Tonight’s song comes back every December in Britain, in every shop, every school and every party. It’s loud, it’s happy, and it ends with the singer shouting “It’s Christmas!”
Learn from Songs · Festivals: Christmas · A2–B1
Merry Christmas Everybody
Slade’s loud, happy Christmas anthem: questions with the present continuous (Are you hanging up your stocking?), Christmas vocabulary, everybody / everyone + singular verb, and looking to the future, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
A shouting song? I’m good at those.
SOPHIA
It’s full of questions about Christmas preparations: are you hanging up your stocking? Is granny dancing? Perfect for practising questions.
PHILO
We have the Festival of Lights in winter too.
Before you listen: the song
New York, 1973
Slade were a loud, cheerful rock band from the English Midlands, famous for their glittering clothes and their misspelled song titles. Their singer, Noddy Holder, had one of the loudest voices in rock.
The bass player Jim Lea wrote the tune, using part of an old song of his, and Noddy Holder wrote the words in one night at his parents’ house. They recorded it in New York, in the middle of a summer heatwave. It was the British Christmas number one in 1973, and it has come back into the charts almost every Christmas since.
In the song, the singer asks what everybody is doing for Christmas: hanging up stockings, decorating the house, dancing with granny. Everybody is having fun, and he tells us to look to the future.
A feast is better when everybody comes.
Listen: the questions
PHILO
Listen once. How many questions can you hear? What is everybody doing?
SOPHIA
And listen for the big shout at the end. Then answer Section A.
🎄 Listen to the song: “Merry Christmas Everybody” (Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, 1973), by Slade.Find the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Merry Christmas Everybody”, Slade.Read the lyrics →
Present continuous questions
MARCOS
Are you hanging up your stocking? Is granny dancing? What are you doing for Christmas?
SOPHIA
Am / Is / Are + subject + -ing? for what is happening now or plans: What are you doing tonight? Short answers: Yes, I am. No, she isn’t.
Everybody, everyone
DEMETRIA
Everybody is having fun. Everyone loves Christmas. Nobody wants to go home.
SOPHIA
everybody / everyone, nobody, somebody take a singular verb: Everybody is…, not “everybody are”. We use their after them: Everybody brought their presents.
Christmas words
PHILO
stocking, decorations, tree, presents, carols, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, to wrap, to decorate, to celebrate.
SOPHIA
Christmas Eve = 24 December; Christmas Day = 25; Boxing Day = 26 (in Britain). Merry Christmas / Happy Christmas, Happy New Year. Children hang up a stocking for presents.
Looking to the future
MARCOS
Look to the future! Next year will be better. We’re going to have a great time.
SOPHIA
At the end of the year, people look forward: will for predictions and hopes, going to for plans. This year I’m going to learn to skate.
Sophia’s comparison: festivals of light in winter
PHILO
In the darkest days of winter, we light the lamps for the rededication of the Temple, one more each night for eight nights, to remember the little jar of oil that lasted.
SOPHIA
And in Rome, at the end of December, they celebrate the Saturnalia: masters serve their slaves, people give each other presents and candles, and everybody shouts “Io Saturnalia!” Even the Romans need a party when the nights are long.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Am / Is / Are + subject + -ing? | present continuous questions | Are you hanging up your stocking? |
| Yes, I am. / No, she isn’t. | short answers | Is granny dancing? Yes, she is. |
| everybody / everyone + singular verb | indefinite pronouns | Everybody is having fun. |
| stocking, decorations, presents | Christmas words | Wrap the presents! |
| will / going to | looking to the future | Next year will be better. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. When does the song come back every year?
2. What does the singer shout at the end?
3. Where was it recorded?
4. Who wrote the words?
5. What was it in 1973?
6. What were Slade famous for?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. you hanging up your stocking?
8. Is granny dancing? Yes, she .
9. Everybody having fun. (be)
10. What are you for Christmas? (do)
11. Let’s the presents. (cover them in paper)
12. Next year be better. (prediction)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “Everybody are happy.”
14. “Are you decorating the tree?”
15. “Is granny dancing? Yes, she does.”
16. “What are you doing for New Year?”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Party questions. Interview a partner about their plans for the winter holidays: What are you doing…? Are you visiting…? Is your family…?
Discuss. 1. How do you celebrate in winter? 2. Why do people need festivals when the nights are long? 3. Why do some songs come back every year?
Write (80–100 words). Our winter festival. Describe what everybody in your family is doing to prepare. Use the present continuous, everybody + singular verb, and five festival words.
Now play the gamebook: a winter feast for the whole street.Play the gamebook →