Practice questions in your ESL class with this Christmas song, Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade.
These song lyrics include 10 examples of the interrogative in the present continuous (are you hanging…? are you waiting…? are you sure…? are you hoping…?) in the present simple (does he ride…? does he turn…? do they keep…? does your granny always tell you…? do you ride…?) and in the future (what will your daddy do…?).
There is a suggestion on how to use this song in your ESL classes below, but for more ideas, click here.
Lyrics
Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
It’s the time that every Santa has a ball
Does he ride a red nosed reindeer?
Does he turn up on his sleigh?
Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?
So here it is Merry Xmas, everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now, it’s only just begun.
Are you waiting for the family to arrive?
Are you sure you got the room to spare inside?
Does your granny always tell you that the old songs are the best?
Then she’s up and rock and rollin’ with the rest.
So here it is Merry Xmas, everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now, it’s only just begun.
What will your daddy do when he sees your mama kissing Santa Claus?
Ah ah
Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall?
Do you ride on down the hillside in a buggy you have made?
When you land upon your head then you’ve been slayed.
So here it is Merry Xmas, everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now, it’s only just begun.
Suggested activity: put the words in the correct order
Download this exercise (PDF)
Put the words in the questions in bold into the correct order, then listen to the song to check you are right. Can you identify the Christmas-related vocabulary in the lyrics? Do you know what these words mean?
a stocking you are hanging up on your wall?
It’s the time that every Santa has a ball
ride he a red-nosed reindeer does?
turn up he does on his sleigh?
sober the fairies keep him do for a day?
So here it is Merry Xmas, everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now, it’s only just begun.
the family waiting are you to arrive for?
sure you are you got the room to spare inside?
tell you always your granny does that the old songs are the best?
Then she’s up and rock and rollin’ with the rest.
So here it is Merry Xmas, everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now, it’s only just begun.
Do will what your daddy when he sees your mama kissing Santa Claus?
Ah ah
a stocking you are hanging up on your wall?
that will start the snow to fall you are hoping?
the hillside ride on down you do in a buggy you have made?
When you land upon your head then you’ve been slayed.
So here it is Merry Xmas, everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now, it’s only just begun.
SladeSlade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The British Hit Singles & Albums names them the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles. They were the first act to have three singles enter the charts at number one; all six of the band’s chart-toppers were penned by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea. As of 2006, total UK sales stood at over 6,500,000. Their best-selling single, “Merry Xmas Everybody”, sold in excess of one million copies. According to the 1999 BBC documentary It’s Slade, the band have sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
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