Festivals Around the World
What happens every year — and what is happening right now?
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🎉 🏮 🍲 🎵 🌍
English has two present tenses 🎭
One is for what happens again and again. The other is for what is happening right now.
Reading — three festivals 🌍
Yusuf's family celebrate the first warm day of spring with a meal in the garden.
Ana's street closes for one evening every October — every family brings a chair.
Dan's family waits for the first snow, then walks around the block with a lantern.
Comprehension check 🤔
What are Ana's cousins doing right now?
🔨
They are building a stage
Right now is the clue — the action is in progress, so Present Continuous.
Talk to your partner 💬
What festivals does your family celebrate? What happens every year?
Invent a new festival for your town. What would it celebrate?
Why do you think humans love celebrating things?
Do festivals change as we get older?
✍️ 🔍
Two jobs, one word 👀
Present Simple
- Routines, facts, habits
- every day, usually, always, never, on Fridays
- I play · He plays
Present Continuous
- Happening now, or around now
- right now, at the moment, today, this week
- I am playing · He is playing
Signal words 🔑
🗓️
every day
A routine, so Present Simple.
⏰
right now
Happening at this moment.
🔁
usually
A habit you repeat.
📅
today
Around now, not always.
✋
Look!
Points at an action in progress.
💬
currently
Happening around this period.
Which form? 🤔
Look! The organisers are setting up the stage. Why is this Present Continuous and not "set up"?
✋
Because "Look!" points at it happening now
An action in progress takes am/is/are + -ing, even if it happens every year too.
How to choose 🧭
1
🗓️
Find the signal word
"Every year" or "right now"? That decides the column.
2
🤔
Ask what the speaker sees
A habit, or something in progress?
3
📝
Build the form
Simple takes -s in the third person. Continuous needs am/is/are.
4
✅
Check the verb
State verbs like know and like stay simple.
One trap to avoid ⚠️
❌ Every year, the family is celebrating the festival.
✅ Every year, the family celebrates the festival.
Your turn — write six sentences ✍️
3 sentences in Present Simple — what happens every year.
3 sentences in Present Continuous — what is happening right now.
About a celebration you know well:
✍️ 🔍
What you can do now 🏆
🗓️
Present Simple
Routines, facts and habits.
⏰
Present Continuous
Happening now, or around now.
🔑
Signal words
They tell you which form to use.
⚠️
Watch out
State verbs stay in the simple form.
Homework 🎒
Find a photograph of a festival. Write a paragraph: what do people do there every year, and what are the people in the photo doing right now?
Bring it to the next lesson.
📸 ✍️ 🎉