Sign up for freeSign up

What's the bear doing now? Present continuous questions and negatives

An A1 ESL lesson plan for present continuous questions and negatives, from What are you doing? to It isn't swimming.

Grammar
Questions with am, is or are first (Is it sleeping?), short answers (Yes, it is. No, it isn't.), What and Where questions, and negatives with not: They aren't fishing.
Topic
Live bear cams at Brooks Falls in Alaska's Katmai National Park, where brown bears catch jumping salmon, with action verbs such as catch, jump and fish.
Activities
A webcam page, a dialogue and a ranger live on the cam, self-checking drills, a chat, open-box questions and mimes, and a message about what everyone at home is doing.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Hello, bears!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: bears and the webcamVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: watch the bears live!

    • Look at the photo: Brooks FallsPictureUnlock
    • Read the webcam pageReal-life documentTry it
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: bear cam time!

    • Look at the picture: Emma and Sam at the laptopPictureUnlock
    • Listen to Emma and SamListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to a park ranger on the bear camListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: Is it sleeping?

    • Study the scheme: Is it sleeping? It isn't swimming.Grammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the right wordChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: questions and short answersFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: say no and askFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the right sentenceQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: what are you doing?

    • Choose the right replies: messages with SamChatTry it
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Put the words in the right orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Write a message: what's everybody doing?Writing, checked by the teacherUnlock
    • Record a live webcam showSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

26 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • salmon
  • cub
  • claw
  • waterfall
  • webcam
  • hungry
  • den

Grammar: present continuous questions and negatives

A live webcam keeps raising the same question: what's happening right now? Watching brown bears at Brooks Falls, learners turn present continuous sentences into questions by putting am, is or are first, answer Yes, it is or No, it isn't, and say what the bears aren't doing with not.

What's the bear doing? Is it sleeping?

Ask about now and say no: am / is / are + verb-ing in questions and with not.

Questions: am, is or are comes first

To ask about now, move am, is or are in front of the person and keep the -ing verb: The bear is sleeping becomes Is the bear sleeping?, and They're eating becomes Are they eating? The -ing stays, so Is it sleep? is wrong.

Am / Is / AreI / you / he / she / it / we / theyverb + -ing?

Is the bear sleeping?

Are they eating?

Are you watching the bear cam?

Short answers: Yes, it is. No, it isn't.

A short answer keeps am, is or are and drops the rest: Is it sleeping? Yes, it is. After yes, the form stays long, never Yes, it's or Yes, I'm; after no, the short form is fine: No, it isn't. No, I'm not.

Questions and short answers: every person

WhoQuestionShort answers
IAm I doing it right?Yes, you are. / No, you aren't.
youAre you watching the cam?Yes, I am. / No, I'm not.
heIs he cooking?Yes, he is. / No, he isn't.
sheIs she reading?Yes, she is. / No, she isn't.
itIs it sleeping?Yes, it is. / No, it isn't.
weAre we going home?Yes, we are. / No, we aren't.
theyAre they fishing?Yes, they are. / No, they aren't.

Short answers: Yes, it is.

Short answers have no -ing: Is it sleeping? – Yes, it is. After yes, say the long form: Yes, it is. Yes, I am. (Not: Yes, it's. Yes, I'm.) After no, the short form is OK: No, it isn't. No, I'm not.

Negatives: I'm not, isn't, aren't

To say no, put not after am, is or are: I'm not sleeping. It isn't swimming. They aren't fishing. An -ing verb never takes do or does, so They don't fishing and Does it sleeping? are both wrong.

✗ Say no: am / is / are + not + verb-ing

WhoLong formShort form
II am not sleeping.I'm not sleeping.
youYou are not swimming.You aren't swimming.
heHe is not cooking.He isn't cooking.
sheShe is not reading.She isn't reading.
itIt is not fishing.It isn't fishing.
weWe are not watching TV.We aren't watching TV.
theyThey are not eating.They aren't eating.

No do, no does with -ing!

With am / is / are + -ing, don't use do, does or don't: Is it sleeping? (Not: Does it sleeping?) They aren't fishing. (Not: They don't fishing.)

What's it doing? Where are they going?

A question word goes first, and the question order follows: What's it doing? What are you watching? Where are they going? What it is doing? keeps the order of a statement, one of the common mistakes the scheme lists.

What / Wheream / is / areI / you / he / she / it / we / theyverb + -ing?

What's it doing? (What's = What is)

What are you watching?

Where are they going?

Common mistakes

  • What it is doing?

    What is it doing?

    questions: is / are before it, they…

  • Is it sleep?

    Is it sleeping?

    is / are + verb-ing

  • It not swimming.

    It isn't swimming.

    don't forget is / are: isn't, aren't

  • Does it sleeping?

    Is it sleeping?

    -ing: no do or does

More lessons on this grammar: Present continuous lessons and exercises

Try the present continuous questions exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 11 auto-checked exercises
  • 3 games
  • 2 teacher-checked tasks
  • 1 real-life document
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 3 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • ask what's happening now with What and Where: What's the bear doing? Where are they going?
  • ask yes/no questions and answer them briefly: Are you watching the cam? Yes, I am. Is it sleeping? No, it isn't.
  • say what isn't happening with I'm not, isn't and aren't: The cubs aren't fishing.
  • describe animals in action with verbs like catch, jump, swim and wait: A big bear is catching a fish!

Lesson 22 is the second lesson of Animals and nature, the sixth unit of English A1.2 · Out and About. It builds on lesson 7, which taught present continuous statements and the -ing spelling (It's raining. They're playing.), and lesson 25 later sets the present continuous beside the present simple. A live webcam is all about now, so every look at the screen brings a new question: What's that bear doing?

Students spin a wheel of warm-up questions, then learn ten words, from catch and claw to cub and den, with pictures and audio. They read the webcam page of the Brooks Falls bear cams, then listen to Emma and Sam watching the cam on a laptop (an AI-voiced dialogue) and to a park ranger talking live on the cam. After the scheme, four exercises check each answer as students go: choosing the right word, a gap-fill of questions and short answers, a yes, no and question table, and a final choice of the right sentence. In the speaking chapter, students reply to Sam's messages from his break at the pie shop, then open boxes that have them mime an action while a partner guesses with Are you…ing?

Homework has two self-checking tasks, sentences to put in order and words to match with their meanings. Students then write a message about what the people at home are doing and record a live webcam show as a park ranger, and the teacher reviews both.

Grammar:
present continuous questions · present continuous negatives · short answers: Yes, it is. / No, it isn't. · What are you doing?
Topic:
bear cams · Brooks Falls · Katmai National Park · Alaska · brown bears · animals

Teaching tips

  • Start with a mime: act out fishing or sleeping, and let the class guess with Are you fishing? Answer only Yes, I am or No, I'm not until students give short answers too.
  • Play the dialogue twice with a new job each time: first students note what the bears are doing, then they write down Emma's questions, such as Are they swimming?
  • Run the fill-in table as a chain: one student reads a yes sentence, the next makes it negative, and a third turns it into a question.
  • Follow Sam's chat with a paper chat: partners pass a note that asks What are you doing?, and each reply gives one thing they're doing and one they aren't.

Liked it?

Teach the whole lesson in edio

26 exercises in 6 chapters, ready to teach. edio is an online platform for language schools and teachers: ready-made interactive lessons, live classes, homework and student progress in one place.

  1. Start a free trial

    7 days, no credit card.

  2. Open the lesson

    Find it in the library of 621 ready lessons. Teach it as it is, or copy any chapter into your own lessons.

  3. Teach it live or as homework

    Students work in their own accounts, in sync with you during the lesson, and the practice exercises check themselves.

Teach it free for 7 days

The whole course: English A1.2 · Out and About

32 lessons that pick up where English A1.1 ends, in simple American English, from the present simple with he and she to was and were. Eight units cover shopping, the weather, getting around, celebrations, health, animals and nature, jobs and weekends. Pictures and definitions replace translations, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Shopping

    clothes and colors, he and she in the present simple, sizes and prices, paying in a store

    1. Lesson 1What does she wear on Aloha Friday?Present simple with he, she and it
    2. Lesson 2A basket on wheels?Present simple negatives with don't and doesn't
    3. Lesson 3What size are these boots?What questions and a pair of
    4. Lesson 4Can I try it on? The Santa Fe Indian MarketRequests and permission with Can I and Can you

  2. Unit 2 Weather and seasons

    the weather, seasons and months, the present continuous, how often it rains or snows

    1. Lesson 5Is the Windy City windy?Weather adjectives with It's
    2. Lesson 6Does it rain in the desert?Yes/no questions with does
    3. Lesson 7Baseball at midnight?The present continuous for now
    4. Lesson 8Is it always windy on Mount Washington?Adverbs of frequency and their place

  3. Unit 3 Getting around

    transport, timetables, where places are, tickets with want and need

    1. Lesson 9How do you get to work?By + transport, take the bus and on foot
    2. Lesson 10What time does the ferry leave?Wh- questions with does
    3. Lesson 11Where's the streetcar stop?Between, behind, in front of and across from
    4. Lesson 12Do you need a ticket?Want and need with a noun

  4. Unit 4 Celebrations

    dates and holidays, in and on, party invitations, object pronouns

    1. Lesson 13Why is it called Juneteenth?Ordinal numbers for saying dates
    2. Lesson 14Never on a Sunday? The Rose ParadeIn, on and at for dates and times
    3. Lesson 15Come to our Lunar New Year party!Some and any with plural nouns
    4. Lesson 16Thank you, teacher!Object pronouns me, you, him, her, it, us and them

  5. Unit 5 Healthy me

    the body, how often, at the pharmacy, steps with first and then

    1. Lesson 17Does your back hurt?Hurt and hurts with parts of the body
    2. Lesson 18How often do you walk?How often questions and expressions of frequency
    3. Lesson 19What's the matter?Have and has for health problems
    4. Lesson 20Clean hands in five stepsSequence words with imperatives

  6. Unit 6 Animals and nature

    there is and there are, what animals are doing, parks, a, an and the

    1. Lesson 21Which frog sings its name?There is and there are for what's in a place
    2. Lesson 22 · you're hereWhat's the bear doing now?Present continuous questions and negatives
    3. Lesson 23Are there any horses on the beach?Questions with is there and are there any
    4. Lesson 24Where do the baby turtles go?A, an and the for first and second mention

  7. Unit 7 Jobs people do

    jobs and workplaces, the present simple and continuous, job interviews, possessive pronouns

    1. Lesson 25Who makes the sounds in movies?Present simple vs present continuous
    2. Lesson 26Nurses on horses?At, in and on with workplaces
    3. Lesson 27Can you be a lifeguard?Verbs with prepositions
    4. Lesson 28Whose hat is this?Possessive pronouns from mine to theirs

  8. Unit 8 Weekend stories and plans

    was and were, how long and how tall, and, but and or, camping food

    1. Lesson 29Why do we have two days off?Was and were, the past of be
    2. Lesson 30How long is a blue whale?How + adjective questions about size
    3. Lesson 31A cow made of butter?And, but and or for joining ideas
    4. Lesson 32What do you need for s'mores?Containers and quantities with of

Questions about this lesson

How do you answer "What are you doing?"
Answer with the present continuous: I'm plus a verb with -ing, as in I'm doing my homework or I'm watching a bear cam. For a fuller reply, add what you aren't doing: I'm not sleeping. I'm watching the cam! About someone else, change the helper and the pronoun: What's the bear doing? It's fishing.
How do you make questions in the present continuous?
Put am, is or are before the subject, then the verb with -ing: Is the bear sleeping? Are they eating? Are you watching the cam? For a What or Where question, the question word comes first and the rest keeps that order: What are you watching? Where are they going? There's no do or does, because am, is and are already make the question.
How do you make the present continuous negative?
Add not after am, is or are, usually in the short forms I'm not, isn't and aren't: I'm not sleeping. It isn't swimming. The cubs aren't fishing. Keep the helper (not It not swimming) and leave out don't (not They don't fishing). In the dialogue of What's the bear doing now?, an A1 lesson on edio.ai, a negative comes with what's really happening: It isn't fishing, it's sleeping!
Is it "Yes, it is" or "Yes, it's"?
It's Yes, it is: a yes short answer never contracts. The same goes for Yes, I am (not Yes, I'm) and Yes, they are. After no, short forms are fine: No, it isn't. No, I'm not. No, they aren't. The chat in What's the bear doing now? on edio.ai offers Yes, I'm! as a wrong reply to Are you watching the cam too?
Is it "Is it sleeping?" or "Does it sleeping?"
Is it sleeping? is the right question: with an -ing verb, the question starts with am, is or are, never do or does. So it's Is the bear catching it?, not Does the bear catching it? Short answers follow the question, too: Are you busy? gets No, I'm not, not No, I don't.
Is it "What is it doing?" or "What it is doing?"
Say What is it doing?, with is before it, or the short form What's it doing? After a question word, the helper still comes before the person: What are you watching? Where are they going? What it is doing? keeps the order of a statement and is a common slip. A chat reply in What's the bear doing now?, an A1 lesson on edio.ai, sets the same trap with What the bears are doing?
What are action verbs?
Action verbs name something a person or an animal does: catch, jump, swim, fish, eat, walk, wait and sleep. They're the verbs that take -ing for what's happening now: A big bear is catching a fish. The salmon are jumping. The cubs are waiting on the rocks. They're easy to teach with mimes and pictures, since each one shows an action.
How do I teach present continuous questions to beginners?
Ask about something happening in front of the class, such as a mime, a photo or a video, so every question has a real answer: Is he swimming? No, he isn't. He's fishing. Yes/no questions and short answers come first, then What and Where questions. On edio.ai, the A1 lesson What's the bear doing now? takes the same route with bears on a live webcam, before drills, a chat and mimes.
What's a good game for practicing present continuous questions?
Mime and guess is a good game: one student acts out an action without a word, and the others ask Are you cooking? or Are you swimming? until they hear Yes, I am! Allow three guesses to keep it fast. The open boxes in this lesson set up the same game, and one turns students into a park ranger: What are the bears doing? What aren't they doing?
How do you practice present continuous questions one-to-one?
Swap roles between asking and answering: the teacher mimes and the student asks Are you…ing?, then they switch, or both describe a photo with What's he doing? and Is she…ing? The chat in this lesson works for one student alone: a friend on a break asks What are you doing right now?, and the student chooses between replies like No, it isn't and No, it doesn't.
What's good homework for practicing present continuous negatives?
A message about what everyone at home is doing makes good homework, with a negative for each person: My little brother isn't doing his homework. He's playing video games! In What's the bear doing now? on edio.ai, students write that message and record a live webcam show as a park ranger, after two self-checking tasks on word order and word meanings.
Are there interactive exercises for present continuous questions?
Yes: online drills that check each answer let students practice questions and short answers on their own. This page plays four parts of What's the bear doing now?, an A1 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: the Brooks Falls webcam page, a dialogue at the laptop, a gap-fill of questions and short answers (Is the bear catching a salmon?) and a chat with a friend watching the cam. The fill-in table and the rest are locked.
Unlock full lesson

Teach this lesson with your students

Book a demoStart free trial

No credit card required