Snowman (Present Continuous): How To Make Grammar Feel Like a Rescue Mission

🎯 The Mission Objectives

By the end of this session, your student-reporters will be able to:

• Distinguish between present actions and future promises by contrasting video visuals with song lyrics.
• Construct accurate Present Continuous sentences to describe specific “frozen” moments in a narrative.
• Sequence visual events to map a coherent story timeline.
• Narrate a live action scene using appropriate pacing and grammatical structure in a role-play context.

Stop The “Zombie-Classroom” Stare

You know the look, don’t you? It’s the “Zombie-Classroom Syndrome.” It usually happens the moment you write am / is / are + verb-ing on the board. The energy drains from the room, eyes glaze over, and suddenly, you are left pulling teeth just to get a simple sentence out of them. You are teaching the rules, yes, but the SPARK is dead.

But we? We don’t do dead energy here. Not in this space! We do not just “teach grammar” as a cold list of mathematical formulas; we rescue it. We take the noise of a pop song and the silence of a narrative video and transmute them into a laboratory for linguistic precision. It is time to stop merely explaining the language and start broadcasting it LIVE!

The Alchemical Solution

This lesson works because it bypasses the “future-tense” confusion often found in lyrics and focuses strictly on the visual “NOW.” By using the “Freeze Frame” technique, we trap the action. We force the students to become reporters, not just students.

Through the MUSIC+ Framework, we turn passive listening into active “witnessing.” The students aren’t just filling in blanks; they are decoding a melting timeline and narrating a daring rescue. This is how you use the BEAT+ Method to turn a holiday video into a complex, vibrant exercise in real-time narration.

👁️ The Vision: The Student’s Journey

Class begins not with rules, but with a melting world. An ice cream cone drips under a blazing sun. The first question is not “What is the rule?” but “What is happening right now?” You give the answer in a whisper of grammar: The ice cream is melting. You have just named the danger.

Then, you enter a silent story. A wordless video unfolds—a tale of snowmen weeping in the heat and a determined girl on a mission. Your task is not to listen, but to watch and order. You piece together the scattered scenes: the ice, the wagon, the mountain, the rescue. You map the anatomy of a hope-filled journey before a single grammatical rule is spoken.

Now, you learn to trap time. The video stops. A single frame hangs in the air: a girl straining against a hill. The grammar becomes your tool for preservation. She is pulling. They are building. He is placing. You are no longer a passive viewer. You are a chronicler of the present moment, using am/is/are + verb-ing like a photographer’s lens, capturing actions quivering in the now.

A warning flashes: grammar can be a trickster. The song promises, “I am never leaving” (a vow for tomorrow). The video shows, “She is leaving the house” (an action in this second). You learn to discern the heartbeat of the present from the promise of the future.

Your vigilance is tested in the Court of Witnesses. In small councils, you watch the rescue and compose three truths. But one is a lie. You challenge fellow detectives: “The dog isn’t sleeping! It is running!” The game sharpens your ear and tongue into instruments of accuracy.

Finally, you are given the microphone. The final scene plays in silence. Your pen drafts a breaking news bulletin. Then, your voice fills the void. “The sun is blazing! The snowmen are fleeing! She is carrying them to safety!” You are no longer just a student. You are the narrator, the reporter, the voice making the rescue real through the urgent, living pulse of the Present Continuous.

You leave having not just learned a tense, but having used it to halt melting, to expose lies, and to broadcast a miracle. Grammar was not the lesson; it was the tool for the rescue.

📝 The Lesson Roadmap

Step 1 – The Danger Scale – Motivation+ (7 min)

First, prime students with the vocabulary of “melting” and “heat” before introducing a snowy context.

Ask the class: “Look at the screen. What is the problem in these pictures? What is the ice cream doing right now?”

Students should choose the correct sentence from the options provided on the screen. Elicit key vocabulary such as melting, sweating, dripping, and disappearing from their responses.

Step 2 – The Rescue Mission – Understanding+ (10 min)

Next, prepare students for a video that tells a clear story without words, requiring them to map the narrative before analyzing grammar. Display “The Silent Story,” showing four mixed-up screenshots from the video.

Instruct the class: “This video tells a story about a rescue. Watch the video. Put these four scenes in the correct order: 1, 2, 3, 4.”

Play the music video. Students will then sequence the story on their worksheet (D → C → A → B).

Step 3 – The Freeze Frame Hunt – Skills+ (15 min)

Now, shift focus to grammar by pausing the video to “trap” the action, forcing the use of the Present Continuous tense. Display “The Freeze Frame,” showing a still image.

Highlight the grammar focus: Present Continuous: Action NOW = am / is / are + verb-ing.

Ask: “What is she doing?”

Explain: “We are going to freeze the video. You must write exactly what is happening in that second. Not ‘she pulls,’ but ‘she IS pullING.'”

Play the video and pause at specific timestamps. Students complete the “Action Log” on their worksheet.

Step 4 – Lyric vs. Video – Understanding+ & Skills+ (5 min)

Display Slide 4, titled “The Grammar Trap,” which presents a text comparison on screen. The screen shows:

Video: “She is leaving the house.” (Action Now) Guide students: “Look at the ‘Grammar Trap’ box on your worksheet. Read the lyrics. Sia says ‘I am never leaving’ to mean a promise for the future. But look at the video. She is walking out the door right now.”

Emphasize: “Today, we focus on the VIDEO action.” Students will read the lyrics in the box on their worksheet. Then, they will circle “FUTURE” next to the text and “NOW” next to the video icon to physically confirm the rule.

Step 5 – The False Witness – Interaction+ (10 min)

Groups will now test each other’s memory using a “Two Truths and a Lie” mechanic.

Explain: “Watch the clip closely. Create a Quiz: Write 3 sentences about what is happening right now. The Twist: 2 sentences must be TRUE. 1 sentence must be FALSE.”

Example:

A) The girl is wearing a hat. (True)

B) The snowmen are holding hands. (True)

C) The dog is sleeping. (False)

Play the “Rescue Scene” (1:13–2:20). Allow groups 3 minutes to write their list. Challenge Group A to read to Group B to identify the lie.

Step 6 – The Live Commentary – Creativity+ (13 min)

Finally, students combine observations into a cohesive narrative script. Display “The Voiceover.”

Explain: “You are a TV Reporter. Scene: The Great Escape. Script: ‘Breaking News! The sun is coming out. The snowmen are…'”

Instruct the class to write 4 sentences to describe the escape scene. Invite volunteers to read their scripts aloud over the silent video, bringing their creative narratives to life.

The “Assessment with a Soul” Closer

When your students are narrating the “Live Commentary,” do not hunt for missing auxiliary verbs. Listen for the flow. Listen for the excitement of the “broadcast.” This is what we call Assessment with a Soul.

We are looking for the transformation from silence to speech, not just the correct placement of “-ing.” The included Assessment Pack allows you to grade their “Descriptive Detail” and “Creativity” alongside their grammar usage, giving you a holistic view of their alchemy.

Download the Free “Snowman” Lesson & Assessment Pack

P.S.

These materials are a preview of the everyday reality inside the Exclusive Subscriber Club, where teachers receive 10+ premium lessons + assessments every month to keep the fire burning.

Join the Club here.

---

Author Bio:

About the Author:Márcia Bonfim is an ESL/EFL teacher and creator of the Song Activity Factory. She helps educators create engaging lessons using her signature BEAT+ Method, which features the MUSIC+ Framework. You can discover her complete methodology summary here.