Christmas | Customs and Traditions | Christmas in Other Countries Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 . It is a joyous holiday where families get together, give each other presents, decorate houses, sing traditional songs and go to mass . The word Christmas comes from the old English “Christes Maesse” , which means Christ’s mass . Although Christians believe that Jesus was born in the small town of Bethlehem, we don’t know the exact date of birth because stories about Jesus Christ were written down much later. By the 4th century Christians were divided into two churches: the eastern church was in Constantinople, today’s Istanbul, and the western church was based in Rome. Today, most countries celebrate the Christmas holidays from December 25 until January 6. Three wise men visit Jesus Christmas customs Giving presents is a special part of Christmas. Decorating the house is an old custom that comes from pagan times. Our traditional Christmas tree also comes from northern Europe. Words
Tell Me about Christmas - Part 1 Mulled Wine So every Boxing Day, we hold a mulled wine party for friends and family in our house. What we do – you go and buy these little sachets of spices you can get in supermarkets, and then in the morning, just get loads and loads of cheap cheap cheap red wine, the cheapest red wine that you can get; and put it in a massive massive sort of soup pot. Put some fruit juice in there, put some chopped-up fruits in there, and then add these spices and add some sugar, and just let it bubble away, let it simmer away over a few hours. And so in the afternoon, when all the friends come round, we serve it up and it’s a lovely warm drink for a cold December afternoon - very spicy, very Christmasy, and very alcoholic. Mince Pie Hello! But now, well actually up from Victorian era, they were changed to be a dessert. Christmas Pudding In my family, we always have Christmas pudding and it’s about that big. And then when you serve it, you have to switch all the lights off. Turkey Leftovers
Tell Me about Christmas - Part 2 Advent Calendar Hi, I’m gonna tell you about our advent calendar. This has got all the days until Christmas Day on. And when I was a child we’d have these, and in the family, each child would take it in turns, different day, to open the window and would be very excited about it. Mistletoe People often put mistletoe in their homes at Christmas. Christmas Cracker Christmas crackers are something that most people have at Christmas but I think they… It’s a bit of a silly tradition really because nobody, nobody takes Christmas crackers very seriously. And then inside the cracker, you find usually three things I think. So I think what happens is people kind of think, “oh, we’re not gonna bother having Christmas crackers because they are rubbish anyway” but then you just feel like, “oh well, but it wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas crackers”.
The Best Places To Learn About Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa Check out my New York Times post: Ideas for English Language Learners | Celebrate the Holidays ELLs learn about tamales, holiday food traditions and Three Kings Day at my latest holiday-related New York Times Learning Network post. It includes a student interactive and teaching ideas. Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are all coming-up, and I thought it would be timely to create a “The Best…” list focusing on those holidays. Obviously, there are a lot more materials about Christmas out there accessible to English Language Learners than there are for the other two events, but I have found some for all of them. Also, check out The Best Ways For Students To Create Online Holiday Content Quickly & Easily andHere Are My Favorite Fun Christmas Resources (and “Feel Good” Christmas Stories For Christmas Day).The Best Christmas Videos For English Language Learners – Help Me Find More The Best Resources For Helping Beginner ELLs Learn About Christmas Christmas Around the World is a slideshow from CBS.
Christmas Traditions, Christmas History, Christmas Around the World, The Christmas Story and Christmas Fun and Games! - whychristmas?com The EFL SMARTblog: Merry Christmas Mr Bean Teacher's note; The activities in the worksheet at the bottom of this post are based on the full episode available on DVD or on y cannot be embedded here). This post contains some exercises based on the embeddable youtube clips. The answers are in the worksheet. DVD availablehere Mr Bean celebrates the traditional British Christmas: the baubles, the crackers, the nativity scene, the carols, the presents, the turkey and the mistletoe... they are all here. You are going to discuss Christmaswatch the Christmas Mr Bean episode and do some activitiesfind Christmas words in a word search exercise write the story in the past tensefind out more about the typical British Christmas and some of the Christmas things in the video. Discuss Do you celebrate Christmas? Watch clip 1 Answer the questions in the interactive exercise after you watch Did Mr Bean have any Christmas decorations? Now do exercise 1 (the answers to questions 9 and 10 are in the next clip) Watch clip 2
50 holiday activities for Teaching English We have loads of holiday related materials. Get a start on our Christmas page or in our resources. Also some nice full lessons in our Lessons In A Can or purchase hundreds of resources for the holidays in our store. Also you can subscribe to Digital Resources for one lifetime fee to get hundreds of thousands of lesson materials/ideas. However, since I'm busy making Christmas lists, thought I'd make a nice one to share with fellow teachers and inspire with a few things in my brain for teaching lessons related to Christmas. So here is my brain purge. Get all the 50 lists. 50 Holiday Activities for The English Language Classroom Make snowflakes and angels. 101 Questions about Christmas. Decorate the classroom. Write Christmas cards to a classmate. Write a letter to Santa Claus. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Play Christmas carol “Pass The Paper”. Sing some Christmas carols. Simon Says. Watch the incredible short film: The Snowman. Go Christmas Shopping! Learn Christmas Vocabulary.
Christmas Videos - Free Online Videos for Kids Alfred Molina shares A Visit from St. Nicholas. There's no party like a Reindeer Party with the Imagination Movers! Video for the song "Santa, Where Are You?" Little Snowflake from Super Simple Songs tells a short story of a snowman brought to life by the magic and beauty of snowfall. CeeLo Green Featuring The Muppets Linus explains what Christmas is really all about. The Muppets sing "Joy to the World". The celebration of Christmas as we know it today stems from the traditions of several different cultures. This is the official music video for "Christmas is Creepy"! An animated Christmas Card, and a homage to a great song, a great band, and a great Holiday. Ruled a legal holiday in 1894, Christmas has had its fair share of strange traditions. If you want to make a homemade Christmas card and save some money, here's a great way to add some fun to it. From millions of homes worldwide to the White House, the Christmas tree is a tradition that owes its popularity in part to a popular British queen.
Christmas Day in the UK December is here and many people are starting to think about Christmas. In some places preparations for Christmas such as displays in shops and lights in the streets start as early as October! I am living in Spain at the moment, last year I spent Christmas in Finland and this year I will be spending Christmas with my family in the UK. It is very interesting to experience the different traditions in different countries during Christmas time. In my family, we usually get up very early on Christmas day and open our presents. Some people go to church at Christmas and I go on my own because I am the only Christian in my family. Sometimes it can be difficult to remember the meaning of Christmas.
Christmas – Learn English with videos Children's animation. A brother and sister deal with topics that affect their everyday lives. Lola is excited because Christmas is coming, and she and Charlie are taking turns to open the advent calendar. Script A drama that focuses on the period in Mary and Joseph's life where they journeyed to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. If angels sang... they would sing like this. Many children love sitting on Santa's lap and tell him everything they want for Christmas. Love thy neighbour... and thy enemy.
Christmas Traditions Worldwide - Christmas An Englishman named John Calcott Horsley helped to popularize the tradition of sending Christmas greeting cards when he began producing small cards featuring festive scenes and a pre-written holiday greeting in the late 1830s. Newly efficient post offices in England and the United States made the cards nearly overnight sensations. At about the same time, similar cards were being made by R.H. Celtic and Teutonic peoples had long considered mistletoe to have magic powers. Plum pudding is an English dish dating back to the Middle Ages. Caroling also began in England. In the United States and England, children hang stockings on their bedpost or near a fireplace on Christmas Eve, hoping that it will be filled with treats while they sleep.
December Holiday Lesson Plans and Activities - Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and More December is a month full of special days. Education World offers resources to help educators teach about all those special days. The resources below include holiday lesson plans; holiday art and gift projects; and additional holiday resources. December: A Month of Multicultural Holiday Celebrations Do your students celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Three Kings Day? Maybe they celebrate St. Holiday Projects: Classroom Decorating and Gift-Making Ideas Are you tired of doing the same holiday art project year after year? Classroom Lessons Deliver Holiday Presence Capitalize on students excitement about the December holidays. Emphasize the Giving -- Not the Getting -- This Holiday Season Are your students too focused on the gimme elements of the holiday season? Unwrap Five New Holiday Lessons We've wrapped up five new lessons just for you -- simply grab the bow and pull. Santa Claus and Newton's Three Laws of Motion Leigh O. Does December Spell "Dilemma" in Your School?
Best of Christmas 6-9 Background What’s Christmas Really About A mix of movie clips (Year 6-9)The History Of Christmas – Part 1, Over an hour long, old video about everything you ever need to know about the history of X-mas and Part 2 The History of Santa Claus Warm-up Santa’s Elves Dogs and Cats with Human Hands Making Toys2015 Johnson Family Dubstep Christmas Light Show (11:04) Beware of the music, not everybody’s cup of tea Songs and Carols Christmas Songs Collection Listen to 19 popular Christmas Carols of all time in this video with subtitles (Year 6-9)Disney Very Merry Christmas Songs A playlist from Disney, with subtitles (Year 6-9)Disney Very Merry Christmas Songs Another playlist from Disney, with subtitles (Year 6-9) Vocabulary English Words for Christmas (Year 6-7)Christmas Picture Dictionary Vocabulary with matching activities (Year 6-7)Christmas Shopping Vocabulary (Year 6-7)Christmas ESL Nice vocabulary worksheets to download (Year 6-7)Christmas Dictionary Words with definitions (Year 7-9) Worksheets