By David Reeson
Christmas Word Search Look for the Christmas words in the grid D E S A R A G S T D R E I N D
S R A S E D H G G R S F F Y D
A T D D F A T H E R C H R I S
D C F W G W T R S P A S J I S
G H G T C F R C A I F D K P H
Y R E U D C P R E S E N T S G
U I R R S N E B E G B E E D J
I S T K A N A R R N M R R F K
O T H E F F J T C F H F W G L
P M J Y G R A Y I R L G A H U
E A K F H T D R G V A H S K L
D S L H J U F D F E I C G E V
F T O J K I T B D W I T K E N
G R P K L I N N S T P J Y E D
H E X L N H W K A J D K B F R
N E C S I K Y L D K Q L V S M
B J E B P P G H J L U B S W E
N L N A V H O L L Y A V H T T
M M X F B A P Y O C D C Y U L
E E R G C A W R E
C D G E V D R Y W
T M A S B E T T A
S E E A H M Y F C
W W R F G I U G A
E Y S H T S I H R
R U V C R T K J O
T I A D E L M K L
H N B H W E N O W
D X A J S T G T E
D A A K D O D R R
S W D L G E F Y Y
A Y V I H V G B T
H T E U J B A R H
J J N T U U E B J
K K T R B K T N K
L I R L J J R M N
I L E B L L S A W
E L O G K D A F D
Father Christmas Christmas tree Cracker Holly Mistletoe Bauble Presents Tinsel
Turkey Reindeer Carol Yule log Candle Nativity Advent
Christmas in Britain The preparations for Christmas will be the same as anywhere else – lots of shopping, last-minute present buying, spending far too much money, etc, etc. In our village, there are carol-singers that go from door to door in the week before Christmas, and it is usual to give the singers money or drinks and food (or both): mince pies and either hot chocolate/cocoa or (even better) mulled wine - sweet red wine with spices. Plum puddings, or Christmas puddings, should have been made six months before as they take time to mature. Most people buy theirs nowadays. They are a very rich, dark pudding made with all sorts of dried fruits, nuts, spices, black treacle and sherry or brandy. It is also a tradition to put in a silver coin and whoever gets the piece of pudding with the coin in on Christmas day is especially lucky and their "pudding wish" will come true!
Christmas trees are an integral part of the Christmas decorations, and became popular in Britain in the nineteenth century, when Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert introduced the custom from Germany. I love a real tree and always buy the biggest I can get into the house! We use holly, ivy and mistletoe to decorate the house too - mistletoe is hung up and kisses can be legitimately exchanged under the mistletoe, but a berry must be removed for each kiss, and once all the berries are gone - no more kissing. We then go back home and put out a mince pie and a glass of sherry for Father Christmas and a handful of hay and oats for his reindeer, put out stockings for him to fill, and send the children to bed. Christmas stockings aren't usually hung by the fire but hung at the foot of the bed. They must hold a handful of nuts, a tangerine. In the morning we are woken by the children who are really excited to open their presents. They are allowed to open their stockings but they have to wait until after breakfast to open the presents under the tree. Christmas morning is usually chaos with paper and presents all over the floor. Christmas dinner is usually served at midday in this part of the world and the traditional roast is goose although most people have turned to turkey in recent years. The table will have a Christmas cracker by their place. Before anyone starts eating, the crackers have to be pulled, the awful jokes laughed at, the amazingly cheap marvelled at and paper hats donned. Whichever bird is chosen, it will be served with roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, carrots, peas etc., sausages wrapped in bacon, sage and onion stuffing, chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce or bread sauce, and giblet gravy. The flaming pudding will be carried into the room before the flames have died down it is served with brandy butter or sauce, and everyone will search for the silver coin! If anyone still has any room left in their stomach, they can always fill up with mince pies, nuts and fresh fruit, before settling down by the TV or radio for the Queen's Speech. Even the most ardent anti-royalist seems to tune in - it is now very much part of Christmas. After the Queen's speech, it is still very much the thing to play games - either charades (suitable for all ages, from grandma to the youngest children) or board games and card games. The Christmas holiday continues into Boxing Day - still a time to visit relatives and exchange gifts and traditionally, Christmas lasts for twelve days - the tree and all decorations MUST be down before Twelfth Night on January 6th.
Christmas in Britain questions 1 How do people prepare for Christmas in Britain? 2 What do they give to carol singers? 3 How long does it take for a Christmas pudding to mature? 4 What should you put inside a Christmas pudding?
5 Where do Christmas trees come from? 6 What should you do when you see mistletoe? 7 What goes in the Christmas stocking? 8 What is a Christmas cracker? 9 What vegetables are served with Christmas dinner? 10 What is the day after Christmas called?
Christmas in Britain Glossary Match the words to their meanings A sweet alcoholic drink from Spain.
Puddings
A green Christmas plant that can climb walls.
Rich
A small fruit similar to an orange.
Black treacle
A desert.
Holly
A bird similar to a turkey.
Ivy
A very sticky and sweet liquid, similar to honey. A herb.
Mistletoe Berry
A plant for kissing under at Christmas with white berries.
Mince pie
A white vegetable similar to a carrot and a potato.
Sherry
An adjective to describe a strong taste.
Tangerine
A green Christmas plant that can prick you.
Goose
An object that makes a bang when pulled which also contains a joke, gift and hat.
Christmas cracker
A mixture of herbs, vegetables and meat that are cooked inside a whole chicken, turkey or goose.
Parsnips Sage Stuffing
A small round fruit from a plant comes in many different colours A special Christmas cake made traditionally from meat.
Chestnut
A silent game where the contestants have to guess the name of a film, book, song etc
Cranberry
A sauce made from the juices of the meat.
Giblet gravy
A red berry.
Charades
A nut that is eaten in autumn and winter.
Christmas Anagrams How many words can you make out of these words?
Father Christmas
Santa Claus
Christmas Quiz What day of the year is Boxing Day? The 25th December
What should you leave for Santa on Christmas Eve? Whiskey and biscuits, and carrots for the reindeer.
Where does Santa Claus come from? He comes from the North Pole.
What does Santa put under the tree on Christmas Eve? Presents
What is another name for Santa Claus? Father Christmas
What is a cracker? It’s something you pull that makes a bang with presents inside.
What is round and hangs from the Christmas tree?
Traditionally, how many days of Christmas are there?
A bauble.
There are 12 days.
They traditionally eat Turkey.
Can you sing a Christmas carol?
What can you find inside the Christmas Pudding?
Who was Sant Nicholas? The original Santa Claus
What do British people eat on Christmas day?
You can find a penny, a button or a ring
Which of Santa’s reindeers had a shiny nose?
What do you call a Christmas sock?
Rudolph
A Christmas stocking
In Great Britain who makes a speech on television every year on Christmas Day? The Queen
Can you name two of Santa’s reindeer? Rudolph, Prancer, Vixen, Dasher, Dancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen!
What should you do if you stand under mistletoe? Find someone and kiss them.
What is a pantomime? It’s a special play for the family at Christmas Time
Where did the Christmas tree tradition originate? Germany
What colour Christmas does Bing Crosby dream of in his song? A white Christmas
A
Christmas Battleships 1
Take it in turns to ask for a letter, e.g. ‘Is there a letter in 5 F?’ If you know the word you can say: ‘We think the word from B2 to B 7 is …’ A 1
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B
Santa’s pet
3 4 5 6
A plant you kiss under Something you open on Christmas day
7
Something Santa ride in
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Another name for Father Christmas
9 10 11 12
Something you pull and goes bang
A
Christmas Battleships 2
Take it in turns to ask for a letter, e.g. ‘Is there a letter in 5 F?’ If you know the word you can say: ‘We think the word from B2 to B 7 is …’ A
B
C
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F
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L You have to find the following:
1 2
A bird you eat on Christmas Day
3 4
A special cake made from meat
5 6 7
A ball you hang on the tree
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The 25th December.
9 The place where Santa lives.
10
Something that shines and you hang on the tree
11 12
A 1
B
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Christmas scene
☺ Teacher’s Notes
Welcome to the email teacher’s notes for Christmas 2007. Here you will find activities to photocopy and ideas on how to celebrate Christmas this year in your classroom. Instructions on how to use them will be found on the pages headed to the teacher. There are 7 worksheets. Photocopy them as you feel necessary. Please read the instructions that accompany the worksheets as you will find extra activities to use in class. All the activities are labelled as whole class, group, pair or individual tasks or a combination. You may want to assign the individual activities for homework, but make sure the students know exactly what to do before they start. There are also different levels for each worksheet. The following symbols correspond to the different degrees of difficulty for ESO and Batxillerat levels. ☺ Easy ☺☺ Medium ☺☺☺Challenging You will also find some important information with links to relevant web sites on the pages titled background information. The email teacher’s notes and worksheets mainly deal with the Christmas celebrations in the United Kingdom. Christmas celebrations in other English speaking countries are similar, especially in the USA and Canada. Countries in the southern hemisphere differ due the difference in seasons and weather. A family in the Scotland, for example, may celebrate Christmas day at home eating hot food looking at the snow on the ground outside, whereas and a family in Sidney, Australia may spend Christmas day on the beach having a barbeque basking in the sunshine.
Background Information Christmas is currently the most popular festival in Britain today. It is a very ancient festival that dates back hundreds of years. Some of these curious traditions are part of the modern day celebrations. Mistletoe is a plant that is used these days to decorate houses and if you walk under mistletoe with somebody then tradition says you should kiss that person. This comes from the Druids who honoured mistletoe in their religious and sacrificial rites. Ivy was supposed to symbolised immortality and the red berries from holly protected people from witchcraft. The Yule log, which today is mostly used for decoration value with a candle embedded in the middle, was burnt by the Vikings in honour of God Thor. Another common tradition in Britain is the sending of Christmas cards. People spend the month of December sending Christmas cards to friends and family. This tradition stems from the mid C19th when John Calcott Horsley designed the first Christmas card for Sir Henry Cole. This started a big trend in sending cards throughout Britain. Nowadays many cards are also sold in aid for charities. Christmas trees are an important focal point in the Christmas household, after all this is where Father Christmas puts his presents. Prince Albert first brought the Christmas tree to Britain from Germany in the 1840s as it was a popular tradition in Germany. Victorians in Britain soon kindled this tradition. Every year in Trafalgar square in London you can find an enormous tree which is a present from the Norwegians to commemorate the AngloNorwegian co-operation during World War II. Carols are traditional Christmas songs and are often sung on Christmas Eve by groups of people who walk through the streets knocking on doors and singing the traditional carols. Money is then collected which often goes to charity. This tradition comes from the middle ages when beggars would walk through the streets singing songs in exchange for money.
On Christmas Day gifts are opened in the morning. Later the family will gather for the traditional Christmas dinner consisting of Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes with roast turkey, roast beef or goose. Sweet mince pie or Christmas pudding is served for dessert. The Christmas pudding, often known as figgy pudding, is a very rich, dense cake that contains figs, dates and other fruit mixed with beer, eggs and flour, which is made a year before Christmas in order for it to gain flavour. It is served with brandy is poured on top and a flame lit, it is subsequently brought to the table on fire. The pudding might contain coins or lucky charms for children. For afternoon tea Christmas cake is offered. It is rich baked fruit cake with marzipan and icing. A party favourite are Christmas crackers. There will be one to each plate on the Christmas dinner table. A Christmas cracker is a brightly coloured paper tube, twisted on both ends and filled with a party hat, a riddle and a toy. The annual broadcasting of the Queen's Christmas Message is on Christmas Day afternoon. In 1932 King George brought this custom into being. Boxing Day is on December 26th. This day takes its name from a former custom giving a Christmas box to delivery men and trades people called regularly through the year. Nowadays dustmen, milkmen, or postmen get a tip for a good service at Christmas time.
More Information • http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/teacher/christmas.html •
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/seasonalholidays/christmas/
•
http://www.isabelperez.com/xmas.htm
Worksheets Christmas Word search Individual / group / pair
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Christmas in Britain Individual / group / pair
☺☺☺ This exercise can be done in various ways. It can be done as a straight forward comprehension exercise where the students read the text and answer the questions, or it you cut out each paragraph and hand out the paragraphs to groups with each student in the group receiving one paragraph to read. After having read each paragraph individually the students answer the questions as a group. It is very important however that the students don’t show their paragraphs to the other student but explain the contents orally. 1 How do people prepare for Christmas in Britain? They spend lots of money shopping and buying presents. 2 What do they give to carol singers? They give them money or food and drink. 3 How long does it take for a Christmas pudding to mature? They usually take six months. 4 What should you put inside a Christmas pudding? You should put a silver coin inside. 5 Where do Christmas trees come from? They come from Germany. 6 What should you do when you see mistletoe? You should find someone and kiss them. 7 What goes in the Christmas stocking? They must hold a handful of nut and a tangerine. 8 What is a Christmas cracker? A Christmas cracker is an object you pull which contains a joke and a gift. 9 What vegetables are served with Christmas dinner? It will be served with roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, carrots and peas. 10 What is the day after Christmas called? It is called Boxing Day. Glossary
☺☺☺ Puddings – desert Rich – adjective to describe a strong taste Black treacle – very sticky and sweet liquid, similar to honey Holly – green Christmas plant that can prick you Ivy – green Christmas plant that can climb walls Mistletoe – plant for kissing under at Christmas with white berries Berry – small round fruit from a plant comes in many different clours Mince pie – special Christmas cake made traditionally from meat Sherry – sweet alcoholic drink from Spain Tangerine – small fruit similar to an orange Goose – a bird similar to a turkey Christmas cracker – an object that make a bang when pulled and contains a joke, gift and hat Parsnips – white vegetable similar to a carrot and a potato Sage – a herb Stuffing – a mixture of herbs, vegetables and meat that is cooked inside a whole chicken, turkey or goose Chestnut – a nut that is eaten in autumn and winter Cranberry – a red berry Giblet gravy – a sauce made from the juices of the meat Charades – a silent game where the contestants have to guess the name of a film, book, song etc Christmas Anagrams Individual
☺☺ Father Christmas This exercise can take time so it is may be better for those students who finish another activity before the others. There aren’t any strict answers for this exercise as the probabilities are endless, but here are a few just in case. Fat Her Hit His
That Mat Sat Sit Seat Faith Mast Rich Mister Fist Christ Christmas Quiz Whole class
☺☺ The Christmas quiz is an opportunity for students to practice question structures and to have fun. You can design your quiz any way you feel most appropriate for your classroom. You may even take ideas from famous quiz shows from the television and adapt them to your needs. However, if you prefer, you can follow the structure here. Take two teams with five people in each team and place them at the front of the class next choose for each question a different question master (the person to ask the questions). Each question should be directed to both teams and elect another student to keep account of the score, one point for each correct answer. Try to make the quiz fun and exciting by introducing a small present for the winning team. Have your students to create their own questions about Christmas Christmas Battleships Pairs
☺ This is a classic game that everyone has played at point in their lives. Photocopy the worksheet and cut it in half. Put the students in pairs and give each student a copy of worksheet A or B of Battleships worksheet 1 and 2. The students have to find the words in their partner’s grid by asking ‘Is there a letter in 5 F?’ If the first student finds a letter in their partner’s grid they can then ask for another until they find the whole word. The winner is the first person to find all the words in the grid. Christmas Scene Pairs
☺☺ Photocopy the worksheet and cut across the dotted line. Put the students into pairs and give worksheet A to one student and B to their partner. The students have to describe their pictures to their partners and without showing their pictures they have to find the differences between the two pictures.