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Who's that runner coming from behind? Present simple and continuous for live commentary

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches sports commentary with the present simple and continuous, built around Billy Mills's last-lap win at the 1964 Olympics.

Grammar
The present simple for quick actions (He overtakes Clarke!) and the present continuous for actions in progress (Mills is falling behind.), with -s and -ing spelling and no past forms for live action.
Topic
Billy Mills, an Oglala Lakota runner born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and his 1964 Olympic win, with words such as overtake, underdog and upset.
Activities
Darius's feature, the hosts' own last-lap commentary and a runner's voice message, self-checking drills, a chat where the student commentates and a wheel of moments.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: on your marks!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the words: race dayVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: twenty-five laps in Tokyo

    • Look at the picture: a wet trackPictureUnlock
    • Read Darius's story: twenty-five laps in TokyoArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: here comes Mills!

    • Listen to Darius and RileyListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: CallieListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: he overtakes, he's sprinting!

    • Study the scheme: live commentaryGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct option: the last lap, liveChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the present continuous: right now in the studioFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: overtake and come from behindFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: live commentary linesQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: you're on the mic!

    • Choose the right replies: you're the commentator!ChatTry it
    • Drag the lines into the correct order: the last lapDrag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Riley's first commentaryChoose the optionUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and commentate the momentSpin the wheelUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Sort the words: people, things or actionsSort into columnsUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: live from the poolChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the present simple: quick actionsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct order: commentary linesUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: spell it rightQuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Darius answers CallieChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the lines into the correct order: Darius vs. the mugsDrag and dropUnlock

33 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Sports vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • leader
  • favorite
  • underdog
  • upset
  • pace
  • official
  • goal
  • broadcast
  • scholarship

Grammar: present simple and continuous for live commentary

Live commentary describes the action as it happens, so it needs present tenses. With the last lap of the 1964 Olympic 10,000 meters, retold by the hosts as if live, learners use the present simple for quick actions and the present continuous for actions in progress, spell the forms right, and keep past forms for later.

He overtakes! He's sprinting!

Live commentary: you describe the action right now, as it happens.

Quick actions and actions in progress

A short, quick action takes the present simple: He passes two runners! She jumps! Actions in progress take the present continuous: The runners are coming around the turn. He's running on the outside. Both describe what is happening right now.

A quick action or an action in progress?

Present simple: quick actions

  • He passes two runners!
  • She jumps!
  • Mills crosses the line!
  • Gammoudi takes the lead!

Present continuous: longer actions in progress

  • The crowd is cheering.
  • He's running on the outside.
  • Mills is falling behind.
  • The runners are coming around the turn.

In the studio

  • Here comes Mills!
  • Clarke leads, and Mills is staying right with him.
  • Mills overtakes Clarke!
  • Footnote is moving along the couch… She jumps!
  • The fly is getting away!
  • Darius is commentating again, and Riley is laughing.

Every person, with -s and -ing

Only he, she and it add -s in the present simple: I cross, he crosses. Watch the spelling: passes, catches, tries, running, sitting, coming. In American English, the crowd and the team take it: The crowd goes wild.

Every person

WhoPresent simple: a quick actionPresent continuous: in progress
II cross the line!I'm running on the outside.
youYou cross the line!You're running on the outside.
heHe crosses the line!He's running on the outside.
sheShe crosses the line!She's running on the outside.
it (the horse)It crosses the line!It's running on the outside.
weWe cross the line!We're running on the outside.
theyThey cross the line!They're running on the outside.

Spelling, and the crowd

he / she / it + -s: pass → passes, catch → catches, try → tries. -ing: run → running, sit → sitting, come → coming, take → taking. In American English, the crowd and the team are “it”: The crowd goes wild. The team is winning.

Live means now: no past forms

In live commentary, the action is happening now: Now he passes Clarke! The past simple waits until the race is over: In 1964, Mills passed Clarke in the last stretch. That's why Darius's feature uses the past and the studio commentary the present.

Live means now: no past forms

In live commentary, the action is happening now, so don't use the past simple: Now he passes Clarke! (Not: Now he passed Clarke!) Use the past later, when you tell the story: In 1964, Mills passed Clarke in the last stretch.

Often both tenses work

Many lines are right in either tense, such as He crosses the line! and He's crossing the line!, or Clarke leads and Clarke is leading. The lesson never makes students choose in those cases. One verb stays simple: have meaning “hold,” as in Darius has the ball.

Often both are right

Many lines work in both tenses: He crosses the line! / He's crossing the line! Clarke leads. / Clarke is leading. Commentators often use the present simple for very quick moments and the present continuous for scenes that go on. But have (= hold) stays simple: Darius has the ball.

Common mistakes

  • The crowd go wild!

    The crowd goes wild!

    the crowd = it: + -s

  • He running on the outside.

    He's running on the outside.

    be + -ing

  • And now he passed Clarke!

    And now he passes Clarke!

    live = now: no past forms

  • Mills is overtake Clarke!

    Mills overtakes Clarke!

    the -s form, or is + -ing: is overtaking

More lessons on this grammar: Present simple vs present continuous lessons and exercises · Present continuous lessons and exercises

Try the sports commentary exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 20 auto-checked exercises
  • 4 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • describe quick actions with the present simple: He overtakes Clarke! Mills crosses the finish line first! Gammoudi takes the lead!
  • describe actions in progress with the present continuous: Mills is falling behind the two leaders. The runners are coming around the turn.
  • spell the forms right for every person: passes, catches, tries, running, sitting, and say The crowd goes wild, not go wild
  • keep past forms for telling the story later: Now he passes Clarke! live, but In 1964, Mills passed Clarke in the last stretch.
  • commentate a moment of their own, from a basketball game to a cat and a fly: Footnote jumps! She misses!

Lesson 27 is the third lesson of Sporting moments, unit 7 of English B1.1 · Stories That Travel. It builds on A1.2 lesson 25, which set the present simple against the present continuous, and on B1.1 lesson 19, where present tenses told a plot. Lesson 28, the unit's last, turns to question tags. A race decided on its last lap calls for exactly this mix of quick actions and actions in progress.

Students open boxes of questions about races and favorite athletes, then learn twelve words, from overtake and fall behind to underdog and scholarship, with pictures and audio. They read Darius's feature on the race, then hear Darius and Riley commentate the last lap as if live, an AI-voiced retelling, and Callie, a 20-year-old runner from South Dakota, describe her morning at the track. The grammar chapter has the scheme and four self-checking drills, among them a table of overtake and come from behind. In the speaking chapter, the student commentates in a chat with Darius, orders the lines of the last lap, completes Riley's first commentary and spins a wheel of moments.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, a gap-fill and a sort for the words, then a commentary from the pool with options, present simple gaps for quick actions, commentary lines to order, a spelling quiz, Darius's answer to Callie and Riley's group-chat commentary of the mug washing to put in order.

Grammar:
present simple for live commentary · present continuous for live commentary
Topic:
Billy Mills · the 1964 Olympics · Tokyo · the 10,000 meters · running · sports commentary · Pine Ridge · South Dakota · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Turn the sound off on a real game: play a minute of any sport without sound and let pairs commentate it, one with quick actions in the present simple, the other with what is going on in the present continuous.
  • Before the studio commentary, draw the last lap on the board with three names: Clarke, Mills and Gammoudi. Students move the names as they listen and call out each change: Gammoudi takes the lead!
  • Make the past-or-present point with the feature: students find three past forms in Darius's article and say them as live lines, so he sprinted past Clarke becomes He sprints past Clarke!
  • Ring a bell during the wheel whenever a speaker slips into the past, and the class gives the live form. It echoes Darius's “Ding, ding!” for the last lap in the studio.

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The whole course: English B1.1 · Stories That Travel

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, each built around a true story. Riley, Jade and Darius make a podcast in Kansas City about true American stories, and each lesson tells one, from a seaplane airport in Alaska to the Marfa Lights of West Texas. Learners compare the present perfect with the past simple, use future forms, modals and quantifiers, and give their own opinions. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Travel smart

    the present perfect vs the past simple, for and since, indirect questions, be used to and get used to

    1. Lesson 1Would you visit an airport just for fun?Present perfect vs past simple
    2. Lesson 2Would you sleep in a 300-year-old inn?For and since with the present perfect
    3. Lesson 3My suitcase has gone to Honolulu!Indirect questions for polite requests
    4. Lesson 4Can you practice a flight?Be used to and get used to

  2. Unit 2 Dream jobs, new jobs

    will have to and won't be allowed to, the present perfect continuous, simple vs continuous, would vs used to

    1. Lesson 5Would you jump off a moving boat for a job?Will have to, will be able to and will be allowed to
    2. Lesson 6Working from anywherePresent perfect continuous
    3. Lesson 7Could you be a camp counselor?Present perfect simple vs continuous
    4. Lesson 8Would you live in a lighthouse?Would vs used to for the past

  3. Unit 3 Space and discovery

    it's + adjective + to, What's it like to…?, future forms compared, future time clauses, too and enough + to

    1. Lesson 9What's it like to work in space?It's + adjective + to and What's it like to…?
    2. Lesson 10Who will walk on the Moon next?Future forms compared by meaning
    3. Lesson 11A message for the starsFuture time clauses
    4. Lesson 12A helicopter on Mars?Too and enough + to-infinitive

  4. Unit 4 Life online

    the more…, the more…, be supposed to, ought to and had better, let, make and allow

    1. Lesson 13The internet's first word was “LO”Comparative and comparative; the more…, the more…
    2. Lesson 14Who sent the first spam?Be supposed to for rules, expectations and plans
    3. Lesson 15Is your password really safe?Ought to and had better for advice and warnings
    4. Lesson 16Who writes Wikipedia?Let, make and allow + someone

  5. Unit 5 Screen and page

    -ed and -ing adjectives, gradable and extreme adjectives, present tenses for a plot, articles for things in general

    1. Lesson 17Why do readers still love Nancy Drew?-ed and -ing adjectives for feelings
    2. Lesson 18Movie night in your carGradable and extreme adjectives
    3. Lesson 19Would you review a book on TV?Present tenses to tell a plot
    4. Lesson 20Where are the books about girls like me?Articles for things in general and specific things

  6. Unit 6 Green living

    few and a few, little and a little, all, most, some and none, each and every, fewer and less

    1. Lesson 21A year's trash in one jar?Few, a few, little and a little
    2. Lesson 22No food in the trash!All, most, some and none (of)
    3. Lesson 23A farm in the middle of DetroitEach and every
    4. Lesson 24A trash collector with googly eyesFewer and less

  7. Unit 7 Sporting moments

    could, was able to and managed to, for, during and while, present tenses for live commentary, question tags

    1. Lesson 25From a leg brace to three goldsCould, was able to and managed to
    2. Lesson 26A doctor and an Olympic champion?For, during and while
    3. Lesson 27 · you're hereWho's that runner coming from behind?Present simple and continuous for live commentary
    4. Lesson 28Why do high jumpers go backward?Question tags

  8. Unit 8 Mysteries and lost worlds

    both… and, either… or and neither… nor, uncountable nouns, how sure we are about the future, unless, as long as and in case

    1. Lesson 29A calendar made of posts?Both… and, either… or, neither… nor
    2. Lesson 30What was the Great House for?Uncountable abstract nouns
    3. Lesson 31What does Newspaper Rock say?Certainty about the future
    4. Lesson 32What are the Marfa Lights?Unless, as long as and in case

Questions about this lesson

What tenses are used in sports commentary?
Sports commentary uses the present simple and the present continuous, because it describes the action as it happens. Quick actions take the present simple: He overtakes Clarke! She jumps! Actions in progress take the present continuous: Mills is falling behind. In the B1 lesson Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai, the hosts use both to commentate the last lap of the 1964 Olympic 10,000 meters.
Is it "he crosses the line" or "he's crossing the line"?
Both are right in live commentary. Commentators often use the present simple for very quick moments and the present continuous for scenes that go on, but many lines work either way: Clarke leads or Clarke is leading. So Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai never makes students choose there. One verb stays simple: have meaning “hold,” as in Darius has the ball.
Is it "the crowd goes wild" or "the crowd go wild"?
In American English, it's the crowd goes wild, with -s: the crowd and the team count as it, so they take goes and is, as in The team is winning. British English often uses a plural verb with such nouns, but the lesson follows American usage. A spelling quiz in Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai includes this line.
Can you use the past tense in live commentary?
Not for the action you are watching: it's Now he passes Clarke!, not Now he passed Clarke! The past simple comes back when you tell the story later: In 1964, Mills passed Clarke in the last stretch. That's why Darius's feature in Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai is in the past, while the studio commentary of the same lap is in the present.
Who is Billy Mills?
Billy Mills is an Oglala Lakota runner born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in 1938, who grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. On October 14, 1964, as a 26-year-old Marine lieutenant, he won the 10,000 meters at the Tokyo Olympics in an Olympic record of 28:24.4. He was the first American to win the Olympic 10,000 meters, and his win is often called one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history.
How did Billy Mills win the 10,000 meters in 1964?
He came from behind in the last stretch. At the bell for the last lap, Ron Clarke of Australia led with Mills right there; Mills was pushed wide as they went around a lapped runner, and Mohamed Gammoudi of Tunisia went past on the inside. Then Mills sprinted past Clarke and Gammoudi and won by about three meters. Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai tells the race in Darius's feature.
What sports vocabulary should B1 students know?
For races, start with the words that say who is winning: leader, favorite, underdog and upset, a surprise win by the weaker side. Add the race verbs overtake, to go past someone ahead of you, and fall behind, plus pace, official, broadcast and commentate. Who's that runner coming from behind?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, has them among its twelve word cards.
How do I teach sports commentary to B1 students?
Let students hear a race before they name the tenses: a last lap told live shows quick actions in the present simple and longer ones in the present continuous. Then compare it with the same race told in the past. Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai does this with Darius's feature, the hosts' studio commentary, the scheme and four drills on the forms.
What's a good game for practicing live commentary?
Spin a wheel of moments and commentate one: the last ten seconds of a basketball game, a penalty kick, a race for the last bus or a cat chasing a fly around the classroom. The speaker talks for thirty seconds without a past form. The wheel in Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai has eight such moments, from Tokyo in 1964 to the teacher's walk to the board.
What's good homework for sports commentary?
Good homework builds a commentary from small pieces: present simple gaps for quick actions such as She catches the ball!, lines to put in order, a spelling quiz on tries and running, and a whole commentary with verb choices. All ten homework tasks in Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai check themselves, ending with Riley's live commentary of Darius washing twelve mugs.
How do you practice sports commentary one-to-one?
Commentate something happening in the room: the student describes the teacher making tea or a pet crossing the floor, live, then the two swap roles. The chat in Who's that runner coming from behind? on edio.ai needs no partner: Darius sends messages about Riley on the stairs with two iced teas, and the student picks the live line, such as She's still holding the iced teas!
Are there interactive exercises for sports commentary?
Yes: gap-fills and a chat that mark every answer. Without an account, this page plays three parts of Who's that runner coming from behind?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai: Darius and Riley commentating the last lap in the studio, a gap-fill of present continuous lines about Footnote and a fly, and the chat where the student takes the mic. The rest of the lesson is locked.
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