Festive resources
By Clare Lavery

Introduction

This week's tips is a pick and mix of classroom activities on a festive/seasonal theme. Secondary and Primary teachers will find there is something for them. Don't forget to check out last year's seasonal links and activities too.

1. Speaking activities

• Christmas wishes
  An open ended discussion task to do in groups or pairs. Write on the board:

• All I want for Christmas is …………….
• I'm dreaming of a…………..Christmas

• If I could change one thing in the world at Christmas it would be……….
• My one big personal wish for Christmas this year would be…………
  This theme goes well with that old favourite White Christmas by Bing Crosby. Have students ever had a white Xmas?      Would they go abroad to a hot place, as many British people do? Is the weather part of their festive experience?

• Cross cultural comparison
  A guided discussion and cross cultural comparison on the meaning of Christmas: Has it lost its religious meaning or does it not have a religious meaning for their family?
  Use the opinions of real teenagers in the UK in this article:
  www.childrens-express.org/dynamic/public/teen_talk_christmas.htm
• Christmas and Pets
  Take a quirky angle to the festivities and extend to a discussion on attitudes towards animals in the home and animals as presents. Compare your host country to the UK. What sorts of pets are popular in their country? Give students the Pet statistics as an introduction and/or use the teens article to extend the topic. Ask students to say if anything surprises them and to imagine, before they read, what type of present you might give the family dog. Is it silly to give animals presents?
• The latest Pet statistics - Christmas 04 .12.03
  Britain's animal lovers will spend an estimated £27 million on Christmas gifts for their pets this year.
  Most pet owners spend an average of £4 on their pet
  Men spend more money on their pet than women
  Pet Christmas stockings (with toys and pet chocolate drops) are very popular this year
  The most bizarre presents include a fishing rod for your cat and flashing reindeer antlers for your dog to wear.
  
  Statistics from the Animal Welfare charity www.bluecross.org.uk
  See what teenagers think about giving animals as gifts:
  www.childrens-express.org/dynamic/public/junior_jury_christmas_pets_061202.htm
• Associations
  Things you associate with Christmas and the festive season.
  Brainstorm with the whole class or in pairs/small groups. Read the recent comments on the BBC Newsround site from youngsters in the UK: Are you feeling Christmassy? Asks the site. Ask students to underline the activities or things that make the kids feel in the "festive mood".
  Lead in to music that might put you in the festive mood. Get suggestions of music they associate with the festive period and lead in to the latest releases in the UK or a very traditional carol like silent night.

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2. Drama with sketches and roleplay

• The Baker's Dozen is a reader's theatre play designed to be read from a script and it lasts 6 minutes. It is good for lower levels. This play could be read in small groups with 6 or more readers and a larger class could be split in to 2 or 3 groups to rehearse, read through and then perform. The theme is the story of the real St Nicholas and it would work well with a Santa quiz to start off the lesson and lead in to who the real Santa was.
  http://aaronshep.com/rt/RTE09.html
• The Christmas Truce is suitable for intermediate level up and is more suited to 14 years and older. It is based on a true story of Christmas in the trenches during World War 1 and could be of a sensitive nature in some countries. It is currently topical, with war in Iraq, and many other parts of the globe. It is a good stimulus for a follow up discussion on war, heroism and the futility of war. It also goes very well with First World War poems. The play lasts 12 minutes and has 4 roles to be read aloud. Everyone in the class can be involved if you split into groups.
  It is a very simple and moving piece.
  http://aaronshep.com/rt/RTE34.html
• Check the archive tips on using video, improvisations and using drama techniques. Draw stimulus material from clips of your favourite Xmas film or adverts in magazines or on TV. You do not need to use sound for brainstorming and acting out dialogue so you could use a local version of a film if you cannot get the English version.
• Sketches can also be based on well known Xmas books and stories. One favourite is the retelling of the Nativity story from the point of view of the innkeeper (see Jesus' Christmas Party by Nicholas Allen) and look in to other stories:
  www.starshine.co.uk/images/starshin1.htm

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3. Storytelling, poems and rhymes

• You can find many poems, and even Christmas tongue twisters on the teacher's sites listed below. There are good stories to tell at www.stnicholascenter.org/ there is even a short story in six parts which you could tell over 2 weeks or divide into groups with each part of the class having a bit. Then put a student from each group together to see if they can piece together the basic story line. Don't try this with below intermediate level as it is challenging.
  
• It is very important to give students tasks to help them follow a story: ordering pictures to match the story, ordering key words or filling in blanks on a written version. Choose stories where dialogue could be inserted and ask small groups to liven up their stories with dialogue.
• Check out the Tips this on storytelling in the language class for more links.
  Other sources of stories are on CDs of Xmas songs (very cheap at newsagents and the early Learning Centre) which sometimes have short bible stories and traditional tales mixed in with the carols.

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4. Songs, carols, pop songs and traditional music

• The ideal song we think of is sometimes one that we love but it may be too challenging for language learners. Seemingly easy songs that are familiar as a tune in their mother tongue 'Jingle Bells' can be very hard work linguistically. As a rule of thumb, try and get key illustrations of a song like' Jingle Bells' or 'Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer' using clip art sites or books.
• If the students are young you can illustrate with actions and that helps - 'When Santa got Stuck Down the Chimney' can be done with actions. Teenagers will appreciate a pop song or even a traditional carol.
• Band Aid's Do they know its Christmas?
  To accompany this song you can take pictures from Oxfam's site and Save the Children who show young people in very different circumstances.
  
  Ask students to look at the pictures before you go to the song. Can they describe a typical December 25th in the lives of these people? Contrast pictures or situations like a young Australian in Sydney or a Londoner compared to their own lives. These discussions should prepare the concepts of the song. Bring in words like famine, basic necessities etc.

• Take out key words from the song e.g. 'world of plenty / the greatest gift'
• What will the song be about?
• Listen and order the key words or match to the song lyrics.
• Alternatively split the sentences to form contrasts which students can pair up e.g.
  The greatest gift they'll get this year is/ life
  At Christmas time there's no need to/ be afraid

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5. Games

• The Advent Calendar game
  The Calendar is your prop to make this game festive. Make a large poster and put windows on it like an Advent calendar. Inside write a question in quite small print.
• Students from 2 teams take turns to open a window of their choice.
• One team member comes to the front and reads the question. The team tries to answer.
• Continue until all the windows from 1-24 are open. Window 25 is a bonus point window which is played by flicking a coin or rolling a dice for the highest number. The team answering the bonus question can win 2 extra points.
• The questions can be on a Winter/Christmas theme or they can be round up questions on this term's key grammar or vocabulary.

• Snowmen twins game
  Make your own spot the difference snowman to involve the whole class in finding their perfect twin.

• Draw a snowman with 3 buttons, a scarf and hat. Copy for the number in class (an even number might involve you taking part to make sure its even).
• Make pairs of photocopies and colour them exactly the same. Then mix up the snowmen and distribute around the class.
• Students must mingle and ask each other about their snowman until they find their twin. The first twin wins! Make slight colour changes (one button differs in colour between 6 snowmen) so they take a bit of time to find each other.
• Variations include changing expressions on their faces and removing hats or buttons and scarves from some snow men or even adding silly objects like one set of snowmen have a pet dog or are carrying a bag. www.whychristmas.com/fun/fun_spot_tree.html will give you an idea of how to create a very basic spot the difference. www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/xmas.htm has more examples.

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6. Using visuals
No shortage of visuals can be found with local magazines, cards on the net and your own pictures/photos.

• The year in pictures
  Students collect pictures cut from magazines and some photos if they can to do a year in pictures for themselves or in groups they can do a year in their country: What key events, people and trends emerged in 2003. Each group presents their year.
  Use a simple time line and a calendar to talk through their year with younger learners. Ask them to write a sentence for each month. They can illustrate this year summary too with collages or their own drawings.
• Christmas cards
  These give scope for lots of fun tasks: Which do you like best? Which would you give to? Write all the Christmassy words you can see in the cards? What's the origin of card giving?

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Internet links:

www.primaryresources.co.uk/re/christmas.htm not just usable at Primary level but a great link if you teach Primary and Middle school. Check out the suggestions for using the 12 days of Christmas in a modern way.
www.whychristmas.com has word searches, spot the difference, pictures to colour and use as flashcards.
http://mond.at/comenius/christmas provides European schools a forum for exchanging pictures and writing in English about their festive customs. Worth a look.

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