Christmas

In this lesson plan, learners will read a text about a British Christmas. They will first learn about Christmas around the world by doing a quiz. Then, they will predict what the text will say, read the text to answer comprehension questions, and do a group jigsaw task where they focus in detail on two paragraphs. They will also write a personal response comment to the text. There is also an extension speaking task about unusual Christmas presents.

Lesson outcomes

All learners will:

• complete a quiz about Christmas traditions around the world
• read, understand and share information from the article 'A British Christmas'
• write a comment giving their opinion about Christmas
• dioscuss good/bad present with a partner

Materials

• Lesson plan 
• Student worksheet 
• Presentation 
   

Lead-in (5 minutes)

• This activity introduces the theme of Christmas and helps learners pool what vocabulary they already know.
• Put learners in small groups. They have 2 minutes to write all the words they know that are connected with Christmas. The group with the most words wins

Christmas quiz (10 minutes)

• This is a quiz for learners to see how much they know about how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world. 
• Start by asking, ‘How much do you know about Christmas around the world?’ Listen to any ideas the class has. 
• Then put learners in pairs or small groups to do the quiz. Show slide 2 or give out the student worksheet to do the quiz.
• Check answers as a class using slide 3 or reading out the answers: 1 – e / 2 – g / 3 – b / 4 – d / 5 – c / 6 – a / 7 – f. 
• Optional: If you have internet access, you may want to look up some images of the things which are mentioned.

Reading - true or false (10 minutes)

• Tasks a and b are a prediction/check your prediction task, to give the learners a reason to read. Task c practices scanning for specific information.
• NOTE: Before doing the reading, you may want to pre-teach the following vocabulary or be ready to answer questions about these words: cracker, decorations, pudding, sleigh, turkey. 
• Show slide 4 or direct learners to question a of the Reading – true or false task on the student worksheet. Ask learners to work individually to make notes, then to do read the text (question b) to check if any of their ideas were mentioned. Remind learners to read quickly, not to worry about every word for now, they’ll read the text in more detail soon. Hold a short feedback with the class to find out what they knew.
• Show slide 9 or direct learners to question c. Ask learners to read the text again, individually, before comparing answers with a partner. 
• Show the answers on slide 10 or read them out: 1 – F, 2- F, 3 – F, 4- T, 5 – F, 6- F, 7 – F, 8 – T, 9 – F
• Do feedback with the class, asking them to correct any false answers.

Reading - jigsaw task (10 minutes)

•  The jigsaw task practices reading into speaking - to tell someone about a text in your own words.
• Put learners in groups of three, and label them learner A, learner B, learner C.
• Show slide 11 or direct learners to task 3 on the student worksheet. Tell each learner they will individually read two paragraphs, answer two questions about the text and also answer two personal questions (those in brackets). 
• Tell learner 1 to work with paragraphs and questions A and B, tell learner 2 to work with paragraphs and questions C and D, and tell learner 3 to work with paragraphs and questions E and F.
• Give learners time to read and form answers, around 5 minutes.
• Stop the reading task and group learners in threes to talk and share answers. Encourage learners to ask each other questions.
• Do feedback with the class, asking some learners their responses to the personal questions (those in brackets).

Write a comment (10 minutes)

•  This activity focuses on the last section of the article again – ‘our readers’ thoughts’ and practices writing a personal response.
• Tell learners to read the ‘Our readers’ thoughts’ section of the text again and say if they feel the same as any of the four young people. 
• Tell learners they will now write a comment. Show slide 12 or look at task 4 on the student worksheet. Allow learners some time to think about what they could write. Encourage them to look back at the text for things they could mention. If needed, write your own response on the board as a model.
• Learners write their comments, then share with a partner. Monitor and help/correct when needed.
• Invite some learners to read their comment and have an open discussion about anything they mention.

Reflection (5 minutes)

• Ask learners to reflect individually. Show slide 13 or write up the following questions on the board: 

  What task did you enjoy in today’s lesson? 

  What would you like to know more about? 

  What have you improved the most today – reading, writing, speaking or listening (to others)?

• Do a short feedback session where you invite some learners to share.

Extension task - Christmas presents

• This is a collaborative speaking task about Christmas presents.

• Tell learners they’ll read about unusual Christmas presents, and they need to choose the one they would prefer to get. Show slides 14-18 or question a of the Unusual Christmas presents task on the student worksheet. Give learners time to read and decide.

• Ask learners to share with a partner, then find out what was popular with the class by asking for a show of hands for each present.
• Put learners in pairs. Tell them they will now rank (list from 1-5) the presents. Show the useful language box and drill (you say, they repeat) the phrases/questions to build confidence using them. These will help learners interact.
• Set and time limit of three minutes, and start learners doing the task. Monitor and encourage learners to extend their answers and use the useful language phrases.
• Invite some pairs to say in which order they ranked the presents, and why.