Christmas | Teaching English | British Council

Theme: Christmas
Lexical area: Christmas vocabulary

Instructions for language assistants in Italics

Classroom materials

Introduction
This lesson has some ideas for how to introduce the topic of Christmas. Your own experiences and thoughts about the festive season will enhance the lesson and you will be a great source of information for your students on this theme.
Task 1 and Task 2 are simple warmer or filler tasks.
Task 3 is a mini-quiz about Christmas around the world and could be a useful starting point to talk about Christmas traditions where you're teaching or about other winter festivals if you’re in a country that doesn’t celebrate Christmas.
Task 4 is based on a reading text about Christmas in the UK. It is aimed at intermediate level students and above and could be used as a spring-board into a discussion about many aspects of the festive season.
Task 5 gets students to think of three resolutions for the new year and tasks six and seven are more creative activities for younger learners.
Task 6 and Task 7 are more creative activities for younger learners.
Task 8 is aimed at teenagers and looks at some unusual gift ideas for Christmas. Mix and match the activities as you feel suitable to your class and add your own ideas too to make a personalised Christmas class.

If you need flashcards of Christmas items to teach vocabulary you’ll find a very nice set that you can download and print from the British Council’s LearnEnglish website. Here’s the link to the flashcards section: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-flashcards.htm You’ll also find lots of games and activities related to Christmas on this site too. The homepage is: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids

1. Christmas puzzle
If you have any visual aids such as Christmas cards or any Christmassy pictures you could use them first to get students thinking about the theme. Alternatively use the Christmas flashcards mentioned above and then ask students to see how many words they can remember from the flashcards you’ve presented. Making an acrostics puzzle like this is one way to brainstorm the new vocabulary. Words must be interlinked like crosswords are. Encourage students to think of anything at all they think of when they think about Christmas time. Start this activity together so the students get the idea, then let students continue in pairs or groups and see how many words they can link up. For example:

		P
C	H	R	I	S	T	M	A	S
		E						N
		S						O
		E						W	I	N	T	E	R
		N
		T
		S

Task 1 Christmas puzzle
What do you think of when you see the word CHRISTMAS? Try and link up as many Christmassy words as you can like a crossword puzzle.

2. Happy Christmas word hunt
This is a simple ten minute warmer or an activity you could use if you have a few minutes to fill at the end of the lesson. Students work in pairs or groups and see how many words they can make from the letters in HAPPY CHRISTMAS. (For example; PARTY, MISTY, THIRST……) Points could be awarded for the longest word or the biggest quantity of words found.

Task 2 Happy Christmas word hunt
How many words can you make from the letters in HAPPY CHRISTMAS?

Write the words here:

What’s the longest word you found?

3. Where in the world?
This is a quiz for students to see how much they know about how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world. Start with the discussion questions then put students in teams or groups to do the quiz.

Answers: 1 – e / 2 – c / 3 – h / 4 – b / 5 – f / 6 – d / 7 – a / 8 - g

Task 3. Where in the world?

Have you ever spent Christmas in a different country? If so, was it very different to how you usually spend Christmas?
How much do you know about what happens at Christmas around the world? Try to match the customs on the left with the country on the right.

Custom	Country
1) St. Nicolas brings presents on December 6th to good children and a bag of sticks for bad children.	a. China
2) December 26th is called Boxing Day and was traditionally a day to give presents to the poor.	b. Spain
3) Tropical flowers are used as Christmas decorations.	c. Great Britain
4) The three Kings arrive on the night of January 5th to give presents to children. Most towns have a carnival style parade through the streets.	d. Germany
5) On January 6th a special almond cake with a toy crown inside is eaten.	e. Czech Republic
6) Wooden decorations and candles are put in windows of homes.	f. France
7) The Christian population is between 4 – 6% and big cities put up Christmas trees.	g. Canada
8) Fir trees grow here and they always send the biggest and most beautiful fir tree to Boston in the USA.	h. Costa Rica

Do you know anything about any of these customs? If so, explain them to your classmates.
What would you write about your own country?

4. What does Christmas mean to people in the UK?
This is a reading text taken from Trend UK. You can use it as a starting point to talk about different aspects of the festive season. Put students into groups of 5 and divide the paragraphs of the text between them. It may be better to cut up the text and give each student only their paragraph, otherwise it can be too tempting to go ahead and read the whole text. As a jigsaw reading they have to then tell the group about what they read.

If you are in a country where Christmas is not celebrated you could use the text as a jigsaw reading and then encourage the students to ask you questions about how you celebrate Christmas.

Task 4 What does Christmas mean to people in the UK?
Work in groups of five if possible. Before you read the text imagine how Christmas is spent in the UK. Do you think it is similar or different to your own country? Discuss your ideas with your group.

Now each member of the group is going to read one paragraph. When you have all finished reading your paragraph explain it to the rest of the group then discuss these questions together.

Is Christmas in the UK very different to how spend the festive season?
Do you think Christmas is more important for children?
Would you consider giving up some of your free time to help homeless people?
Do you think there’s too much pressure on people to spend money on presents at this time of year?
Do you like the idea of the unusual gifts and gift ‘experiences’? What would you choose for an unusual gift?
Do you watch a lot of television at Christmas time?
Do you think the real meaning of Christmas is getting forgotten?

What does Christmas mean to people in the UK?

What you might expect
For most people Christmas means a range of things. The most popular ones are spending time with the family and visiting relatives and friends. If there are young children in the family then all activities revolve around them, and parents get very excited for their child’s first Christmas. Simon, a first-time parent, commented he will be ‘mostly entertaining and being amused by our daughter who will be enjoying her first Christmas ever’. For children in particular it means presents and the more the better.

Christianity
Despite the considerable and increasing commercialisation of Christmas it still holds a religious meaning and importance for some. This is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ; hence the name Christmas. Because of this Christmas is traditionally meant to be ‘the season of goodwill’ and for some this is still true, for example one woman called Claire spends time giving food to homeless people which she describes as ‘VERY sad and depressing.’

Christmas presents
Christmas cards are widely distributed whilst presents are reserved for close friends and family. Traditionally the giving of a gift is symbolic of the three wise men giving their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.

There are a handful of people who try to be imaginative and buy unusual gifts for their relatives such as the ‘experience’ gift. Steve’s Christmas gift to his 65 year old Mum was an hour’s flight in a light aircraft where she was co-pilot. Another popular gift from wives to their husbands is an afternoon at a go-kart racing track. In return, a day spent at a health spa may be their special treat.

However the majority of people after many hours of frantic rushing around the shops end up buying ‘smellies’ (beauty products), chocolates, wine, hats and scarves and books. Having stood the test of time, these gifts are guaranteed to please.

Unexpected meanings
There are some more unusual meanings to Christmas for some people. Parents associate it with being under a lot of pressure to buy their children the latest – and often most expensive - toys. This is not helped by the TV advertising, which starts in early October. Similarly, for many it means getting stressed about buying presents and spending lots of money. One young man said Christmas for him meant ‘stressing over what presents to buy and how I can afford them’ but he adds it is also a time of ‘great fun’.

Families and television
When families get together there can often be disagreements and some people connect Christmas with family arguments. Others associate Christmas with eating and drinking too much while others think of bad quality TV programmes and films, many of which are repeats. For many in the UK Christmas simply means a time off work and away from the office and for some it’s an opportunity to reflect on the past year and also look forward to the next.

Mary-Ann

This article originally appeared on the British Council Japan Trend UK websit

5. New Year’s resolutions
You could introduce this by writing the new year on the board. Ask students what they would like to change in the next year. Give some examples of resolutions you have made in the past or ones you’d like to make this year and explain the tradition of making new year’s resolutions.

Task 5 New Year’s resolutions
Have you ever made any new year’s resolutions? In the UK many people make resolutions for the new year. These are promises they make to themselves. Typical resolutions may be to give up smoking, do more exercise or to read more books. Think about what you would like to promise yourself for the next year. Write three new year’s resolutions here:

1)

2)

3)

Do you think you will keep the resolutions?

6. Design your own Christmas card
Younger learners usually really enjoy making greetings cards. Bring in some examples to show them and give them ideas. You could combine this with task six and students could write their Christmas poems inside the cards. With higher levels you could ask them about whether or not they send Christmas cards to their friends and family and you could tell them about the tradition in the UK to send cards to anyone and everyone!

Task 6 Design your own Christmas card
You are going to make a Christmas card. Write a Christmas message inside.

7. Christmas poems
This task could tie in to task 6 and students could write the poems inside their cards. Alternatively they can present their poems on posters or in their notebooks depending on how much time you have available. Give a simple example on the board depending on the level and look at rhyming words and patterns.

Task 7. Christmas poems
You are going to write a Christmas poem. Use the letters in CHRISTMAS to start each line.

8. Unusual Christmas presents
If you’ve ever received an unusual gift introduce this task by telling your students about it. Then put students into groups of five and give each student one present to read about. They have mainly come from this website so if you have computer access you could show the page to the class to show them that they’re real gift ideas for teenagers. http://www.supagift.co.uk/christmas_for_teenagers.htm Then give students one each to read about in their groups. Students then tell their group about the gift they’ve read about and they should rank the gifts in order from the best to the worst. Use them as a discussion starter for talking about the giving and receiving of gifts. You could also use the Oxfam website to talk about giving charity gifts, which are also often unusual. See the link below to Oxfam Unwrapped.

Task 8. Unusual Christmas presents
Read about these unusual Christmas presents and put them in order from the best to the worst.

Teenager’s Driving Course - £85
You will take your first driving lesson with a professional instructor. You will be in a safe area and not on the roads and you will learn all the basics of driving a car. You will do a little course of 90 minutes and then spend 45 minutes behind the wheel. You’ll get a certificate to take home with you.

Makeover and Photo Shoot - £50
You will go to a professional photography studio for a full makeover of your clothes, hair and face. You will be able to ask to look like your favourite celebrity and they will take lots of photos of you. You will be able to take some of the photos home and you’ll spend three hours with the professionals.

Adopt a dolphin with the World Wildlife Fund – £35
You will receive an adoption gift pack which includes a cuddly toy, the adoption certificate, a WWF pen, an adoption card, and information about the dolphin you have adopted.

Junior Popstar Experience - £89
You will go to a recording studio and record a song with professional music producers. You will then have your photo taken for the cover of the CD and you will be able to take your CD home to keep forever.

Parachute Jump - £75
You will learn how to do a parachute jump and then you will go up in the plane and take a tandem jump (with an instructor). You will get a DVD of the whole event to show your friends afterwards, just in case they don’t believe you were so brave!

Internet links

The BBC Newsround site has some lovely Christmas pages. Well worth checking out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/specials/christmas/default.stm

This site has information about how Christmas is celebrated around the world.
http://www.soon.org.uk/country/christmas.htm

This is a great site for kids to access. They can fill in a letter to e-mail to Father Christmas and find out about the hows and whys of Christmas.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/facts.html

This site has some amazing facts about Christmas.
http://www.whychristmas.com/

This site has a selection of carols and poems.
http://www.carols.org.uk/night_before_christmas.htm

This site has another lesson plan with some photocopiable materials based around a Christmas quiz.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk//christmas/xmas.shtml

By Jo Budden

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