Present Perfect Continuous Lesson Plans!

Once your student becomes comfortable with the present perfect simple tense, we recommend tackling the present perfect continuous tense.

We have a set of two lesson plans covering the present perfect continuous…

… that you can find under our Teacher tab, in the Verbs-Continuous category. They are currently free to use for any teachers that have signed up for our private beta. If you haven’t already signed up for our private beta, please do so on our Home page.
Remember, we use the present perfect continuous to express events that have just stopped and have a connection with now (e.g. I have been running). We typically use a contraction in spoken English (e.g. I’ve been running). We also use the present perfect continuous for an action that is repeated over time and the action is continuing or it has just stopped (e.g. it has been raining all day).
Here is a summary of our two present perfect continuous lesson plans:
Present-Perfect-Continuous-1
In our first present perfect continuous lesson plan we examine the two uses of the tense in the positive and negative form with and without contractions. We provide a significant amount of practice exercises using gapfills and freer practice (pictures to elicit the tense). We finalize the lesson with the introduction and practice of the question form (e.g. Have you been waiting for a long time?):

Present-Perfect-Continuous-2

In our second present perfect continuous lesson plan we examine the use of the tense with for, since and how long to express repeated activities (e.g. she has been taking piano lesson for years). We also provide review of the tense for activities that have just stopped or that are continuing.
Later in the lesson we provide a comparison between the use of for (for + a period of time – we have been married for twelve years) and the use of since (since + a specific time – we have been married since August 1998) as these are critical concepts for the use of the present perfect continuous to express repeated activities.
We finalize the lesson by introducing questions using how long… + the present perfect continuous, to find out more about activities that have just stopped or are continuing (e.g. How long have you been waiting for?)

Let us know what you think of our present perfect continuous lesson plans! We love teacher feedback!