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The tense system is the clear focus of this unit. Although the text recognizes the tense system varies greatly from culture to culture, as an EFL teacher, the focus is on twelve different tenses. This includes the past, present, and future, each with four elements (simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous), hence, twelve in total. However, here only the four present tenses are reviewed along with suggestions for classroom activities to engage students in their usage. A concept introduced to me at a young age, mostly due to my well-traveled parents, was the cultural variation of the perception of time. My dad in particular, made me aware that the linear view of time is very much a Western concept, and that the concept of time varies greatly from one culture to another. It was difficult as a young child to think of time in a cyclical or non-linear manner, but being introduced to those types of ideas allowed me to develop a greater respect for the world around me and recognize just how confined my familiar world was. The tense system, and how many or few exist from one culture to another, exemplifies these differences not only in how we perceive the world around us, but our place in it and the experiences that brought us to where we are. Although this is an abstract observation, it speaks to the earlier emphasis on patience and understanding when teaching. I find it interesting that something as technical as the tense system, can embody a much broader subject