We use Past Simple Tense to describe something which started and finished in the past:

• Bachir played soccer last Wednesday.
• Bachir hurt his leg last Wednesday.
• Bachir stayed at home on Thursday and Friday.
• I taught Past Continuous Tense to my students on Thursday and Friday.

Here is a cartoon video which will help you understand Past Simple:

We use Past Continuous Tense (also known as Past Progressive Tense) to describe something that was happening (in progress) at the same time as something else:

• Bachir hurt his leg when he was playing soccer.
• While Bachir was resting at home, I was teaching Past Continuous Tense at school.
• While I was watching television last night, the phone rang.

We also use Past Continuous Tense to describe something in progress at a particular time in the past:

• At 9:00am Thursday, Ricardo was telling me about Bachir’s accident.
• At 1:00pm today, I was eating my lunch.
• This time last week, I was teaching Prepositions.

Here is a cartoon video which will help you understand Past Continuous:

For a more detailed explanation of Past Continuous, try this Online Lesson. Then, test yourself with the Online Exercises.