Holiday Activities
Senior 1 · English
Holiday Activities
Lesson 2 of 5
25 min
A good holiday story does more than list events. It paints the scene: what was happening around you, what people were doing, and the moment when something suddenly changed. For that, English uses the past continuous (we were walking) together with the simple past (we heard).
Listening for specific information: before you listen, copy the grid below. Your teacher, or two classmates, will read the radio interview aloud. Listen only for the answers you need to fill the grid; you don't need to understand every word.
| Question | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Where did Hirwa spend the holiday? | … |
| Who went with him? | … |
| What were they doing at sunset on the first evening? | … |
| What were the fishermen doing? | … |
| What happened during lunch on the second day? | … |
| What was the best moment? | … |
Ingabire (presenter): Good evening, and welcome to Holiday Stories on Umucyo School Radio. My guest today is Hirwa from S1 C, who spent part of the December holiday in Rubavu. Welcome, Hirwa.
Hirwa: Thank you, Ingabire.
Ingabire: Who went with you?
Hirwa: My parents and my little sister, Ineza. We stayed for four days at my uncle's house near the lake.
Ingabire: What were you doing at sunset on your first evening?
Hirwa: We were walking along the beach. The sun was going down behind the hills on the Congo side, and some children were playing football on the sand. Suddenly we heard singing out on the water.
Ingabire: Singing? Who was singing?
Hirwa: The fishermen! They were paddling out onto the lake. Each crew had three wooden boats tied together with long poles, and the men were singing to keep the same rhythm. My uncle told us that they fish all night for sambaza, with lamps that attract the fish.
Ingabire: That sounds beautiful. Did anything go wrong?
Hirwa: Yes! On the second day we were eating lunch at a small restaurant by the lake when a huge storm started. The waiter was carrying our plates of sambaza across the terrace, and the wind blew his hat into the water!
Ingabire: Oh no! What did you do?
Hirwa: We ran inside. While my father was paying the bill, Ineza and I were watching the waves. They were as big as the sea waves we see on television.
Ingabire: And the best moment of the trip?
Hirwa: The last morning. I woke up early, and the lake was completely still. The fishing boats were coming home, and the fishermen were still singing, but more quietly. They were tired!
Ingabire: Thank you, Hirwa. Next week on Holiday Stories: a holiday on a farm in Nyagatare.
Think further: Why do the fishermen sing as they paddle? Why do you think Hirwa chose a quiet moment, not the storm, as his best memory?
| Word | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| shore | the land along the edge of a lake or the sea | We walked along the shore at sunset. |
| sunset | the time in the evening when the sun goes down | The fishermen leave at sunset. |
| paddle | to move a boat with a short oar held in your hands | The men were paddling out onto the lake. |
| crew | a group of people who work together on a boat | Each crew had three boats. |
| rhythm | a regular, repeated pattern of sounds or movements | They sang to keep the same rhythm. |
| attract | to make something come closer | The lamps attract the fish. |
| storm | very bad weather with strong wind and rain | A huge storm started at lunchtime. |
| still | not moving at all; completely calm | In the morning the lake was completely still. |
Definition
Past continuous tense: was or were + the -ing form of a verb. We use it for an action that was in progress at a time in the past: it had started, and it had not finished yet. At sunset we were walking along the beach.
| I, he, she, it | you, we, they | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | Hirwa was walking. | The fishermen were singing. |
| Negative | It wasn't (was not) raining. | We weren't (were not) swimming. |
| Question | Was the waiter carrying the plates? | Were they paddling? |
| Short answers | Yes, he was. No, he wasn't. | Yes, they were. No, they weren't. |
| Use | Example from the interview |
|---|---|
| An action in progress at a time in the past | At sunset we were walking along the beach. |
| The background of a story: what was going on | The sun was going down, and some children were playing football. |
| A longer action interrupted by a short one (simple past), often with when | We were eating lunch when a huge storm started. |
| Two longer actions at the same time, often with while | While my father was paying the bill, we were watching the waves. |
Worked example
Analyse: We were eating lunch at a small restaurant when a huge storm started.
Warning
Tip
Spelling the -ing form: drop a final -e (make → making, come → coming); double the final consonant after one short stressed vowel (swim → swimming, run → running, stop → stopping); change -ie to -y (lie → lying).
Pronunciation: in fast speech was and were are weak: We were walking sounds like "we wə walking". Stress the -ing verb, not was or were.
6 Minute Grammar: past simple and past continuous, BBC Learning English (6 minutes). Listen for the rule about an action that "was not finished" at a particular time, then compare it with the timeline above.
Play alibi in groups of four. The "police officer" asks each student: What were you doing at 7 p.m. yesterday? Who were you with? What was happening around you? Everyone answers in the past continuous. Then the officer asks one question with when: What were you doing when the lights went off?
At 7 p.m. yesterday I was sitting in the study room. I was reading my Biology notes, and my friend Mutesi was writing a French exercise next to me. Outside, it was raining and some S2 students were running back to the dormitory. When the lights went off, I was looking for my pen under the desk!
Write a paragraph (70–90 words) about a moment in a holiday or on a special day when something suddenly happened. First set the scene with the past continuous, then tell the sudden event with the simple past and when.
It was the last afternoon of the holiday at my grandmother's house in Rusizi. The sun was shining, the chickens were walking around the yard, and my brothers were playing cards under the avocado tree. I was helping Grandmother to peel potatoes for supper. We were laughing at one of her stories when a cow suddenly walked through the gate and started to eat the vegetables in the garden! We all ran after it, and my little brother fell in the mud.
Practice
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
