ABA Journal The digital English academy
At ABA English, we strive to make learning English enjoyable and effective. That’s why we constantly create multimedia resources like podcasts and videos, to help you resolve many of the doubts that arise during the learning process.
In this article, we’re going to share 10 podcasts to review the English tenses, an ESL must.
The podcast format, besides being an innovative way of reviewing grammar, will help you practice your listening.
The best part is that whenever you have doubts, you can return to these podcasts and refresh your knowledge on the go.
Are you ready? Let’s start!
1. Present continuous and present simple
Even though both tenses occur in the present, there are notable differences between them that you must learn.
You can use the present simple to talk about things that are true, to talk about actions or events that happen regularly, and to describe schedules.
The present continuous is usually used to describe something you’re doing at that moment. For example, you’re reading this text right now.
Did you know that you can use the present continuous to talk about the future? Do you know the adverbs of frequency that you can use to talk about things that happen regularly in the present simple?
The first podcast to learn English in this series explains these tenses along with several examples. Don’t miss out on this one.
2. Past perfect continuous
This is an action or event that occurs exclusively in the past, before another action or situation.
Keep in mind that to construct the perfect tenses, you’ll always need the auxiliary verb HAVE, or HAD in the past tense.
It’s also possible to build sentences with cause and effect.
Listen to the audio for more information and additional examples that will better illustrate how this tense is used.
3. Future continuous
This verb tense refers to an action or event that will take place progressively in the future.
In this podcast, you’ll be able to learn the correct grammatical structure using affirmative and interrogative forms.
You’ll also see some examples of how to write assumptions about a situation.
When you’ve finished listening to the podcast, feel free to practice what you’ve learnt by making some guesses about your life.
4. Past continuous
The past continuous is often used along with the past simple to refer to the interruption of an action. It’s also used to talk about an uncomfortable situation or event that was happening in the past.
In the following podcast, you’ll hear a conversation between friends where the use of past continuous vs. past simple is highlighted.
Do you know how to use the expressions when and while in these tenses? You’ll find the answer in this podcast.
5. How to use going to
We use going to to talk about events that you planned in advance or that you’re expecting to do.
You can also use going to to predict something, based on visible or tangible evidence that you have at the time of speaking.
Listen to the podcast and learn the correct structure for going to (affirmative and negative).
Also, you’ll hear a practical conversation between Chris and Stacy about their plans for their upcoming holidays. Can you tell when and where each one is going on holiday?
6. Present simple
Sometimes simple tenses aren’t as simple as they seem.
Some students get stranded here and give up on the learning process. Don’t let that happen to you! We recommend that you practice and stay consistent if you really want to get ahead in any language.
In this podcast, you can listen to a conversation in the present simple between Robert and María, about a trip to Barcelona. What happens? With this example, you’ll be able to review different aspects of this verb tense in greater detail.
7. Present perfect continuous
Keep in mind that the perfect present continuous, even though it corresponds to the present, begins in the past.
While listening to the podcast, apart from the grammatical structure, pay special attention to the use of the words since, for, still, recently, and lastly, which will help you build your sentences in this tense more effectively.
8. Future perfect
This corresponds to some action or event that will end in the future, without knowing exactly when.
The expression by the time (or when) will be very useful when you make sentences using this tense.
Listen to this podcast and to find out why.
You’ll also hear some examples that use contractions, which is quite common when you’re having a conversation.
9. Future perfect continuous
This is similar to the future perfect and refers to events, actions, or situations that extend to a certain time or point in the future.
In the podcast, you’ll learn the proper structure for affirmative and negative sentences as well as how to ask questions in this tense. You’ll also learn about contractions and some examples that will give you a clearer idea of when to use this tense.
10. Past perfect
Generally, we use this tense to describe actions or events that occurred before another action (or actions) in the past.
In the following podcast, you’ll learn the grammatical structure of the past perfect and hear the story of a famous rock band from the ‘90s.
Listen carefully to clearly determine the order of events.
We hope you enjoyed every podcast.
The aim of this collection of lessons is to offer you clarity about the most important grammatical structures and the most common uses for the 12 tenses in English.
Remember that it’s not necessary to understand 100% the material you’re listening to, but to also have a clear idea of the main idea you’re trying to communicate.
These resources will be available for you to consult if you ever need them again. But if you don’t want to lose track of them, share them on your social networks. Stay connected with the blog to improve your level of English every day though more multimedia resources.
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