Two pages on this picture by Melanie Hope Greenberg. The focus on page 2 is the past simple tense, but it could be adapted for the present continuous. Can be used with a mixed ability class: counting/colouring/recounting in the past tense.

I've re-jigged my writing mat for pupils. It&'s a step by step guide to help them check stories or recounts in the past tense. It helps student to be more independent - I ask them to go through it before I mark their work. Also, it looks beautiful! :)

A play with 14 parts (easily adapted). I wrote this for a year 9 class with a high proportion of EAL students. They really enjoyed it.

This is a great set of typical British things, and the words for a match-up activity. It makes a great starter, but not beyond year 7. I played Splat! with my students. (Two students come up to the board, then I say an item and the first to touch it is the winner.) Then, I put them in groups and gave each group three images to mind map. Next, the groups moved round to see if anything could be added. We discussed which things they had seen/experienced and which things were a bit old-fashioned or out of date. Thanks to YourJigsawPuzzles for permission to use the montage.

A bit of colouring in fun for younger pupils.

Here is a selection of fun starters/ activities using a grid. Only one needs any preparation; you can just go with the others. Adaptable to most subject matter.

This is a play with 9 parts (easily adaptable). I am doing a topic on fairy tales, leading on to Shrek. I acted this out with my EAL students.

Get your students involved and thinking, right from the start of the lesson! Turn the objective/title/'learn&' - however you refer to it in your school, into an interactive exercise. Fifteen suggestions. I hope you find them useful.

Here are some ideas for starter activities that require little or no preparation. They can be adapted to different subject areas.

A great picture, with a variety of suggestions and exercises on the present continuous tense.

Saltaire is a charming village in West Yorkshire. This is a little bit about Sir Titus Salt, who had it built and some exercises.

A narrative of the famous county Durham legend, with comprehension questions and language exercises.

A great picture, with activities to practise the present continuous tense.

Two pages - a great picture, by Laurie A. Conley. With a picture, I normally 1) play Splat! 2) Memory game 3) Barrier game (pupil A facing picture, pupil B not allowed to look) 'she&'s wearing a pink top - what&';s she doing? 4) Hot seat - e.g.you are Will 'what are you doing?&' &';what can you see?' etc.... Here, I have made a variety of exercises for writing or homework.

A reading passage with exercises.The language focus is the past simple tense. I got the template from Baiba, a member of the greatest EAL site in the world: (erm, after this one, of course!) eslprintables