Diagnose Key Errors and Build a Personal Checklist for Present Tenses

Hello. This is the first lesson in a course that moves from everyday English to professional communication. Before you begin the work-and-learning theme, you need a useful baseline: what you can already do in listening, reading, speaking, and writing, and which errors are worth correcting first.

Objective: Complete a four-skill diagnostic, choose a challenge level for each skill, begin a personal error checklist, and review the difference between present simple and present continuous.
Estimated time: About 60 minutes.
Route: Try the diagnostic first, assess your evidence, review the grammar, then make your first spaced-repetition cards. A diagnostic is not a final judgment of your level; it helps you decide what to practise next.

1. Four-skill diagnostic — 22 minutes

Work without a dictionary or grammar notes. Do not read the assessment guidance in the next section until you have finished. Use fictional details if you prefer.

Listening — 4 minutes

Watch the opening of Present Simple and Present Continuous: The Grammar Gameshow Episode 1 from BBC Learning English once without captions. The short challenge gives you a chance to test what you understand from speech before reviewing the rule.

After watching, write your answers from memory:

1. What two kinds of situation does the speaker contrast?
2. Write or closely paraphrase one example of each.
3. What form clue do you remember for either tense?

Reading — 4 minutes

Read this message once. Then look away from it while you answer the questions.

An independent designer usually checks client messages in the morning and plans the day before opening design software. Most clients receive an update every Friday. This month, however, the designer is working with a new online shop that is preparing to launch its first product. The shop needs more frequent updates, so the designer is sending a short progress note each afternoon.

The designer also studies business English twice a week. At the moment, she is learning how to explain delays without sounding defensive. She knows the technical work well, but she wants her messages to be clearer. The extra updates take time; nevertheless, the client now asks fewer questions because it can see what is happening. The designer is considering keeping some of this approach after the launch.

Answer in your own words:

1. What is the message mainly about?
2. Name one normal part of the designer’s routine.
3. What is different this month, and why?
4. Why might the designer keep part of the new approach?

Speaking — 6 minutes

Record 60–75 seconds without a script. Explain what you normally do during a work or study week, what you are working on or learning at the moment, and why that current activity matters. You may note three keywords before recording, but do not write full sentences. Listen back once and keep the recording for your review.

Writing — 8 minutes

Write a 90–110-word introductory message to someone you might work with online. Explain your usual work or study routine, describe one temporary project or learning goal, and ask one practical question about working together. Write the first version without editing; then mark any changes you make. Do not include real personal or business details.

2. Turn the diagnostic into a study plan — 12 minutes

Start with evidence, not an overall label. For listening, check whether you understood the contrast between regular situations and current actions. Examples you may have heard include “I never work very hard” and “I’m sitting at home”; the explanation mentions third-person -s, do/does, and be + -ing. For reading, the usual Friday update is part of the routine; the afternoon note is temporary because the new shop is preparing a launch. Fewer client questions suggest that frequent, clear updates are useful.

Score listening and reading separately, one point for each:

For speaking and writing, give yourself 0, 1, or 2 points for each quality below: 0 = frequently blocks your message; 1 = works but needs attention; 2 = clear and mostly effective. Use the same qualities for both skills.

Use these scores to choose a working challenge level for each skill. These are study settings, not official test results.

• Below half the available points: Supported B1. Use a shorter model first, then try the task again.
• About half to three-quarters: B1+ practice. Keep the task, but add one challenge—for example, a clearer reason or more precise wording.
• Above three-quarters: B2 stretch. Use less support, give fuller reasons, and attend to tone as well as correctness.

If listening is stronger than writing or speaking, keep listening challenging while spending more correction time on the skills that need it. Spoken production in this lesson is not the same as live interaction: a solo recording cannot show how you respond to another person.

For a broader reference point, read the B1 and B2 columns of the Council of Europe’s CEFR “can do” statements, provided in the language-centre PDF below. Compare what you actually did today with the descriptions; you do not have to meet every description at one level.

Start your personal error checklist

Read your written message and transcribe two or three sentences from your recording. Find no more than two errors to correct now. Prioritise an error that changes your meaning, appears more than once, or makes the message difficult to follow. Leave small slips until later. If you find no clear error, write a question about a sentence you are unsure of rather than inventing one.

For example, in a description of a usual routine, “I am checking messages every morning” may be better as “I check messages every morning.” But “I’m checking messages every morning this week” can be correct if the routine is temporary. The intended meaning matters more than a signal word alone.

Feedback checklist: When you paste a speaking transcript or written message back for correction, include the task, your original version, your own edits, and up to two questions. For speaking, also say where you paused or sounded unclear. Ask for feedback on fluency, accuracy, range, and clarity, and add a recurring correction to your checklist.

3. Grammar review: routine or current phase? — 16 minutes

The central choice is not simply past versus present: both tenses concern the present. Present simple presents something as a routine, general fact, or lasting situation. Present continuous presents an action as in progress now, around now, temporary, or developing. That difference lets you give a precise professional update: “I usually send one update a week, but I’m sending daily updates during this launch.”

Watch these short sections of Present Simple and Present Continuous | the Complete Grammar Guide by Arnel’s Everyday English. Notice especially that “around now” does not mean “at this exact second.”

The form is compact:

After does or doesn’t, use the base verb: “She doesn’t work,” not “She doesn’t works.” In the continuous form, do not omit be: “She is working,” not “She working.”

Here are five useful meanings in context:

1. “I review my goals every Friday.” — a routine.
2. “The team works with international clients.” — a general situation.
3. “I am preparing a client update this afternoon.” — an action in progress.
4. “We are testing a new workflow this month.” — a temporary current phase.
5. “I need clearer feedback.” — a state, even though the need exists now.

Many verbs describing a state—such as need, know, want, and belong—usually take the simple form. Be careful with blanket rules, though: some verbs have different meanings. “I have a laptop” describes possession, while “I am having a meeting” describes an activity.

The image below gives you a visual reference. Its future examples also show a useful distinction: a timetable can use the present simple (“The class starts at nine”), while a decided personal arrangement can use the present continuous (“I’m meeting a client tomorrow”). For today, focus mainly on routines, current phases, and states.

Controlled practice: Complete these with the correct form of the verb. Decide on the meaning before checking the answers.

1. Our team usually ______ (send) updates on Friday.
2. This week, we ______ (send) short updates every afternoon.
3. The client ______ (need) a clearer explanation now.

Check: 1. sends; 2. is sending; 3. needs. “Now” does not make need a continuous verb.

Free production: Add two sentences to your diagnostic message: one describing a genuine routine and one describing a genuine temporary change. Read them aloud. If either could be misunderstood, add a time phrase such as usually or this month.

Common mistakes to avoid: Do not use present continuous for every sentence containing now; check whether the verb describes a state. Do not use present simple merely because an activity happens repeatedly—a repeated activity can still belong to a temporary phase. Check third-person -s, does + base verb, and be + -ing when you self-edit.

4. Begin daily review — 9 minutes

Set aside 10 minutes each study day for cards: retrieve the answer before revealing it, say full sentences aloud, and rewrite any sentence you miss. Review new cards after 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 days; use your seventh day for review rather than new lesson content. The cards below give you a starting set, not a replacement for your own corrections.

Add to SRS: Copy the CSV below into a plain-text file ending in .csv and import it with the fields front, back, tag. It contains 10 ready-to-use items: full-sentence collocations, grammar clozes, and two dictation sentences. For dictation, record yourself reading the back once; on a later review, play the recording and write the sentence without looking. Replace the final template row with one actual corrected error from your checklist if you have one.

front,back,tag
"Complete: I ___ my workload carefully when several tasks arrive together.","I manage my workload carefully when several tasks arrive together.","collocation"
"Complete: We aim to ___ the deadline for the weekly update.","We aim to meet the deadline for the weekly update.","collocation"
"Complete: I ___ a learning goal at the start of each month.","I set a learning goal at the start of each month.","collocation"
"Complete: I ___ feedback after each draft so I can improve it.","I ask for feedback after each draft so I can improve it.","collocation"
"Usually, she ___ (check) messages in the morning.","Usually, she checks messages in the morning.","grammar"
"This month, she ___ (work) on a new online shop.","This month, she is working on a new online shop.","grammar"
"The client ___ (need) an update now.","The client needs an update now.","grammar"
"___ your colleague ___ (prepare) the report at the moment?","Is your colleague preparing the report at the moment?","grammar"
"Dictation: play your recording; write the whole sentence.","I usually plan my day before I open my messages.","dictation"
"Dictation: play your recording; write the whole sentence.","We are testing a new workflow this week.","dictation"
"My original error: [replace with your actual sentence]","My correction: [replace with your actual correction and reason]","my error"

If you have no confirmed error today, leave out the template row until you do; the other 10 cards are ready now.

You now have four separate skill baselines, a way to set the difficulty of future tasks, and a checklist that begins with your own evidence. The grammar distinction to carry forward is usual or generally true versus in progress or temporary—with state verbs such as need usually taking the simple form.

Next, you will use this distinction with 15 work-and-learning collocations in original sentences. Your diagnostic sentences and first error checklist will give you a starting point for that work.