present simple

What a child does every day — routines, habits and the third-person -s that takes a year to stick.

From age 6Cambridge level: Pre-A1 Starters

Age: Ages 6–11
Level: Pre-A1
Skill: Grammar
Format: Teacher guide

The pattern

Saying it: I play / she plays
Saying no: I don't play / she doesn't play
Asking: Do you play? / Does she play?
Short answer: Yes, I do. / No, she doesn't.

Printable worksheet Presentation (PPT)

Sentences a child can say

Tap any sentence to hear it. Every one uses words from a topic pack you already have.

Mini exercise: choose the right word

Five sentences from this page, each with a word missing. A child taps the word that fits and, once it is right, hears the whole sentence.

She blank football.
He blank apples.
She blank watch TV.
blank you play the piano?
Cats blank a lot.

What you will actually hear

The mistakes that come up in every class, and what is behind each one, with a tag on those a first language makes typical.

She play football.She plays football.

He, she and it add -s. It is the single most-corrected ending in young-learner English.

She doesn't plays.She doesn't play.

Once doesn't takes the -s, the main verb gives it up. Only one word carries it.

Do she like apples?Does she like apples?

The -s moves to the question word. Does she, not do she.

How to teach it

1
Teach I and you for weeks before you touch he and she. The -s problem is created by introducing it too early.
2
Hang it on a real timetable. Their actual morning, with clock faces, beats any invented character.
3
Make the -s visible: write the verb, then add the s in a different colour every time. The eye learns before the ear.
4
Third person is easiest about animals and family — people the child talks about anyway, rather than grammar people.

Topic packs that pair with this

Same structure, words your class already knows — no new vocabulary needed.

Actions School Sports Food Family

Questions teachers ask

Present simple or present continuous first?

Continuous, usually. "I am running" describes what is happening in front of the child right now, which is easier to demonstrate than a habit — and it has no third-person -s to trip over.

How long before the third-person -s is automatic?

Longer than you expect — often a year of regular contact, and it slips back whenever a child is thinking hard about something else. Treat a lapse mid-story as a good sign: they were busy communicating.