Give your Junior English Course a Festive Twist

Keeping students engaged during the festive season can be tricky, with thoughts of holidays on their minds. Our Embassy Summer Academic Coordinator, Philip Warwick, has some handy tips you can integrate into your lesson planning to keep your junior English students engaged.

Now that Christmas is almost upon us it is a good idea to inject a few festive activities into our classes. If your junior students are anything like mine, then the closer you get to the holidays, the more excited the students become. Some related warmers or fillers can help keep the festive mood and still get the students activating their English. Below are a few that I’ve used with success over the years, try some out and see what you think. In the meantime enjoy the festive break and see you next year.

• Christmas Tree I often revise some of the lexis that we’ve covered and try to make this competitive (for example I’ll play a game that I call ‘8s’ where students have to give me eight of a category e.g., meats/jobs/verbs of movement etc. and the first team to reach 8 gets a point – rather than give them a point I draw an Xmas tree on the board and award them a Christmas decoration, so one team might be stars, another baubles and another presents and I draw the relevant decoration on the tree according to which team has come first, then at the end we count up the decorations and declare an overall winner.

• Christmas Presents Depending on their level, I give the students a bit of background into the tradition of present giving at Christmas (i.e., The gifts of the Magi) and talk about how difficult it is to decide what to buy people, and how many thoughtless presents such as socks and chocolates are bought. Next I tell the students that they are going to select and give a gift to every other student in the class, (at a higher level you can teach them relevant sayings like -‘money is no object’ and ‘it’s the thought that counts). They do this by writing the name of each classmate onto a the scrap of paper and then get them to write a suitable present for that person on the same piece of paper. Then get the students to stand up, mix and mingle and exchange presents. Depending on the level you might like to feed in some appropriate language (e.g., ‘Here’s a little something for you’. ‘You shouldn’t have’ etc.). Once the students have exchanged their presents get them to decide which present is: their favourite, the most expensive, the most useful, the most thoughtful etc. Finally, get the students to work in pairs discussing their presents.

• A Letter to Santa Tell the students a little about Santa Claus and how only good boys and girls get presents. Explain that most parents encourage their children to write a letter to Santa asking for presents. Distribute the handout (below) and get each student to complete it individually. Collect the letters and then redistribute them to different students, get the students to guess who wrote each one. Students do a mix and mingle to check.

An idea for a letter outline to Father Christmas

Dear Father Christmas,   This year I have……………       I would really like………..       I would be grateful if you could……………..       If you can’t manage ………………….       Yours sincerely,     P.S.

A Foreigner’s Christmas Explain to the students that they are going to look after a group of foreign teachers this Christmas. Tell the students that this can be a lonely time for foreigners as it is the biggest holiday of the year and a time for family gatherings and lots of eating and drinking. Their job is to design an alternative holiday. Put the students in groups and give them the following handout:

Christmas in (name of the place where the students are)
Where will you take the foreigners for lunch?
What will type of food will they eat?
Which place in Shanghai will you take them in the afternoon?
What will you do there?
They want to dance in the evening, where will you go?
What music will they play?
What present will you buy them to remember this special day?

• Christmas Card Dictation Give each student a blank piece of paper and explain that they will use these to make a Xmas card. Dictate some ambiguous phrases that students will use to help them draw their card (e.g., There’s a table with some Christmas food and drink on it, around the room there are lots of Christmas decorations, there’s a big window in the room and outside you can see some people enjoying the festive period. There are some animals in the picture and some unwrapped presents under the table etc.). Afterwards put the students into pairs or groups of three and have them compare their Christmas cards.

• Christmas Superstitions Explain that there are lots of superstitions connected to Christmas. Put the students into pairs or small groups and give them the handout below and get them to discuss. Change partners and get them to compare their answers. Then elicit the answers and get the students to decide whether they think these are good or stupid superstitions.

Can you match the two halves of these Christmas superstitions?

1. To have good health in the following year …	a) … as the number of houses where you eat mince pies during Christmastime.
2. A child born on Christmas day …	b) … means that Easter will be green.
3. Snow on Christmas day …	c) … eat an apple on Christmas Eve.
4. If you eat a raw egg before eating anything else on Christmas morning …	d) … where a fire is kept burning throughout the Christmas season.
5. Good luck will come to the home …	e) … will have a special future.
6. You will have as many happy months in the coming year …	f) … you will be able to carry heavy things.

Write the following questions on the board and get them to discuss in pairs:

Do you believe in this type of superstition?

Are there any similar holiday superstitions in your country?

ANSWERS:

To have good health throughout the next year, eat an apple on Christmas Eve.

A child born on Christmas Day will have a special future.

If you eat a raw egg before eating anything else on Christmas morning, you will be able to carry heavy things.

Snow on Christmas means Easter will be green.

Good luck will come to the home where a fire is kept burning throughout the Christmas season.

You will have as many happy months in the coming year, as the number of houses where you eat mince pies during Christmastime.

• New Year’s Resolutions As you probably won’t see your students again until 2023, it can be a good idea to have them write a list of New Year resolutions based on a theme (e.g., how to be a better student, wealthier, healthier etc.) you could also extend this so that the students discuss a list of resolutions for you or the president of the country, or a famous celebrity.