S1E11 - Everyone's Busy

Objective & content

On a Saturday morning Kate needs a hand in the garden and goes looking for the family. Paul is in the kitchen, Rosie is in her bedroom and George is in the living room watching football, so nobody helps her, except Buster, who is digging up the flowers. The episode contrasts the present simple for weekly habits (I always make lunch on Saturdays.) with the present continuous for the moment (He's digging a big hole!). The vocabulary is rooms of the house and daily routine. Learners listen, then check their understanding with the in-app quiz.

Pedagogical guide

In French, German and Italian one tense covers both "I do my homework" (habit) and "I am doing my homework" (now), but English makes you choose. Ask "always true, or happening now?" and use time words (always, every Saturday) as the signal for a habit.

Suggested procedure

1. (3 min) Warm-up: ask what pupils do every Saturday and what they are doing right now.
2. (2 min) Preview the rooms: kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room, garden.
3. (4 min) First listen: where is everyone, and who helps Kate?
4. (8 min) Second listen: pupils match each person to a room and an activity.
5. (7 min) Board work: sort script lines into "habit" and "now"; practise the shape he's + verb-ing.
6. (6 min) Pairs say one thing they do every weekend and one thing they are doing now.

Materials & prerequisites

The episode in the PLAY app (audio, slideshow, text and quiz), a student sheet and a teacher sheet with the answer key. Learners need the present simple with I and the verb be.

Curriculum alignment

Cycle 3 (6e), axis "The child and their close environment": rooms of the house and daily life.