It often rains in the Pacific Northwest, but it is not raining there now.
The sun often shines in Los Angeles, but it is not shining there today.
So, what's the difference between Simple Present and Present Continuous (also known as Present Progressive)?
Present Tense is used to express a habit, custom or frequent occurrence.
Present Progressive is used to express what is happening NOW in a continuous way.
Examples:
Len's alarm clock rings loudly at 6:00 every morning. However, he usually doesn't get up out of bed until 6:30 AM. When he does get up, he goes to the bathroom and takes a shower. The shower makes him feel good. After taking a shower, Len puts on a bathrobe and goes to the den. There he dries his hair with a hairdryer. It only takes about two minutes. When his hair is dry, he turns on CNN to watch the news. While Len watches the news, he also eats the cereal his wife, Yukie, prepares for him each morning. The breakfast cereal is delicious because Len's wife usually adds sliced bananas, strawberries or blueberries to the cereal. Yum. After breakfast, Len returns to the bathroom where he shaves and brushes his teeth. Then, he puts on his clothes and gets ready to go to work. He goes outside to the garage. There Yukie opens the garage so Len can go inside and get into his car. He starts the car and backs out of the garage to the street. Finally, he waves goodbye to Yukie and happily drives to work.
Now, it's time for you to write your own morning story. Make sure that you use the Simple Present tense!
1) Stan and I _____________ eating pizza again.
2)Maria Jose is _____________ Eleazar.
3) Paula and Vera ____________ using their cellphones for this lesson.
4) We usually don't _____________ cellphones in class, but today we are.
5)Sana does not often ________________ Japanese in school.
6)On a weekend, he _________________ up at 7:00 AM.
7)Julio and Sana always ____________ Len's lunch behind his back.
8)Ersin and Betul ____________ for the class at the moment.
9)Thérèse cannot talk now. She ____________ yoga to her sister.
10)She __________ at the gym every day.