Present Simple
Where are Hammy and Homiq? They are on the lawn in front of a house. They are delighted that the magic hymn works! Can you draw your Magic Friend and yourself near the house in the picture below?
Talk! Would you like to live in a city or in a village? What do you like best – country-houses or flats? Why?
Now that we’re here, let’s look around! There’s something written on the house. Probably, it’s the first magic words! Let’s say them together! PRESENT SIMPLE! What does it mean? Hammy thinks that the owners of the house have got a Simple Present for us! What else can it be? Let’s find out!
There are six hamsters in front of the house. Maybe, they will teach us magic! Look at the picture below.
Can you say the hamsters’ names out loud? Which hamster do you like best? What do they hold in their paws? Why? We may find the answer if we ask the hamsters.
– Our names are Always, Often, Sometimes, Never, Every Day and Usually. We live in Present Simple. We are very busy. We do SIMPLE things in PRESENT. We’d like to share our favourite poem with you.
Hamsters’ Present Simple poem
From day to day, from day to day
We always, always do the same!
I always wash the dishes!
I often wash the floor!
I never go to market!
I sometimes close the door!
I find the way to the bay every day, every day!
And I usually eat the lunch: crunch-crunch, crunch-crunch!
Do you like this poem, my friend?
Now let’s see how often the hamsters really do what they talk about. Look attentively at the table below. It’s actually the hamsters’ weekly schedule! Do you have a schedule, by the way?
Play! Now tick the things in the box below, which YOU do always, often, never and so on. Then read it out loud, for example: I always help my Mom. You can add your own ideas here:
Note! As you see, we use Present Simple to talk about things or actions that we do always, usually, every day, sometimes, from day to day and so on. So, they happen quite regularly:
I usually bake yummy things for everyone.
We also use Present Simple to talk about things that are always true:
Dogs wag their tails when they are happy.
A story about me
Talk! Dear friend! Homiq and Hammy think that if you say the hamsters’ names from Present Simple just one more time, you do a little magic. Tell Homiq and Hammy what YOU do usually, always, often, every day, every week, every summer, from day to day or seldom. Choose any magic words you like and make up a short story about yourself. You are most welcome to draw a picture which illustrates your story. Thank you!
Play! Homiq always makes up rhymes and poems. He’d like to share one of his favourite poems with us:
The house of my dream
In the house of my dream,
I can see ice-cream,
Cookies, pies and cakes,
Which my Mommy bakes.
In the house of my dream
Every day I dream
When I lie awake
Of blue sea and lake.
Every day I read,
Every day I eat.
I tell you, it’s good -
Eating in good mood.
I’ve got a pet hedgehog,
He is good and nice.
I can feed him always
With a mushroom slice.
When it’s dark already,
Always go to sleep -
On the softest pillow -
And my sleep is deep.
Hurr…..
Can you tell what Homiq does in the house of his dream? Well done!
Talk! You can see the picture of Homiq’s house below. Do you like it? Do you want to change anything? Would you like to have a pet hedgehog or any other pets? Mother Hamster has got three cupcakes in her paws. It’s for you and your Magic Friend! Would you like to have a bird nest under the roof of your house?
Talk! Now tell us about the house which YOU dream about. What kind of house is it? Is it a cottage, a villa or anything else? Imagine that you are in this house now. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you want to touch? What do you want to do there every day, always or sometimes? You are most welcome to draw a picture of the house of your dream.
It’s just wonderful! Thank you! Now it’s Hammy’s turn to dream. Let’s see what he dreams about:
Hammy’s dreams
I dream of blue sea,
Of the beach and of sand.
When we go to the seaside
For a lovely week-end.
I dream of sweet cookies
And of yummy cheese,
When we go to the seaside,
We walk in the breeze.
I run and swim there
(At the seaside, I mean)
And watch Homiq play
With his volleyball team.
I eat only pizza
(For dinners, I say).
And with all my hedgehogs
I spend the whole day!
Talk! Can you tell us all the things which Hammy does in his dreams? Thank you! Are your dreams just the same as Hammy’s? Draw a picture of what you usually dream about and tell us a few words about it.
The Best Customer (Do and Does in Present Simple)
Homiq and Hammy can see two shops in front of them. The first is called Daily Open – DO, the second one is Delicious Oranges Enormous Store – DOES. Let’s go and have a closer look at them.
Talk! Do you like oranges and orange juice? What about your Magic Friend? Who usually buys food in your family?
Homiq and Hammy ask Mrs. Often about these shops and she says:
A rap about the DO – shop
Sells all things – it’s Daily Open –
Spring and summer – and in autumn!
I and You and We and They –
Hurry here every day!
Who owns the DO-shop, my friend? Can you find them in the rap above and in the picture? We wonder about DOES – and here goes one more rap from Mrs. Often:
A rap about the DOES – shop
Delicious Oranges Enormous Store –
He reads the sign and opens the door.
She comes right here and buys some things –
It feels so good that she flies on wings!
Who are the owners of the DOES-shop? Can you find them in the picture and the rap above, my friend?
Oh, it seems that the first customer is here!
Homiq sees a cowboy-hamster riding a horse. We see him too, don’t we?
Play! Let’s be cowboys! I hope you know who a cowboy is. He has got a hat, a horse, a lasso and (oh, my!) – he’s got a gun! Show Homiq and Hammy how you ride a horse! Well done! You are a real cowboy! What colour is your horse? And your hat? Wonderful!
The owners of the two shops love this customer – he is the best! And they know a poem about him. Let’s listen!
A Poem about a cowboy
Does he often ride a horse? – Yes, he does!
Does he often ride a bike? – No, he doesn’t!
Does he often, tell me, does he often,
Does he often ride a horse?
Do you always see him here? – No, we don’t.
Do you always see him here? – No, we don’t.
Do you always, tell me, do you always,
Do you always see him here?
Do the hamsters have much fun? – Yes, they do!
Do the hamsters have much fun? – Yes, they do!
Do the hamsters, tell me, do the hamsters,
Do the hamsters have much fun?
Please, find all the examples of do/does in the poem above.
Note! We use do / do not (don’t) and does / does not (doesn’t) in Present Simple in questions and negative sentences:
Do you have a bike? Does he have a bike?
I don’t have a bike. He doesn’t have a bike.
We use does / does not (doesn’t) with he (for example, your Dad), she (for example, your Mom) or it (it can be your pet) in questions and negative sentences:
Does he like his buns with honey?
Does she want to spend much money?
Does it really look funny?
He doesn’t like his buns with honey.
She doesn’t want to spend much money.
It doesn’t really look funny.
Play! Dear friend, let’s make up our own poem (like the one about the cowboy-hamster) starting with: “Do you often…?”, “Does he always…?” and the like. We bet you know a lot of words and phrases, but maybe the following ones will help you a little: often bake a cake, seldom eat a pie, always lock the door, never wash your hands. Well done!
Now read the text below, find all the examples of do/does in it and count them. There should be 7 of them:
Mr. Hamish wakes up at 7 o’clock every day. But does he go to work at once? – No, he doesn’t! He usually feeds his dog named Ham. When Ham is not hungry any more, it wags its tail to show that it’s happy. Does Ham bark? – No, it doesn’t, because it doesn’t want to wake everybody up. Does Mr. Hamish’s wife wave him good-bye? – Yes, she does, – and he leaves for work.
Great! Remember, though, that in other cases (with I, we, you, they) we should use Do or do not (don’t).
Play! The next game is Simple, as everything is in Present Simple. Just answer the questions and follow your answers. Try to answer every question that you see in the scheme below:
Let’s plant a flower! (3rd person singular in Present Simple)
Look! There is a beautiful she-hamster coming to us. What does she have in her paw? Do you like her dress? She’s got such cute ears, hasn’t she?
Talk! Do you have a garden? What do you usually plant in your garden? What would you plant in the garden of your dream? What is your favourite flower?
Her name is Sally. She hums a rhyme to herself. Can you hear it? Shush! Let’s listen now!
Let’s plant a flower!
There she goes, goes, goes
And she knows, knows, knows
Where to go and what to do
To plant a rose, rose, rose!
Sally wants to play with Homiq, Hammy and you! Someone is here to join you. Guess her name from the poem below:
Autumn…
Leaves are falling down,
Waves are coming from the sea.
A marsh-mallow in my tea
Yummy as can be.
Sand brings joy to me.
Pay attention to the first letters of each line. Who wants to help?
Sally has got a bag of words-seeds which she wants to plant into the magic pots.
Here you can see a bag of seeds:
And let’s have a closer look at the pots below.
So, we’ve got two pots. The seeds themselves are magic too – they can talk! In other words, they are Speaking. And we’ve got one pot for Speaking seeds (S-pot) and the other one is for Easy Speaking seeds (ES-pot). The seeds are so funny, especially Easy Speaking ones! One kind of them buzzes a lot. They go buZZ-buZZ all the day. Another kind of seeds goes CHoo-CHoo or even CHatter-CHatter all day long. Still another one goes hiSS-hiSS. There is a kind that always says Oh! to this chattering. There is also a kind that tries to silence them all and says SHuSH! And when all is silent finally, another one says: eXcellent! So, we end up with something like the following chat:
buZZ-buZZ!
CHoo-CHoo!
hiSS-hiSS!
Oh!
SHuSH!…
eXcellent!
Note! Only with He, She and It: if a word ends in -X, -SS, -CH, -SH, -O or –ZZ, we should add -ES in Present Simple: wash-washes. So, we say: He always washes the dishes. We add -s to all the other verbs: plant – plants. So we say: She always plants the flowers.
Can you now plant a few seeds? Which do you like best? First, please find those word-seeds (in the bag of seeds) which you put in the ES-pot! Then use all the word-seeds to tell us about your Magic friend in the following way: My Magic Friend (his name here) always rises with the Sun. He always smiles at me sweetly and hopes to have a great day with me… and so on! Great!
Hammy starts planting all the seeds from the bag and makes up a poem. It’s about him and his wife, whom he misses a lot. Let’s read it together, find all the word-seeds which tell us about what Hammy and Hammsy do:
A poem about Hammy and Hammsy
He eats his big breakfast and misses his wife.
He searches his room and thinks of his life.
She hopes to see Hammy and goes now to work.
She teaches 10 hamsters and strokes her pet dog.
He does his gymnastics and stops for a while,
He plans all his meetings – puts notes in a pile.
She swims in the ocean, but she loves big lakes,
Agrees with her mother and a cheesecake she bakes.
The Sun rises quickly – it dances around,
It smiles at all hamsters and makes Hammy proud!
Marvelous! Sally is happy! Thank you!
Wonderful butterflies (“y” in verbs in 3rd person singular)
Who is here? It’s two friendly butterflies! Do the butterflies usually eat fish and chips or drink Coca-Cola?
They want several new dresses from the petals of the flower below. Can you help them?
Note! With He, She, It: If a verb ends in –y, there are two ways:
– change -y for –ies (worry-worries) – a consonant + y = a consonant + ies
– just add –s to the verb (play – plays) – a vowel + y = a vowel + y + s
It depends on the letter that goes before “y”. Pay attention to it, my friend.
Now tell Sally what butterfly gets a deny dress?
You’re right, the first one! And the dress will change: deny – she denies. Now you try to help the butterflies.
Wonderful! The butterflies are happy now! Thank you!
Zoo! To understand the rule above better, let’s read a poem about Homya. Find all the things Homya does.
Meet Homya Homich from the Zoo
At the Zoo there lives a hamster,
Homya Homich is his name.
And he’s got his friends around –
All of them are in the tale.
Guard Nickiforich is here –
He is not exactly friend.
Homya sees him – cries and worries –
So, this guard is hard to stand.
Homya stays with guard Petrovich –
Always pleasure he displays.
Hurries to Petrovich’s house,
Where he just enjoys and plays.
Homya is all good and furry –
Never friendship he denies.
Always brings something delicious –
With Petrovich corn he fries.
Talk! Wonderful! Look at the picture above, my friend. Can you name everyone in the picture? Who’s there behind the tree? Does he look friendly? Who do you like best from this poem? Whom would you like to meet? Why? What does Petrovich have for Homya?
Now Sally has more work to do. She has got two other magic pots for planting flowers. Who wants to help this time? Guess from the poem:
Oh!
Feast now!
Toast and butter!
Eat, munch and crunch!
Now it makes me feel good!
Do you know who it is? Pay attention to the first letters of each line.
Plant each flower that you see in the picture into the right pot! Say the magic words (Mrs. Often helps you), for example: He (she or it) often works hard.
Homiq is so impressed with Mrs. Often’s work that he makes up a poem about her. Please find everything that Mrs. Often does!
Mrs. Often is hard-working
Mrs. Often is so clever – she works hard and home she goes.
Often flies from here to there – carries bags and never groans.
When she finishes her washing, fixes she and mends all things,
Often kisses she her children – often joy and gladness brings.
Dear friend, whom do you like best – Mrs. Always or Mrs. Often? Why?
Help the hamsters
The hamster called Never has got a very naughty son. His name is Never Junior. Look at him. He is in picture below. It seems that someone is very untidy…
By the way, are YOU sometimes naughty? Why yes? Why no? Never Jr. usually, every day, always, often does very naughty things and disappoints his parents. But we’ve got a magic hat and a magic wand, haven’t we? So, let’s help Never Jr. behave better! For this you should read everything that this hamster does (from the list below) only adding his magic (!) name to it and remembering how to plant flowers. For example: He NEVER teases a friend. You should try to be very convincing and serious while doing this magic or it won’t work! Now, let’s start!
Tease a friend
Stick out his tongue
Make a mess in his room
Break a chair
Eat only sweets the whole day
Come home in messy dirty clothes
Get to dinner with dirty paws
Go outside without his parents’ knowing it
Walk in dangerous places
Meet a big bad wolf and talk to him in a friendly way
Brilliant! Good job! Thank you!
HamFish
All the hamsters that come to GrammArea are asked to make up any magical creature, draw it and describe its habits. Then they use magic to make this creature alive!
Homiq and Hammy also have some ideas about it. Homiq is here to tell us.
We’re glad to present to your attention the wonderful HAMFISH! (You can see it in the picture above). He lives in all waters, especially in the Hamster Sea, which is in Hamsterran Area of GrammArea. He needs water, fish, chips and burgers! He uses underwater stones, sand and plants or even shells to build his house. A she-hamfish has babies from 5 to 12 centimeters long. Babies can have different names: Flyer, Swimmer, Hammy, Lucky, Cheeker, Waterhom, Eater, Racer, Whiskers. An average hamfish has got whiskers from 10 to 20 centimeters long. It is a very clever animal. It walks on the ground easily.
Why do you think this creature is called Hamfish? Now to make our Hamfish alive we should find all the examples of Present Simple in the text above. For example: He lives… Let’s help Hamfish live happily in GrammArea!
Great! Dear friend, now it’s time for your magic creature! Don’t be shy and draw it, but please, don’t show it to anyone yet!
Play! Let your friends guess what your magic creature looks like. Let them ask you some questions about this creature and you should answer only “yes” or “no”. The questions can be as follows: Does your creature have long ears? Is your animal black? Does it have a tail? Does it have a cat’s head? Does it have a family? Does it have a name? Does it have many legs? and so on.
Say and Show
Now tell us about your Magic Friend who travels with you in GrammArea. And what does he or she do every day, usually, always, never, often, sometimes? Our fun list will help you with this (only add –s or –es each time): for example: He often hiccups after a good meal (and show us how he does it). Let’s start:
to hiccup after a good meal
to jump and hop like a mad hare at night
to moo like a real cow
to pretend to be a hedgehog
to behave like an old goat
to chase his or her tail like an Indian
to lick his (her) paws in the morning
to wash and splash like a duck in a bathtub
to miss you when you’re out
Hamsters’ club show
Talk! Do you often go to circus, my friend? What do you like best at the circus: clowns, acrobats or animals? Would you like to be a circus-actor?
Hammy and Homiq go to the Hamsters’ Club! They can see a notice there. Let’s read it together!
Attention! Attention!
Only today and only at our Hamsters’ club!
Fantastic circus-actress Georgina performs in her
Very Special Show!
Look! Who is it on the poster? Would you like to watch her show? How many hamsters can you see sitting in the circus? What does she have in her paw?
It must be very interesting! – says Homiq. – Let’s read on:
During the show the actress Georgina:
– climbs into the basket and jumps out high up in the air;
– stands on one paw for 15 seconds;
– rings the bell (no paws!);
– jumps over the high fence;
– stands on her head in the armchair;
– drinks some water from the cooler (no paws!);
– waves to the audience and wishes farewell.
Hurry! Hurry to the show and enjoy!
For Hammy and Homiq: come to the show and get a note which says where to go next in GrammArea.
Dear friend, to help Georgina perform better, find all the examples of Present Simple in the notice above (start with climbs).
Georgina’s day
Meanwhile, Georgina has a whole day ahead of her. Make a list of what she does during the day. Hammy and Homiq can help. They have got a magic box full of words which you can use.
Write the correct words above and you’ll learn whom she has to visit before the show – just put all the marked letters in the table below.
Great! Homiq and Hammy try to help Georgina too. Below is the list from them. What can the famous actress do from this list? Write down what you think of it (use the words from the tables 1 and 2 or even your own words). Don’t forget to put the verbs from table 1 in the correct form!
First she ___________________(1) __________________ (2).
Then she ___________________(1) __________________ (2).
After this she ___________________(1) _______________(2).
In a while she ___________________(1) _______________(2).
Finally she ___________________(1) __________________ (2).
Good job! You are a great friend!
Zoo! Now let’s read about our friends from the Zoo, Homya the hamster and guard Petrovich.
Fill in the blanks and complete the story about them. Choose the words from the list below or use your own words and put them in the correct form:
Homya the hamster and his friends
Homya the hamster _________________ (1) Petrovich every day. Guard Nickiforich ___________________ (2) and goes to ___________________ (3) Homya. When Peotr Ivanich, the director of the Zoo, ________________ (4) Homya, he ________________________ (5). Homya’s life is ______________________ (6).