Hands-on: Christmas Ideas

Christmas holidays are knocking on our door. Here’s a selection of websites and ideas you could share with your students on those last days before the holidays.

Multicultural Calendar

Find out what is celebrated in a number of countries by month or date!

For example did you know that unless you wear something new for Christmas in Iceland, you ‘get caught by the Christmas Cat’? This is a legend according to which the Christmas Cat, some kind of monster, that walked around the country and took everybody who hadn’t got new clothes before Christmas.

Christmas Worldview

Click on a country for an explanation of that country’s Christmas traditions. Why not assign each student (or teams of two) to research Christmas celebrations around the world? This is a great place for them to start! Here they can learn about Christmas traditions, songs, food, and more from 44 countries around the world! Invite students to research different Christmas symbols such as the Christmas card, the star, mistletoe, the poinsettia, holly, the Christmas tree, and Christmas carols. Also students might research the different faces of Santa Claus, including St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Santa Claus.

Christmas recipes from around the world!

Visit Santa Claus’ e-village! Get your students to send Santa a letter and challenge them to use the ‘Naughty or Nice’ machine! Attend elf school. Try Mrs. Claus’s recipes. Play games with the reindeer and elves. Track Santa on Christmas Eve.

Visit British Council’s website LearnEnglishKids for some fun Christmas games and activities. LearnEnglish Kids is for children who are learning English as a second or foreign language. The British Council wants to make LearnEnglish Kids a safe, fun, educational place on the Internet.

Enjoy!

 

Patritsia Andrioti holds a BA from the University of London and a MEd in TEFL from the University of Bristol . From 2000 to 2003 she worked for a major International Publisher based in Oxford , UK and subsequently as a Project Manager in their Greek offices. She has also taught English in the EFL field and has written and published several articles and essays on teaching methodology. She has a strong interest in educational material development and evaluation, and teacher development. Part of her job as the director of the educational department of hyphen involves teacher training and development as well as ELT material research, evaluation and development.