A new way to look at things: Helen and the simple present

When you walk into a grammar lesson, you usually expect pens and textbooks. You don't think affirmations on the wall, or teabags and mints stashed about the room. But with her background in art, design and HR, it's little wonder Helen Hotchkin approaches things differently. "I think my background is a real help. It helps me get the best out of my students.”

“I think my approach is unique, but that's the beauty of teaching at Regina Coeli,” she says. “You work with students in fields ranging from logistics to lumber. It means you stay adaptable and creative with everyone. You help students build solid language foundations, and you keep learning too.”

A mix of places

Creativity comes from inspiration, cultural and otherwise, and Helen certainly got the former. “I moved around a lot as a child. I'm from Hull in the north of England originally, but my dad's work took us to Rochester, New York, then to Buckinghamshire, and ultimately here to the Netherlands. You can call my background a bit of a hotch-podge!”

“My career is pretty similar. I love art, and have done since I was a child, so I studied art and design. It's very different from what I do now though! After studying, I moved into recruitment, human resources, then training. I worked with unemployed people, helping them improve their CVs, present themselves better and find jobs. I also worked with companies, helping them to fill in vacancies. I did all sorts for all sorts!”

Finding Nuns

So, with such a range of backgrounds, what is the story of how Helen came to work as an English teacher at Regina Coeli? “I’d been in NL for a few years, and was working for Randstad, helping people to find jobs in English. I ended up needing a place where I could help my applicants improve their language skills, and Randstad directed me to Regina Coeli. I visited and that was that. I think I first came about twenty years ago, so you could say I like it here! I have wonderful colleagues, and I love working with such a wide range of students.”

Simply present with the simple present

“Just like in recruiting, it’s all about the person in front of you. You find what they need and help them fix the gap. It’s so different for everyone, but there are some parts I like teaching lot more than others! I think grammar is one of my favourite things.”

“My absolute favourite one is the present simple tense. I think it’s probably the most important of the tenses because it’s such a fundamental part of communication. It’s crucial because it gives you a kind of “helicopter view” for all the other tenses. Once you understand it, you can add all the other bits that make up the other tenses. It’s kind of like the foundations for building a house.”

But what exactly is it? Helen explains: “The present simple is the tense we use to talk about facts and routines. It means you can easily talk about your life, what you do, your family, job, hobbies, what you think, what you feel – almost everything! These are all things that don’t really have a clear beginning or end. Want to describe your kids, where you usually go on holiday or the colour of the sky? That’s all present simple. In fact, native speakers use it about 97% of the time when they talk about the present.”

“I try to help my students see that they do use it all the time anyway, so there’s really nothing to be intimidated by. You have to think ‘Is it something that’s always true? Does it happen regularly?’ If the answer is no, then we look at other tenses. But for most everyday communication, the present simple is essential.

“It’s especially interesting for Dutch learners. In Dutch, you use the Onvoltooid Tegenwoordige Tijd (OTT) for facts and routines, but also for actions happening over a limited time. In English, we split those uses: the present simple is used for facts and routines, the present progressive is used for temporary actions. This difference can cause confusion – Dutch speakers often add ‘-ing’ to verbs when they don’t need to. So, I always tell my students to watch out for it!”

A student to remember

“I remember I had this one student. He only ever spoke in the past tense. ‘I ate breakfast every day’, ‘I went to the movies every week.’ He didn’t realise why his colleagues had so much difficulty understanding him, and it made his speech sound a bit like something in a book. But once he understood the use of the simple present, everything changed for him: his communication improved, he understood his work environment better, his colleagues understood him, everything he talked about seemed much less dramatic, much more down to earth. Moments like those are what makes the job so fulfilling.”

Eyes on the future

“What's next? I've just trained to be a confidential counsellor, so I'll do something in that direction, broaden my skillset. I'd also like to learn more about neurodiversity in learning, like dyslexia and people with learning difficulties, and how you make lessons more practical and visual. Whatever comes next, it’ll be with Regina Coeli. There’s still so much to learn!”

The present simple is the tense you use to talk about facts and routines or anything that doesn't have a beginning or an end. When native speakers talk about the present, they use the present simple about 97% of the time.

Sentences in the present simple are constructed by taking the subject and placing it at the start of the sentence. The verb comes after. If the subject is a She, He or It, then add an 's’ to the end of the verb.

Subject + Verb (s) + Rest of sentence

• I eat dinner every day.
• He buys groceries.
• They watch films.

Some words are exceptions to these rules: 'to be’, 'have’ and ‘do’.

To be

To have

To do

Negatives

Forming negatives in the simple present is done by adding just two words:

Subject + do/does not + verb + Rest of sentence

• I do not sleep.
• He does not do his own taxes.
• They do not speak Mandarin.

Questions

Question words are just as simple in the present simple. They are constructed as follows

Question word (who, what, how, etc.) + Do + Subject + Verb + Rest of sentence

• What sort of sport is Padel?
• Who are these people?
• Why are you looking for the station?