CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES TEACHERS NOTES

CHRISTMAS BATTLESHIPS (page 2)

Tell children that its a night before Christmas. Children are alone at home and they start looking for presents hidden by their parents/ Santa Claus. 1. Children work in pairs. Give child A worksheet A and child B worksheet B. 2. Each student places presents on his worksheet. Explain that unlike in the original battleships game each object can take only one field in the grid. 3. Pre-teach : hit and sunk trafiony i zatopiony, missed - pudo 4. Students play battleships to find their presents. They need to ask questions eg. Is it under a sofa? Is it on the bookshelf? When they hear sunk they have to ask What is it? and they draw their present in the right field . 5. When the game is over ask children what they have got.

CHRISTMAS BINGO (page 3)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Give each child a copy of the Bingo worksheet with words from four categories PEOPLE/ANIMALS, ACTIONS, THINGS and PLACES. Tell the students to look at the list, read the words. Explain new vocabulary. Tell the children to circle 5 words from each category. Start the game by saying a sentence which consists of one word from each category eg. Mum is decorating Christmas tree in the living room. Students must cross out the words they hear (mum, decorate, Christmas tree, living room). Choose one student to form the next sentence from the words from the worksheet and say it. The game continues, each time a different student says a sentence. The winner is the student who first crosses out 20 words which s/he circled at the beginning of the game.

CHRISTMAS FAMILY FEUD

This is an English version of the popular TV show Familiada. Before you start the game, think of a prize for the winners! 1. Divide students into two teams. Each team has to appoint its captain. 2. Start the game by asking the first question. The captains stand on two sides of your desk. They show they know the answer by hitting the desk with their hand. Check their answers versus the ones on your sheet. The team that got more points for their captains answer starts the game. 3. Ask the questions .Write answers on the board. Add up points. QUESTIONS: What is the most popular Christmas present? games - 23 cars - 18 dolls - 14 sweets - 8 books - 6 What is childrens favourite Christmas snack? sweets - 29 chocolate - 28 cakes - 19 gingerbread cookies - 18 oranges - 7 What is childrens favourite Christmas activity? opening presents - 35 decorating Christmas tree - 27 eating sweets, gingerbread cookies, chocolate 20 singing carols 5 making a snowman - 3 4. What is the most expensive Christmas decoration? Christmas tree 22 lights 20 bells 17 angels - 12 candles - 9 What is the most popular Christmas colour (eg. for decorations)? white 25 red 23 gold 18 silver - 16 green 7 Who is the most popular guest at Christmas dinner? grandmother 32 grandfather 26 aunt 14 uncle 7 cousins - 6
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES - TEACHERS NOTES

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Copy one Santas sleigh and 9 reindeer for each child or pair of children.

HELP SANTA WITH HIS REINDEER (pages 4 - 7) (a one lesson project)

CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES - TEACHERS NOTES

Oxford university press

Introduction: Santa Claus is getting ready for his journey. His sleigh is filled with presents but he cant find his reindeer. They have all hidden themselves. They will only come out if Santa completes 8 tasks. Help him do the tasks one task for each reindeer. Each child (or a pair of students) gets a picture of sleigh and Santa. On the board write the names of reindeer and give each of them a number. Children do the tasks. For each completed task they get a picture of 1 reindeer which they stick onto their picture and write his name underneath. Each task comes on a separate sheet. After the students complete all the tasks they get a bonus an extra reindeer. This is Rudolf and children can draw his big red nose. Tasks: 1. Ss use the letters to form the word CHRISTMAS 2. Ss write a Christmas shopping list 3. Ss plan a list of presents for a family from Oxford 4. Using given letters Ss write a Christmas card. 5. Ss read a text a and draw a picture on the basis of it. 6. Ss complete a letter to Santa. 7. Ss draw things to decorate Santas room. 8. Ss write out the names of things in the Advent Calendar.

CHRISTMAS 20 QUESTIONS (page 8)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Copy the worksheet and cut the words, put them face down on the desk. Choose the first volunteer and ask him/her to come to the front of the class. The volunteer picks one card, doesnt show it anyone. S/he sits in front of the rest of the class. The whole class can ask him yes/no questions eg. Can you eat it? The student in front of the class can only say yes/ no. The aim of the game is to guess the word using not more than 20 questions (keep the record on the board). If the class is in real trouble and cant think of any more questions they can buy a hint. The student in front can tell them one sentence which might help but shouldnt be too obvious eg. They have wings. The hints costs 3 questions.

CHRISTMAS EVE PHOTOGRAPH (page 8)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Divide the class into two teams. Give each team the same set of Christmas word cards. Students should shuffle the cards and deal them so that everyone in the team has a few cards. The cards can be displayed face up in front of each player. Divide the blackboard /white board into two parts, assigning each part to a different team. Explain that each part of the board is a Christmas photograph. You can even draw a frame to make it more real. Start the game. Give a definition of one of the words from the set. The students from each team who have a card with this word must run to the board and draw this thing. The picture should be the first element of a Christmas photo. When they stand up and run they shouldnt call out the name of the word in English. When the students finish drawing they must say one sentence about their word eg. If the word is CANDLE they can say: There are five candles on the table. (Of course, the sentence they say must describe the picture they have drawn). When they finish saying sentences give points: 2 points for the person who first finishes drawing, 1 point for the student who finishes later. Give half of the points if there are major mistakes in the sentences.

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10. Next, define another word and the students run and draw again. The game continues until all words are used up. 11. All new elements added to the photograph must fit the picture. 12. At the end of the game, count the points. The winner is the team with the highest score.

Oxford university press

CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES - TEACHERS NOTES

CHRISTMAS STORY (page 8)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Students work in pairs or groups. Give each group a copy of a worksheet with the possible titles of the story and the list of the words (optionally you can write it on the board). Give each group an A3 piece of paper and small pieces of paper. Set the time limit eg. 20 minutes. Students choose a title and write a short Christmas story. The story should be written on A3 pieces of paper. Students should make a picture of each word from the list on an index card. The index card should be then stuck on the word on the story board (A 3 piece of paper) with a sticky tape. The pictures must be stuck only at the top so that you can lift the picture and read the word that it represents. Display the works in the class. As a follow-up, you can organise a competition. Each team reads other groups story. They get a point for every correct word they read from illustration. The team with the highest score wins.

CHRISTMAS MAZE (page 9)

1. 2. Students work in pairs. Give each pair a copy of a worksheet. Explain the rules: students must go through a maze of Christmas words from START(top left-hand square) to FINISH (right bottom-hand square). Each time they can move from one word to another vertically, horizontally or vertically. Possible moves from the present location:

NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE

NEXT MOVE YOUR WORD NEXT MOVE

NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE

The word which they choose next must fit into the next sentence. The list of the sentences is below the maze.

CHRISTMAS CROSSWORD WHICH CLUE IS IT? (page 10)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Students work in pairs or small groups. Give each pair/group a copy of a crossword and a list of clues. Set the time limit. Explain the aim of the activity. Students must work out which clue goes with which word and write the references on the clue list eg. 1 DOWN. When the time is over, check the answers with the class.

CHRISTMAS WORDS - WHERE DOES THIS WORD BELONG? (page 11)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Students work in pairs. Give each pair a dice, counters, a copy of a board with words and an empty grid with categories. Tell each student in a pair to take a marker/pen in a different colour. Students place their counters on START. The first students rolls the dice and moves his/her counter in any direction on the board. S/he marks the square where s/he lands with a cross in his/her colour and writes this word to an appropriate category in the grid below. Students cant go though the same square twice in one move. Each time they can move from one word to another vertically, horizontally or vertically. Possible moves from the present location:

NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE

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NEXT MOVE YOUR WORD NEXT MOVE

NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE

The game continues with the next student rolling the dice. You cant cross the word which has already been crossed. During the game set two dictionary times (1 minute long) when students can check the words in the dictionary or in their books. 9. After a set limit of time, check the answers with the class. Each student gets a point for placing a word in a correct category. 10. The winner is the student with the highest score.