Can you use the past continuous with the words "during" and "throughout"

[davidtrinh]

I am going to make up two sentences with "during" and "throughout" below.

(1) Throughout the class, the English teacher was discussing contemporary poems with her students.

(2) During his stay in the hotel, John was complaining a lot about its customer service.

Is it idiomatic to use the past progressive when either "throughout" or "during" is used?

It sounds OK in my native language, but I cannot tell if it is correct to use this tense in my examples in English.

Please give me your feedback. Thanks a lot.

[Alan]

Perfectly grammatical, but simple past would do.