A selection of English ESL present continuous for future plans printables

This is a worksheet for SS working on using this tense to talk about the future. There are two copies, one easier and one harder for different levels of SS.

Modify as you wish :)



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Present continuous for future plans 

AIMS:

The major aim of this exercise is to talk about plans for the future using Present Continuous Tense.

•	to practice target language of Present Continuous for future activities

•	to practice informal conversation

•	to promote interaction

•	to practice asking questions and short answers

Are you travelling this weekend?

It's an easy reading activity for young learners. The document provides examples of using the present continuous tense to express future meaning.  This establishes the context that the present continuous tense can be used to refer to future planned or scheduled events.

A HOLIDAY IN AMERICA

The future tense has so many forms: future simple with 'will,' I am going to for plans, present simple for timetables, present continuous for fixed plans and more. Very confusing. This chart attempts to clear up some of the confusion.

All Future Tenses Forms Classroom Poster

A board game for practising future structures (plans, intentions-going to, predictions-going to, will, arrangements-present continuous, instant decisions, promises, offers. 

The future board game

A speaking and listening lesson focusing on a fictitious visit Beyonce Knowles (or any famous person), is going to make to your city.  The grammar highlighted is present continuous for future plans

Beyonce Knowles visits your city

A very simple worksheet with visual prompts to practise present continuous for future plans. There are 2 exercises. The first one with prompts and the second one is a diary page. i hope you will enjoy it!

Future plans

The objective of this worksheet is to give students opportunity to practice asking and talking about people's future plans. 

It is an information gap speaking activity. 



There's the key on the first page of the document. Student A's and Student B's worksheets are on the second page. 



Lead-in: Ask students if they have any future plans. Listen to their answers. Tell them that Ann and Tom also have some future plans. (Specify what kind of future plans these are, for example, spontaneous. Ellicit what tense to use /depending on the kind of  the plans, it can be going to, Future Simple or Present Continuous/)



Follow-up: Ask students who they are more similar to, Ann or Tom. 



Future Plans (Information Gap)

This is a travel activity in two parts. The aim of the activity is for students to practice the present continuous for future activities.



Part 1 - students simply match the country and the landmark or it's iconic feature.



Part 2 - students plan a trip and describe their trip using 'going to'.

Travel - going to....

This worksheet is designed for A2 (Pre-Intermediate) learners, focusing on future forms (will, be going to, and present continuous*) through engaging content about future jobs. Students will explore new career possibilities like Drone Traffic Controller and Virtual Reality Architect, while practicing how to use future forms to express plans, predictions, and intentions. The lesson starts with a warm-up to spark conversation, followed by a reading section with comprehension questions. A guided discovery approach helps learners understand when to use will versus be going to, while the grammar explanation is supported with exercises. Native speaker notes are included to address common mistakes. The lesson culminates in a creative task-based activity where students brainstorm future jobs, using the target grammar. This makes it ideal for classes focusing on both reading comprehension and future tense forms.

Dream Jobs of the Future: future forms (will, be going to, and present continuous) A2

This is a worksheet for students to practice using the present continuous to talk about future plans.

it is a gap fill task that can be made easier by reducing the amount of questions and/or removing the verbs that finish with 'e' as these require using the special rule. 

future plans 

Students (in pairs) have $500 to spend on a weekend in a city.  They must plan their weekend together which includes their activities, meals and accommodation.  Afterwards they must tell other students  their plan.  Good use of "be going to" "present continuous" for future arrangements.  



You will need to have sets of tourist brochures for a variety of accommodation and sightseeing places.

A Weekend in Your City

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

17 Present continuous for future plans English ESL worksheets pdf & doc