Hey there! This is TOP episode 64: Present Simple Tense For Habits

My name’s Ola and I am an English teacher. My goal is to help you start speaking English with confidence and get rid of speaking barriers. I believe it is achievable for you. And it’s time you started speaking English fearlessly! Go to my website for full transcripts and worksheets to each episode. Happy learning! 

Hello, welcome back. I hope you’re doing just fine. And I hope you’re ready to embrace one just one use of Present Simple. 

Before that, I wanted to invite you to become a member of our community called TOPeople. What unites TOPeople is listening to this podcast regularly as well as receiving beautiful letters from me every week. In those letters, I inform you about new episodes and I teach something small. I teach wherever I can! I am also working on a new project, and as soon as it’s ready I’ll let you know in the newsletter. This is the first place I go when I want to inform you about something. So get over to teacherola.com/newsletter. Teacherola.com/newsletter. 

Present simple. One use of present simple. Why one? Why just one? Well, first of all, I want these episodes to be short and sweet. Covering only one bite-size chunk of grammar, of the theory is a perfect amount. As a teacher I know I should teach one thing at a time. This one thing for today is habits. 

Secondly, I want you to practice thoroughly and mindfully with a full understanding of what’s happening. I want zero confusion. Usually, when we learn tenses we learn all the uses in one breath. Present Simple is used for talking about repetitive tasks, actions and events, habits, routines, likes, dislikes, fact, things which are always true, general truths, directions, instructions and for timetables. Whoa! That’s a lot to digest. And how to memorise everything? It’s just too much information and our brains switch off. I know that’s how we learn at schools, that’s how I teach in my 1:1 classes because of time pressure. 

But here I want it to be totally different. I want it to be the exact opposite. I want you to fully engage in one element, practice like your life depends on it. All I really want to achieve today is to implement deep in your brain this pattern. No, not a pattern. The whole idea. Habits. Present simple is the one and only when it comes to talking about your habits. 

I hope that whenever you want to talk to someone about your habits you will automatically, by reflex, know how to say it. 

Today we’re implementing automation, ok? No thinking, now wondering which tense, which tense, how to say this? How to say that? Just speaking. Fearless, fluent speaking. Enjoying a conversation. Ok. 

This is the second episode on present simple tense. If you want to brush up your knowledge on how to form present simple sentences, questions, negations please go over to episode 60. Teacherola.com/60. 

Today’s episode is all about practice. All you have to do is you have to listen carefully, memorise the sentence, keep it in your short memory box and say it. Say it out loud. Yes, out loud. It’ll sink if you say it. If you train your mouth, your tongue, your face muscles to speak. You will memorise much better speaking the sentences out loud. Ok, let’s begin.

Present simple is used to talk about your  and other people’s habits. Bad habits and good habits. Habit is a settled tendency or usual manner of behaviour. It’s a pattern acquired by frequent repetition. I would argue that it’s not about the present tense. It’s not about the past or future. It’s about you. Talking about your habits is talking about you. When I say I eat porridge for breakfast every weekday. I don’t say I’m doing it at the moment, or I did it yesterday, or I’ll do it tomorrow or I’ve been doing it since I was 15. No. It’s a general habit of mine. This is who I am, this is what I do. Every weekday. 

My dear beautiful friend, now it’s your turn. It’s time to practice. Listen and repeat:

Let’s start with affirmative sentences:

I usually go away at weekends.

I get up at 5 o’clock every morning.

I do yoga on a daily basis.

I drink coffee every morning.

She drinks a lot of black coffee.

They go to church on Sunday.

Most people work five days a week.

He goes to the gym twice a week.

I smoke from time to time.

Every Thursday is a film night and I watch something with my partner.

She drinks tea with milk and she says it’s delicious.

They never eat fish.

I don’t eat meat.

He is usually late.

Well done, let’s move on to negative sentences. Listen and practice:

I never answer phone calls from unknown numbers.

She doesn’t go to bed before midnight.

They never stay in.

I never watch horrors.

She rarely reads.

They read together every day after dinner.

They hardly ever watch television.

She doesn’t eat lunch with us.

We don’t buy junk food.

I don’t speak Spanish every day.

He does his shopping at the weekend.

She doesn’t do any sport.

He can’t manage money wisely.

They don’t look up at the stars.

He never tries new recipes.

Well done! Time for the third and the last part, questions. You’re almost there, so stay with me, don’t resign now. Questions can be tricky. Listen and repeat:

What do you do after work?

How do you relax?

What are her eating habits?

Are you a regular reader?

Do you know how to set priorities?

How do you start your day?

Do you know how much time you spend looking at the screen?

When does she walk her dog?

Do you take naps during the day?

Why do people complain so much?

Does she drink a glass of water every morning?

Why doesn’t she drink coffee after 2 pm?

Does he plan his meals ahead of time?

Why don’t you go to the gym?

How do you spend Christmas?

This is it! Well done! You’ve practised 45 example sentences. That’s huge! I hope that now you know how to talk about habits. I also hope you will remember to use present simple tense with habits.

Ok. What now? Now head over to teacherola.com/64 and download the worksheet. It’s your homework. I’m asking you to translate 10 sentences from this episode into English. It’s really important! Teacherola.com/64.

If you find this episode useful tell your friends about this podcast. They will thank you for it!

Next week’s topic is pronunciation, make sure you don’t miss it and subscribe if you haven’t yet. 

Thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you next Wednesday! Happy learning. Bye!