally, this study provides an overview of teaching and learning at a vocational school as inspirations to following studies on this subject Part B: Development Chapter - Literature review In this chapter, knowledge of the Present Progressive tense, also called the Present Continuous tense is provided fully and systematically as the theoretical framework for the investigations of common errors in the following chapter Besides, as Present Progressive (PP) is sometimes mistaken with Present Simple (PS), some comparisons between two tenses are also mentioned However, before coming to the main part about PP, a brief discussion about time – tense - aspect relationship is necessary 1.1 Time - tense - aspect relationship “Time is a universal, non-linguistic concept with three divisions: past time, present time and future time The concept is universal in that the units of time are extra-linguistic: they exist independently of the grammar of any particular language.” (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1972: 84) Tense is relative to the time closely It expresses the point of the time English tense has two, the past tense and the present tense The past tense expresses the past events and the present tense expresses the present events For example, "work" is the present tense, when "ed" is added, "worked" is the past tense If we express the future, we can use "will" or "shall" etc, but these are not admitted as the future tense yet "Will" and "shall" have not only the future meaning but also the mood as the modal auxiliary Therefore, we use the future expression instead of the future tense/ form Aspect means an act in a state, which is expressed with a grammatical form And aspect can be classified into three: simple, progressive and perfective The simple aspect is the simple forms, the present simple form, the past simple form and the future simple form The progressive aspect is the progressive forms, etc Aspect is relative to the time closely like tense For example, the perfective aspect means the relationship between a completive event and the time, and the progressive means the durative or temporary act, etc (Source: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm) 1.2 present progressive tense 1.2.1 Forms a) To be The verb “To be” seems to be the most irregular verb in the language Present Tense I am He/ She/ It is We/ You/ They are Past Tense I/ He/ She/ It was We/ You/ They were Progressive Form (present participle) I am being, etc Perfect Form (past participle) I have been, etc We must choose carefully among these various forms when selecting the proper verb to go with our subject Singular subjects require singular verbs; plural subjects require plural verbs That's usually an easy matter We wouldn't write: The troops is moving to the border But some sentences require closer attention Do we write: The majority of students is (or are) voting against the referendum? We can create negative statements by adding the word “not” after the verb “To be” E.g He is not studying And create interrogatives by inverting the order of subject and the verb “To be” E.g Is he studying? A form of the verb “To be” is combined with a past participle to create the passive E.g She is chased everywhere The “To be” verb can be combined with other modal forms (along with the past participle of the main verb) to convey other kinds of information E.g The wall may be rebuilt Notice that adverbs of frequency normally appear after forms of “To be” E.g They are never on time (Source: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/to_be.htm) b) Present participle We form present participle by adding the suffix ing after verb bare infinitive: V-ing = V + ing E.g infinitive present participle work working play playing sleep sleeping eat eating go going doing However, some verbs change their spelling when the ending ing is added to form the present participle  Verbs ending in a silent e The silent e is dropped before the ending ing is added E.g close closing dine dining leave leaving move moving When e is not silent, it is not dropped E.g be being see seeing  Verbs ending in ie The ie is changed to y before the ending ing is added E.g die dying lie lying When a verb ends in y, no change is made E.g fly flying play playing  One-syllable verbs ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel Except in the case of the final consonants w, x and y, the final consonant must be doubled before the ending ing is added The reason for this is to reflect the fact that the pronunciation of the single vowel does not change when the ending ing is added E.g nod nodding dig digging run running clap clapping set setting  Verbs of more than one syllable ending in a single consonant (Except w, x or y) preceded by a single vowel The final consonant is doubled to form the present participle only when the last syllable of the verb is pronounced with the heaviest stress E.g expel expelling begin beginning occur occurring omit omitting Note that British and American spelling rules differ for verbs which end in a single l preceded by a single vowel In British spelling, the l is always doubled before the ending is added However, in American spelling, verbs ending with a single l follow the same rule as other verbs; the l is doubled only when the last syllable has the heaviest stress E.g American Spelling British Spelling signal signaling signalling travel traveling travelling compel compelling compelling propel propelling propelling From these examples it can be seen that the American and British spellings for verbs ending in a single l differ only when the last syllable does not have the heaviest stress  Verbs ending in ic The ic is changed to ick before the ending ing is added E.g panic panicking picnic picnicking traffic trafficking (Source: http://www.wordpower.ws/grammar/gramch03.html) Further information can be found in “List of irregular verbs” (Turton & Heaton, 1996: 368-369) c) Structures The Present Progressive tense is formed with present tense of auxiliary “be” and present participle am/ is/ are + V-ing  Positive structure S+ am/ is/ are ‟m/ ‟s/ ‟re +V-ing E.g I am staying at home = I’m staying at home He is sleeping = He’s sleeping Their children are playing football = Their children are playing football  Negative structure We add the word not after Am/ Is/ Are to form the Negative am/ is/ are + not S+ ‟m/ ‟s/ ‟re + not +V-ing isn‟t/ aren‟t E.g I am not staying at home = I’m not staying at home He is not sleeping = He’s not sleeping = He isn’t sleeping They are not playing football = They’re not playing football = They aren’t playing football  Interrogative structure We invert Am/ Is/ Are before “S” to form the Interrogative  Yes/ No questions: Am/ Is/ Are + S + V-ing? - Yes, S + am/ is/ are - No, S + am/ is/ are + not The contraction is not included in the structure above E.g Is he sleeping? – Yes, he is Are their children playing football? – No, they aren’t  Note: Normally, when “S” in the question is the first person, “S” in the answer is the second person and vice versa E.g Are you staying at home? - Yes, I am - No, I’m not  WH- questions: We add question words like who, whom, what, which, where, when, why, how, etc at the beginning of the question WH- + am/ is/ are + S + V-ing? E.g Where are you staying? What is he doing?  Note: In the question for the subject, “S” is omitted and is is commonly used instead of are E.g Who is speaking?  Negative – interrogative structure ( WH- ) + am/ is/ are + S + not isn‟t/ aren‟t + S + V-ing? E.g Isn’t he sleeping? – Yes, he is He is sleeping Why aren’t you staying at home?  Note: We use contractions in informal situations 1.2.2 Uses In English, the Present Progressive tense is usually used to express continuing or ongoing actions which are taking place at the moment of speaking or writing Specific uses are mentioned below 29 V-ing should be paid attention to because it is used in all progressive tenses as well as its ability to take various word functions like noun, adjective  Structures To get learners practise the structures, teachers had better give their learners exercises like:  Transform these sentences into negative and interrogative forms Give the contraction forms where possible E.g He is studying → He isn’t studying → Is he studying?  Reorder words to make the complete sentence E.g She/ what/ doing/ the/ is/ garden/ in? → What is she doing in the garden?  Correct one mistake in each sentence E.g They watching a football match now.→ are watching  Choose the correct answer E.g Her son abroad this year A studying B studing C is studing D √is studying  Give the PP form of the verb in brackets E.g We ( make ) a birthday present for our daughter → are making The using of these exercises depending on time allowance, learners‟ needs and motivation as well as teachers‟ preparation Finally, a table illustrating common errors compiled with correct versions and reasons will be useful to the teaching and learning of the PP tense Common errors Correct versions Reasons They still waiting for you They are still waiting for you (+): be + -ing They are still waiting for you? Are they still waiting for you? Do they still waiting for you? Are they still waiting for you? (?): be + S ? Where they are waiting for you? Where are they waiting for you? She doesn't watching TV She isn't watching TV (-): be + not ( Source: http://speakspeak.com/a/html/d10a002_english_grammar_present_continuous_tense.htm) 30 b) Uses To the use of describing actions happening at the time of speaking, teachers can mime the actions and let learners guess what he/ she is doing This is a very simple and effective way of explaining the first use Pictures and movies are also useful Refer to the use of describing actions happening around the time of speaking, a context – appears in about 81% of the PP‟s uses (Korsakov, 1969) is needed For example: At the party Tom: What are you doing these days? Daisy: I’m taking the final exam Regard to the use of describing changing situations, teachers should list verbs normally used together with examples like: Become, change, fall, get, improve, increase, rise, etc E.g Her English is getting better About the use describing definite future arrangements, it is advisable that teachers provide time signals denoting future time like:  today, tonight, this week/ this month/ this year/ this summer, etc  tomorrow, next week, etc E.g I’m meeting my father tomorrow In general, teachers can explain these uses through a conversation in which PP is frequently used – around 5000 over million words (Biber, 1999: 462), like the following: On the telephone Tracy: Hello, can I speak to Alex? Alex: This is Alex, who is speaking? Tracy: Hi, this is Tracy Alex: Hi Tracy What are you doing? Tracy: Oh, I'm just watching TV What are you doing? Alex: Well, I'm cooking dinner Tracy: What are you cooking? Alex: I'm baking some potatoes, boiling some carrots and grilling a steak Tracy: It sounds delicious Alex: What are you doing for dinner tonight? Tracy: Well, I don't have any plans Alex: Would you like to come over for dinner? 31 Tracy: Oh, I'd love to Thanks Alex: Great Mary and Jack are also coming They are arriving at seven Tracy: OK, I'll be there at seven, too Alex: OK, see you then Bye Tracy: Bye (Source: http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/blwhatdoing.htm) Time line is also a very good idea for explaining the uses of tenses including the PP An example is given below past present future The action is happening now E.g I am eating my lunch past present future The action is happening around now E.g John is going out with Mary past present future !!! A firm plan or programme exists now E.g I am taking my exam next month The action is in the future c) Distinctions with the PS tense One way to explain the difference between the PS and the PP is to point out that the PS expresses more permanent or unchanging situations whereas the PP expresses more temporary or unique situations 32 Teachers had better show the privacy of arrangements using PP or the publicity of timetables and schedules using PS when talking about future He or she should also indicate using adverbs of frequency like always, forever, etc to express annoying habits in the PP illustrated by examples It is suggested that teachers note their learners about inability to go with state verbs of the PP, and in this case the PS is used in replacement However, state verbs used with action meanings can go with PP grammatically For example, think used with the meaning believe To help learners understand more about these differences between PP and PS, teachers can let them exercises:  In pair sentences E.g They ( arrive1 ) at 8.30 tomorrow morning to pick up their daughter The train ( arrive2 ) at a.m  In writings E.g How are you? I (hope) you are well You wanted me to tell you about my job Well, I (work) in an office in London just for the summer holidays It's a magazine publishing company and usually I (spend) my time answering customers’ questions on the phone but as there are some people off, I (write) letters at the moment I really (like) the people here They always (help) each other out when there are any problems Unfortunately, this week we (do) a course in health and safety, which is a bit boring but it will soon be over The good news is I (learn) Spanish as well during my lunchtime! I (not, understand) much at the moment but I (get) better Write back soon! In addition, teachers can ask learners say about what they often everyday and what they are doing today like: Everyday Today E.g I have bread and eggs for breakfast I am having beef noodle Moreover, teachers can find specific practice on the distinctions in Bourke (1999: 81-87) 33 They should also remember that “It is more common for learners to use the present simple when the present continuous is appropriate than vice versa” (Parrott, 1999:163) Finally, a variety of interesting exercises on the PP tense can be found in Ryazanova and Simolina (1983: 28-57) and Swan & Walter (2001: 21-30) as the teaching materials In addition, simple and effective procedures to present and fun video tasks to practise the PP tense are introduced as reference materials in the Appendix and respectively 34 Part c: conclusion At first, in chapter 1, knowledge of the Present Progressive tense, including forms, uses, signal words, stative and dynamic verbs as well as comparisons with Present Simple tense is provided in a detailed and systematical way Next, in the chapter about pupils‟ errors, common errors made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school are investigated and identified as follows: On forms: about one-third of the subjects made errors with the formation of present participle; one-fifth with the inversion of auxiliary, and about one-fourth made errors like the omission of Be or –Ing, the misuse of Not, or the mistake with PS tense respectively On uses: around half of the subjects had difficulty with the use of PP tense to express either actions happening around the time of speaking or changing situations The use of PP for definite future arrangements was the problem of around one-fourth of all Only one-fifth had problems with the use of PP to express actions happening at the time of speaking On distinctions with PS tense: the imperative or the exclamatory sentence was not helpful to one-fifth in choosing the PP; frequency adverbs together with PP seemed strange to one-third of all; still one-third did not realize state verbs used with action meanings, and one-fourth were unaware of differences between PP and PS for future activities Finally, to overcome difficulties mentioned, recommendations for teaching the Present Progressive tense: its forms, uses and distinctions with Present Simple tense are in turns offered Hopefully, the above information will be of great help to not only teachers of English but also to all those concerning the topic However, due to time, ability and experience limitations, this study may have some short-comings and the researcher would highly appreciate any suggestions and modification Last but not least, the pragmatics of the Present Progressive tense as well as the cross linguistics aspect of learners‟ errors might be interesting suggestions for further research References 35 Books: Bachman L F (1990), Fundamental considerations in language testing, OUP, England Biber D (1999), Longman grammar of spoken and written English, Longman, England Bourke K (1999), The grammar lab - Book one, Oxford, NY Eastwood J (2005), Oxford learner's grammar : grammar builder, Oxford, NY Korsakov A (1969), The use of tense in English : The structure of modern Englishpart 1, Lvov University, Lvov Parrott M (1999), Grammar for English language teachers : with exercises and a key, CUP, Cambridge Pham Viet Huong (2003), The English present tenses in comparison and contrast with Vietnamese equivalent expressions, VNU-CFL, Hanoi Ryazanova N.K & Simolina M.V (1983), Time and tense, Prosveshenje, M Quirk R & Greenbaum S (1972), A Grammar of Contemporary English, Longman, England 10 Quirk R & Greenbaum S (1993), A University Grammar of English, Longman, England 11 Swan M & Walter C (2001), The good grammar book : with answers, Oxford, NY 12 Turton N.D & Heaton J.B (1996), Longman dictionary of common errors, Longman, England Websites: 13 http://d3.violet.vn/uploads/previews/506/290669/preview.swf 14 http://busyteacher.org/3715-how-to-teach-the-present-continuous-tense.html 15 http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/blwhatdoing.htm 16 http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm 17 http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/to_be.htm 36 18 http://speakspeak.com/a/html/d10a002_english_grammar_present_continuous_tense.htm 19 http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro 20 http://www.funefun.com/resources/teach-english/teaching-tip-23-fun-video-tasksto-practise-present-simple-and-present-continuous.286.html 21 http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-continuous-use.html 22 http://www.slideshare.net/ngranja/present-progressive-4612730 23 http://www.wordpower.ws/grammar/gramch03.html I Appendices Appendix TEST Question Choose the correct answer by circling A, B, C or D Look! Mary and John on the playground A runing B running C are running D are runing Turn off the TV They the film A not are watch B are not watch C arent watching D aren’t watching Listen! What about? A she is talking B is she talking C she talking D does she talking C is studing D is studying C isn’t sleeping D isnt sleeping Her son abroad this year A studying B studing Talk aloud! The baby A not is sleep B isn’t sleep Hey! Who for? A you are waiting B are you waiting C you wating D does you waiting Question Present progressive here is used to describe: A Actions happening at the time of speaking B Actions happening around the time of speaking C Changing situations D Definite future arrangements Choose the correct use by putting A, B, C or D next to each sentence below Her English is getting better At the party Tom: What are you doing these days? Daisy: I’m taking the final exam His parents are coming to see me tomorrow II Husband: Can you take the phone? Wife: Sorry! I’m having a bath They are in the cafe He says: I’m writing a love story The doorbell rings Wait a minute! I’m washing the dishes The population of the world is rising very fast I’m visiting my best friend next Sunday morning Question Choose the correct tense Present Progressive (PP) or Present Simple (PS) by putting PP or PS next to each sentence below Water ( boil1) at 100 C Listen! It ( boil2) Parent: She always ( get1 ) up on time Teacher: But she always ( get2 ) to class too late It is unacceptable Look! Jim ( have1 ) breakfast with his girlfriend He ( have2 ) a really beautiful girlfriend They ( arrive1 ) at 8.30 tomorrow morning to pick up their daughter The train ( arrive2 ) at a.m I ( think1 ) you will succeed I ( think2 ) about your success now The film ( begin1 ) at p.m We ( begin2 ) dinner one hour sooner than usual You always ( sleep1 ) late I can’t stand this anymore You always ( sleep2 ) early That’s a good habit Peter is a teacher of English, so he ( teach1 ) English What amazingly! He ( teach2 ) Math Appendix KEY III Question 1 C B C D D B C D B C B A A D Question Question boil1 PS think1 PS boil2 PP think2 PP get1 PS begin1 PS get2 PP begin2 PP have1 PP sleep1 PP have2 PS sleep2 PS arrive1 PP teach1 PS arrive2 PS teach2 PP IV Appendix Procedures to present the PP tense Introduce the Present Progressive with an action The present continuous tense is used to describe actions that are taking place at the time of speaking So, the easiest way to introduce this tense is to carry out actions Take a pen or pencil and start writing on the board Say: I am writing Sit down and pick up a book Say: I am reading Start walking around the classroom Say: I am walking And so on with as many verbs as you’d like, but use verbs they already know, or introduce new verbs, but only a few at a time Go on with other persons Remember they already know the simple present of the verb to be Keep walking around the classroom and ask a student to join you Say: Juan is walking I am walking We are walking Show students that the present continuous is formed with the present of the verb to be + the present participle of the main verb (verb in –ing form) Show as many actions as necessary, and use illustrations, photos, even videos Have students tell you what each person or group of people are doing Try these present continuous cards for a fun game Here’s a worksheet where students have to write what the people in the photos are doing And here’s a great one for pair work Eventually, get them to practice the contracted forms (I'm, he's, we're) Introduce the Present Progressive – Negative forms Pick up a book and say: I am reading a book; I’m not reading a newspaper Give more examples alternating between affirmative and negative statements: Sarah, you’re looking at me You're not looking at Juan Juan is listening to me He’s not listening to Sarah And so on with all persons, singular and plural Then have students the same, always alternating between affirmative and negative statements Introduce the Present Progressive – Interrogative forms First, model yes or no questions, then, questions with what, where, which, etc…: - T: Are you listening to me? - S: Yes! - T: Ask me! - S: Are you listening to me? - T: What are you doing? - S: I’m looking at you V - T: Ask Juan! - S: What are you doing? Continue with more questions from students Encourage them to ask different types of questions in different singular and plural persons If they are unsure as to how to ask a question, model it for them first Introduce the Present Progressive – Short answers Ask yes or no questions and teach students to give short answers: T: Are you reading a book? S: Yes, I am./No, I’m not Ask students to ask each other yes or no questions in present continuous, and have them practice replying with short answers Extended practice and other uses of the Present Progressive Be sure to provide plenty of exercises for extra practice, above all, because learners need to not only practice this tense, but also acquire more vocabulary and verbs to so effectively At BusyTeacher.org there are dozens of Present Continuous worksheets to choose from You may also choose to introduce other uses of the present continuous, as in future arrangements And if they’ve already learned the Present Simple, now’s a good time to contrast both present tenses ( Source: http://busyteacher.org/3715-how-to-teach-the-present-continuous-tense.html) VI Appendix video tasks to practise the PP tense Students make as many true sentences as they can when you pause the video about what is happening on screen To make it more difficult, you could this with video turned off rather than paused, but that makes the use of Present Continuous a bit less natural Choose some scenes where it is less than obvious from one look what the characters are doing and print them off as stills, e.g by using screen shots from YouTube Students discuss what they thinking is happening in each picture and/ or write sentences with their ideas, then watch and check After watching the video, students mime actions that they saw (from memory or from a worksheet) until their partners guess what they are doing, e.g "You are Joey, because you are posing in front of the mirror" Alternatively, students can describe actions that they want their partners to do, e.g "You are shooting at the helicopter", maybe even miming a whole scene that way Students guess what is happening from just the sound (i.e with the screen covered or turned off), then watch and check Students guess what is happening off screen, e.g what another character is doing in another place or what is happening in the next room, then watch the next scene to check Give students some written descriptions of what happens and get them to predict other people's reactions before they watch, e.g "When she first meets her blind date, he is wearing a Mickey Mouse tie" They then watch to see whether those are the reactions that they get Students try to make sentences which are true about both the video and your classroom, e.g "He is sitting down and so are we" Students are given a list of Present Continuous sentences and shout out a number on the worksheet or the whole sentence when they see that happening on screen This works best if some of the sentences are very similar to what happens on screen but not quite the same Students sit so only one person in each pair can see the screen, and the person who is watching describes what is happening to the "blind" student so that they can complete the task on their worksheet, e.g completing sentences or putting events in order Show a scene where what the person is doing is not clear, e.g someone moving dials on a machine to control something in a sci-fi film, someone searching around in the boot of their VII car or a chimpanzee using a branch Students guess what the person is doing and/ or why, e.g "The fish is shooting water from its mouth to hit insects and then eat them" Students try to match sentence halves, e.g "He is shouting" + "at a dog that is eating his lunch", then shout out the correct versions as they see the actions on the screen Similar to the idea above, students try to guess what verb or noun should go in the gap, e.g "He is _ a suitcase" or "He is sitting on a _", and then watch to check and shout out the correct answers (Source: http://www.funefun.com/resources/teach-english/teaching-tip-23-fun-video-tasks-to-practise-presentsimple-and-present-continuous.286.html) ... of common errors on forms and uses of the PP tense made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school (Hatechs) Subsequently, recommendations for teaching the tense are... Tense is relative to the time closely It expresses the point of the time English tense has two, the past tense and the present tense The past tense expresses the past events and the present tense. .. Present Progressive tense and errors made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school has been carried out Aims of the study This writing provides knowledge of the Present Progressive