Festivals

TEACHER’S SHEET

Didactic unit

Topic: Festivals

Level: B1, B2

Social and cultural information

Variety of National festivals

The ways of celebrating festivals

	rituals and customs of celebration,
	paces of celebration,
	symbols of festivals,
	differences and similarities.

Origin of festivals

Objectives\aims

To enable students to behave appropriately in a certain social situation.

To enable students to use language in a certain social context.

To involve emotions in the learning experience.

To increase students’ awareness of different cultures.

To develop the liberality towards non native cultures.

To strengthen students’ Internet, research and organization skills.

To teach students the skills of independent work habits.

To teach students to work effectively with others.

Tasks\functions

To improve vocabulary related to the topic. ( the vocabulary depends on the chosen festival)

To develop speaking skills.

	Description ( telling the details)
	Identification ( talking about one’s likes and dislikes)
	Language- in –action (doing things and talking)

To increase the ability to perform communicative functions

	Agreement
	Disagreement

To provide socio-cultural information ( see above),

To increase the ability to answer the questions,

To develop writing skills

Methodology

Pre-activities

	Warming up activity ( comparative discussion about likes and dislikes)
	Brainstorming

Procedural activities

Pair work

	role-play
	matching pictures
	project work

Didactic material

See appendixes

Evaluation

KWL

Further information

http://www.support4learning.org.uk/shap/

http://www.startinbusiness.co.uk/hols/festivals.htm

http://www.soon.org.uk/country/christmas.htm

Expected results

Students will increase knowledge about festivals of different cultures.

Students will continue to learn tolerance and respect towards non native cultures.

Students will learn to use language related to the topic.

Students will increase the skills of independent work habits.

Students will increase the skills of individual work.

Students will improve skills of searching for information.

Pre-activity

Aim: to find out about national festivals of the students from different countries

Name of festival	description	ranking

Name of festival	Celebrated at home	Celebrated at church	Celebrated at school
Christmas	+	+	?

	Christmas
Who celebrates
When does it takes Place
Where is it celebrated
How is it celebrated

To what festivals illustrations are related and what makes you think so.

Project work

Celebration Timeline

Students are asked to map the events of the year with a timeline. Students will identify national holidays, festivals, and celebrations, make and use a timeline.

Steps

1. Make a list of the cultures

2. Divide students into groups. Students may choose a group.

3. Make a timeline that shows a full year.

4. Agree on time students need to complete the task.

5. Agree on schedule of presentation of the work of each group.

6. Organize a discussion about similarities and differences of the cultures

and festivals.

Project work

A Multicultural Calendar

Students are asked to research the traditions of different cultures and create a multicultural calendar of the class.

Steps

Together with the students develop a list of cultures that are represented in class.

Divide class into groups giving consideration to student interests. Students may choose a group that investigates their own culture or the different one.

Groups do research to find important calendar dates in the traditions of their assigned culture. As a class, decide which culture will be assigned to which month, in order to maximize the number of events per month. Students have to complete the table ( see appendix nr.1) by filling in the dates for holidays and other important dates in the culture. For example, students assigned to Irish culture and working on March should label the 17th with "St. Patrick's Day." Students might decorate the calendar month with motifs and symbols from their assigned culture. Students choose one holiday or important date from their month and prepare the presentation ( see appendix nr. 2) or students may organize a festival in class at the particular date.

Create the calendar from different sheets of months.

Appendix Nr.1

Appendix nr.2

	Description
Name of our festival
Date of our festival
Length of our festival
What we do
Where we go
What we see
What we eat
What we give and receive

Project work

Role play

Students explore the traditional festivals of different cultures by acting traditional stories from various cultures.

Steps

1. Together with the students develop a list of cultures that are represented in class or add some that students are interested in.

2. Encourage students to search for information about festivals of different cultures, give some ideas – internet addresses, interviewing relatives etc.

3. Divide students into acting groups of four, agree on the cultures the groups are to research.

4. Explain the guidelines for putting on the plays:

	Since each troupe will have about 10-15 minutes to perform, the first step is to summarize the action of the story.
	One performer narrates most of the story, while the other three pantomime the action, except for the climactic or final scene, which they act out with dialogue.
	The three actors play all the roles, wearing different masks to show which characters they are at different times.

5. Each troupe can make its own masks. Or you might prefer to have students especially skilled in the visual arts make all the masks. Actors should be able to hold them up before their faces on a stick, which can be rulers, dowels, or even tightly rolled-up newspapers

6. Arrange a time for the festival and encourage performers to practice (and time) their plays before the dress rehearsal. Invite other classes and community members to the performance. Have students make posters, invitations, and souvenir programs.

Pair work

Students are asked to make promises for the next year at the end of the year.

	English I will (a promise!) ...
	My job I am going to (intention) ...
	Sport I would like to ...
	Love I hope to ...
	Travel I am thinking about ...
	Money I will not ...
	Food/Diet I am not going to ...
	Friends I intend to ...
	TV I am going to watch ...
	School I promise I will ...
	My parents I will definitely ...

Questions for pair work (Christmas)

	Did it snow last year at Christmas?
	Did you believe in Santa Claus when you were a child?
	Did you enjoy last Christmas?
	Do people behave differently during Christmas?
	Do they try to be better?
	Do you donate something (money, clothes...) to charities?
	Do you give something to homeless people?
	Do you attend any special religious ceremonies during the Christmas season?
	Do you celebrate Christmas in your country?
	Do you celebrate Christmas in a special way?
	Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional way?
	Do you have a traditional Christmas?
	Do you decorate the outside of your house for Christmas?
	Do you eat anything special for your Christmas dinner?
	Do you enjoy Christmas time?
	Do you enjoy singing Christmas songs?
	Do you exchange presents with your friends at school?
	Do you go to church on Christmas day?
	Do you have a Christmas party at school?
	Do you have a Christmas tree?
	If so, how do you decorate it?
	When do you put it up?
	When do you take it down?
	Is it real or artificial?
	Do you have a part-time job during Christmas vacation?
	Do you have any plans to go to a Christmas party?
	Do you know why Christmas is celebrated around the world?
	Do you know the history of Christmas?
	Do you remember when you found out that Santa Claus wasn't real/ or when your children found out? What was your/their reaction like?
	Do you see your relatives at Christmas time?
	Do you think Christmas is depressing? (There is a high suicide rate at this time of year.)
	Do you usually put up Christmas decorations in your house? (Do you usually decorate your home?)
	How about at your school of the place where you work?< your decorate you do>
	Does you school have a Christmas play?
	Does your family have any special Christmas traditions?
	Have you already finished your Christmas shopping?
	Have you ever celebrated Christmas in a foreign country?
	How do you usually spend New Year's Eve? How about New Year's Day?
	How long do you keep your Christmas tree up after Christmas?
	How long is your Christmas vacation?
	How many Christmas cards did you receive last year?
	How many Christmas cards do you send?
	How many presents do you usually give?
	If you are not a Christian, does the intense focus on Christmas make you feel bad in any way (e.g., ignored, dismissed, angry, etc.)?
	If you could go anywhere during Christmas vacation, where would you go?
	In how many languages did you write Christmas cards?
	Is there a holiday similar to Christmas in your home country?
	What are you going to buy your boyfriend/girlfriend for their Christmas present?
	What did you do last year on Christmas Day?
	How did you celebrate Christmas last year?
	What do you usually do for Christmas?
	What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?
	What is Christmas like in your hometown?
	What is Christmas like in your country?
	What is the best Christmas present you have ever gotten?
	What is the most expensive Christmas present you plan to buy?
	What is the typical menu for a Christmas meal in your family? (... in your country?)
	What is the weather like in your country around Christmas time?
	What is your attitude toward the commercialization of the Christmas season?
	Is Christmas becoming too commercialized?
	What is your favorite Christmas song?
	Are there any special songs in your country that you don't hear here?
	What kind of interesting things do you do for Christmas in your home country?
	What time do you wake up on Christmas day?
	What time does your family open the presents?
	What traditions do you have during the Christmas season?
	What will you buy your parents?
	What will you do on Christmas day?
	What will you eat on Christmas Day?
	What would you like to get for your Christmas present?
	When do you do your Christmas shopping?
	What kind of presents do you buy?
	Who do you buy them for?
	About how much do you spend per person?
	When do you give Christmas presents? (On what day? At what time?)
	Where do you think Santa Claus is from?
	Who do you expect to receive presents from?
	Who is Santa Claus?
	Do you know the history of Santa Claus?
	At what age did you begin not believing in Santa Claus?
	Who was at your house last Christmas?
	Who would you like to be with on Christmas?
	Will you have a Christmas party at your home?
	Will you spend Christmas vacation with your family or your friends?
	Will you travel abroad during the Christmas vacation?
	Would you like to go skating during Christmas vacation?
	Why do people give out Christmas cards with gifts and presents at Christmas time?
	Why some people do not like Christmas?
	Do people behave differently during Christmas? Do they try to be better?
	Do you ever think about the real meaning of Christmas?
	Whose birthday is celebrated on Christmas?
	Which comes first, Christmas or New Year's Day?

This project is being carried out with the support of the European Community in the framework of the Socrates programme. The content of this project does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Community, nor does it involve any responsibility on the part of the European Community. For questions and contact:

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Latest update of this page: 2005-07-15

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