Teaching Ideas
Teaching Idea 1
Christmas All Around The World
Materials:
Please click on the link to download the materials for this activity:
Christmas All Around the World.pdf
Pictures: © Pixabay
Learning objectives:
- The students learn about different Christmas traditions all around the world.
- The students practice talking about Christmas traditions, including relevant vocabulary.
- The students practice the use of the present simple (talking about routines / general facts) / the second conditional (talking about situations or events that are unlikely or impossible).
Procedure:
Students work in groups. Each group receives a little info sheet which contains relevant information about a Christmas tradition in a specific country. In total, there are seven traditions from seven different countries. Each info text comes with explanations for some words.
Each group prepares a short statement about Christmas in the country assigned to them. When they are ready, they read out the statement and the other groups have to guess the country.
Language Focus - Differentiation:
The language focus for the group task is different depending on the level of the learners:
a) 1st, 2nd grade: present simple for routines
Learners are told to describe the Christmas tradition from their assigned country from the point of view of a person who lives there.
Sample statement: “Every year, I celebrate St. Lucia’s Day. I put on a white gown and wear a wreath in my hair. I serve my parents special buns […] Where do I live?”
b) 4th grade: second conditional for unlikely or impossible events:
Learners are told to speculate about what they would do at Christmas if they lived in their assigned country.
Sample statement: “If I lived in that country, I would celebrate St. Lucia’s Day every year. I would wear a white gown and wear a wreath in my hair. I would serve my parents special buns […] What country is that?”
Teaching Tips:
Monitor the learners during group work and make sure they use the target structures in their statement. Provide a model statement if you notice that they are having problems.
Extension Activities:
It will depend on the level of your learners which of the following activities you can use. The aim is to give the learners the opportunity to practice the target structures and vocabulary.
* Research task – find more Christmas traditions from around the world. Repeat the guessing game.
* Class survey – find out how many learners in your group celebrate Christmas and how many do not. The learners who do not celebrate Christmas can talk about other celebrations or traditions that are important to them.
* Group speaking task – learners plan a winter festival that incorporates different traditions they have learned about. The groups present their plans for the festival, and the whole class votes to decide which plan is the best one.
Teaching Idea 2
Linguistic Landscape Activity: Christmas Shop Window Texts
Arbeitsauftrag für die Schüler*innen:
Write a story about a real or made-up shopping experience at Christmas time. You can choose between the following two options:
- A story about a busy Christmas shopping day where you wanted to find the perfect gift for a friend or family member. How did you feel while trying to find the perfect gift? Was it joyful?
- A story about somebody who decided to donate all their Christmas money to charities in the name of their friend/family member. How did they feel when donating? Were they joyful?
Include 2-3 sentences in which you describe the real or fictional Christmas shop window.
Make sure to make a mind-map of your chosen option first!
Underline all past simple and past progressive forms in your story!