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1. Recite the Poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas”<\/h2>\n
More popularly known by its introduction, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” this iconic English poem tells a delightful story about Christmas Eve and the excitement leading up to Christmas.<\/p>\n
Your students can learn about St. Nicholas, the famous reindeer and the concept of filling stockings with gifts and toys!<\/strong><\/p>\n Before class, print the poem<\/a> and prepare a list of discussion questions to cover at the end of the reading. Start the lesson by introducing some of the key Christmas vocabulary words<\/a> and their definitions to your students, including chimney, lawn, clatter, shutters\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0sleigh<\/em>.<\/p>\n Then, let your students read the poem together. After reading, you can ask them to answer the discussion questions.<\/a> They can engage in small groups, or you can have the discussion as a class.<\/p>\n The questions can be tailored to suit the level of your class, but in general, you want to use questions that check your students’ understanding of the poem.<\/p>\n Some of my favorite discussion questions are:<\/p>\n The poem examines one of the main traditions in Western celebrations of Christmas: presents from Santa.<\/p>\n A great follow-up activity is to have students write a short paragraph about their favorite holiday tradition, whether on Christmas or an equally important holiday in their culture. Save time at the end of the lesson for everyone to share what they wrote.<\/p>\n Watching Christmas videos<\/a> is a great way to engage your students in learning this time of year. This 15-minute TED Talk clip is great for more advanced learners and students tired of traditional Christmastime English lessons.<\/p>\n In short, this video looks at how an advertising executive and his team used Christmas lights to help demobilize members of the guerrilla movement in Colombia, his home country. In keeping with the Christmas spirit, the story also shows how conflict can be resolved without the use of violence.<\/p>\n Before class, prepare a list of key vocabulary words and their definitions. This video has a number of challenging terms, so it is important that you pre-teach the vocabulary, including guerrilla movement, strategic, demobilize, conflict<\/em> and squadron<\/em>.<\/p>\n The best part of teaching with TED Talks is the discussions afterwards. Come up with a list of discussion topics that you want to cover with your class at the end of the video, such as:<\/p>\n I recommend printing discussion questions on a handout and giving it to your students before playing the clip. That way, they can take notes and answer questions while watching the video. Then, you can go over the questions as a class or divide your students into groups of three or four and have them cover the assigned talking points.<\/p>\n If you want to give your students authentic language exposure through videos, try bringing a program like FluentU<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>into the classroom. It helps them learn English while gaining first-hand exposure to the culture, giving them greater insight into everything from holiday celebrations to how native speakers interact. FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n <\/p> \r\n You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \n
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Activity: What’s Your Favorite Holiday Tradition?<\/h3>\n
2. Play the TED Talk “How We Used Christmas Lights to Fight a War” by Jose Miguel Sokoloff<\/h2>\n
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