Hangman game

I. Организационный момент:
Teacher: Hello students! Hello dear guests! This is a cold winter morning, isn’t it? How are you?
II. Постановка цели и задач занятия:
1. Hangman game
Teacher: Please look at the board. This is the topic of our lesson today. We are going to play Hangman. Can you please open this word letter by letter?
On the board C H R I S T M A S
Teacher: There are many holidays in our country and English – speaking countries. But there are holidays which people like best of all. They are New Year’s Day and Christmas Day. People prepare for these holidays before: they buy presents, decorate their houses, send greeting cards, make fancy dresses. When the holiday comes they congratulate each other, singing songs and reciting the poems. Today we’ll find out how people celebrate New Year and Christmas in different countries.
We are going to have a competition. We have 2 teams. They are: “Snowflakes” and “Bells”. The captains of the teams are: Santa Claus and Father Frost. Snow Maiden (the only girl in this group will help me).

III. Речевая разминка:
Teacher: I want you to start with English tongue – twisters. As you see they are also connected with the theme of our lesson. Your task is to pronounce them as quickly as you can.
Santa’s sleigh slides on slick snow. Chilly chipper children cheerfully chant.

IV. Основной этап. Соревнование команд.
Task 1
Teacher: What associations do you have when you hear the words Christmas and New Year. In your teams please write as many words as you can on these topics.
Suggested words:
Christmas Day, fir tree, Santa Claus, winter, presents, poems, stocking, fireplace, games, snow, turkey, music, decorate, deer, pudding, candle, crackers, champagne, snowman, Father Frost, snowflake, midnight.
The team with more words gets a “snowflake” or a “bell “
PPT with these words from

Task 2
Teacher: Let’s revise the main facts of these holidays. Each team is given one question in turn. If the team fails to answer it other one can try to do it.
Snow - Maiden:
1. What can you say about the word “Christmas” (what does it mean?).
(This word is old English; it consists of Christ and Mass); we celebrate the « Mass», or church service, for Christ.
2. When do English people celebrate Christmas? (On the 25th of December)
3. When do people celebrate Christmas in Russia? (On the7th of January)
4. Why is this difference in dates? (The Orthodox Church celebrates according to Julian calendar and the Catholic Church according to Gregorian church)
5. Who is the most important person for children on Christmas Eve in the USA and Britain? (Santa Claus/Father Christmas)
6. Who is the most important person for children in Russia? (Father Frost)
7. Where does Santa Claus come from? (The North Pole)
8. What do British people always sing at churches on Christmas Eve?(popular religious Christmas songs - carols)
Teacher: Let’s listen to one of this carols “Silent Night”
На экране изображение: сидит Мария, младенец в яслях, барашки, ангел несет звезду, приходят волхвы, кланяются и кладут дары, застывают. Хор исполняет.
“Silent Night”
(Originally written in German by Josef Mohr (1792 - 1848), an Austrian priest).

Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright.
Pound yon virgin Mother and Child
Holy infant and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Task 3
Fill in the gaps
(A1)____ people look on Christmas as the time to celebrate the birth of Christ, but really the celebrations go back to the (A2)_____ of times. In(A3)_____ days, the sun meant so(A4)_____ to men that when it began to go lower each day till December 23 people worried for they thought the sun was dying out. They watched the sun and ate (A5)_____ keeping the food for the next year. On December 23 the sun stayed longer (A6)_____ the sky and gradually the days became longer and the nights shorter. When it happened the people were very (A7)_____. They felt they wanted to celebrate it. Now they (A8)_____ eat more – they were not afraid for their future any longer.
Soon men began to understand the nature of the sun. But it became a tradition to celebrate the end of December with present and plenty of eating and drinking. There celebrations are now called Christmas.
A1 ----- 1) much ----- 2) few ------ 3) many ------ 4) little
A2 ---- 1) eldest ------ 2) earliest ----- 3) latest ----- 4) furthest
A3 ---- 1) these ----- 2) that ------ 3) this ------- 4) those
A4 ---- 1) little ---- 2) many ---- 3) a lot --- 4) much
A5 ---- 1) more ------ 2) less ---- 3) much ---- 4) fewer
A6 ----- 1) at ----- 2) in ----- 3) on ---- 4) up
A7 ---- 1) upset ---- 2) proud ---- 3) happy --- 4) sad
A8 ---- 1) had to ----- 2) could ----- 3) must ---- 4) should
Keys: many, earliest, those, much, less, in, happy, could.
Task 4
Teacher: Christmas is celebrated all around the world. Each country has its own customs and traditions. Different countries celebrate in their own way including different dates, food which leads to a variety of diverse Christmas traditions around the world.
Read the short texts and choose the correct version.

1. People call the New Year’s Eve “Hogmanay”. They visit their friends’ houses just after midnight on the New Year’s night. The first person who comes to your house brings your luck. At midnight when the clock begins to strike twelve, the head of the family goes to the entrance door, opens it wide and holds it until the last stroke. Then he shuts the door. He has let the old year out and let the New Year in.
The USA Scotland New Zealand

2. This country it sometimes called «the upside down world». It lies in the Southern Hemisphere. During the Christmas holidays people often sunbathe on the beach or swim and surf in the ocean. On the 31st of December many people go to the country for a picnic. In January the temperature ranges from +20oC to +30oC or higher.
- Egypt Ireland Australia

3. It’s a very festive time at Christmas. On Christmas Eve, as the stars come out, tiny oil lamps are fit in every home after Midnight Mass and Christmas Dinner, streets fill with dancers. They dance to the sound of guitars and castanets.
- Spain Ireland Germany

4. In this country it can be dangerous to have a walk at night at the end of December. People usually throw their old things from the house through the window: broken cups and plants, old clothes and books, and sometimes different pieces of furniture, believing that on the New Year’s Eve the magician Befana comes to the houses through the chimney and puts for the children in their stockings or shoes.
- France Italy Wales

5. The majority of people celebrate Christmas with the exchange of gifts and
greetings and with family visits. For many, the day begins on Christmas. Eve with Midnight Mass. At Christmas it snows in many states, so dinner is usually eaten indoors. Dinner usually is roast turkey, goose, duck or ham served with cranberry sauce, then plum pudding or pumpkin pie followed by nuts and fruit.
- The USA Canada China
- Keys: 1 - Scotland
- 2 - Australia
- 3 - Spain
- 4 - Italy
- 5 - the USA

Task 5
What do you know about Christmas decorations in Britain?
Listen to the Text
The English like to decorate their houses before Christmas. There is a beautiful Christmas tree in every English house. But this tradition is not very old. In England the Christmas tree was made popular by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. Prince Albert was born in Germany where the decorated tree was already one of the Christmas traditions.
In 1840 he introduced a beautiful tree into the royal family’s Christmas.
In England they decorate their houses not only with a Christmas tree. They use holly and mistletoe. It’s a typical English custom. Holly is a bush with shiny red berries. The glossy leaves of holly have sharp edges. Holly’s berries symbolize Christ’s blood. You can see welcome wreaths on front doors. In Roman times a garland of leaves signified good luck. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant. Mistletoe grows on the apple trees. Druids used mistletoe as a symbol of fertility. It is still customary to kiss someone under the mistletoe.
Match the halves of the sentences.

1) In Roman times a garland of leaves ----------- 1) sharp edges
2) The glossy leaves of holly have ----------------- 2) with shiny red berries
3) Holly is a bush -------------------------------------- 3) signified good luck
4) In England they decorate houses -------------- 4) on front doors
5) You can see welcome wreaths ----------------- 5) with evergreen plants
6) It is still customary to kiss someone ---------- 6) popular in Britain
7) Prince Albert made Christmas tree ----------- 7) under the mistletoe

The keys: 1 - 3; 2 - 1; 3 - 2; 4 - 5; 5 - 4; 6 - 7; 7 - 6
The team which is right gets a “snowflake” or a “bell”.
Task 6
Read the text. Make up dialogues (5, 6 questions)

Christmas dinner
Christmas Dinner is the main meal traditionally eaten on Christmas Day.
In most countries turkey is usually the main dish and centerpiece of the table although other dishes vary widely.
In Britain Christmas dinner is usually roast turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, roast potatoes, stuffing (known in the USA as dressing), with winter vegetables such as Brussels sprouts. This is sometimes accompanied with pork sausage and bacon. For dessert – Christmas pudding and brandy butter. It’s also traditional to pull Christmas crackers during Christmas dinner.
In the USA many Christmas customs have been imported from Britain and so Christmas dinners tend to be roughly similar. There are of course many American favorites such as pumpkin pie, green beans, corn as well as dishes popular in particular regions: turkey teriyaki in Hawaii, oysters and ham pie in Virginia and so on.

Task 7
Christmas jokes. Do you have a sense of humor? Every team has 4 Christmas jokes. Choose the best one and try to explain the main idea.
• What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claus - Europhobic.
• Where do you find reindeer? Depends upon where you leave them.
• What do you get if you cross an apple with a Christmas tree? A pineapple!
• Mum, Can I have a dog for Christmas? No you can have turkey!
• What do you call an elf who teaches English? A subordinate Claus.
• What’s the first thing elves learn at school? The “elf”- abet!
• How do elves greet each other? “Small word, isn’t it?”
• What do monkeys sing at Christmas? Jungle Bells, Jungle Bells!

Task 8:
Teacher:
Can you write invitations to the party? Let’s learn. Listen to the in vitiation and pay attention to some details.
Dear Alice,
Would you like to come to a New Year party at our college?
It starts at 6 p. m. on 27 December.
It’s going to be great fun:
Singing songs, playing games and dancing.
Best wishes Dan.
Choose one of the variants:
Fill in the blanks or write your own invitation. You can draw it, using the pictures with Christmas traditions.
You may work in groups of 2 or 3.
_ Alice,
_ _ _ to come to a _ _ at our college?
It starts at 6 p. m. on _.
It’s _ to be a _ fun: singing songs, playing _ and _.
_ _, Dan.
For the best invitation the team gets a “snowflake” or a “bell”

Task 9
Snow Maiden:
Now it’s time to play and check your reaction. The game is called “True and False”. There are two chairs: one is “true” and the other is “false”. You will hear some statements and if it is true you will have to sit down on the “true” chair. If the statement is wrong you will have to run to the “false” chair.
We need two players from different teams for one statement. (More right answers give more points.)
Statements:
• New Year is as widely celebrated as Christmas in Great Britain (False)
• Christmas is a religious holiday (True)
• Traditional Christmas colors are green and red (True)
• Holly and mistletoe are Christmas plants (True)
• Usually in Great Britain people have a big chicken and Christmas cake for dinner (False)
• Children leave a long stocking at the and of their beds on Christmas Eve hoping that Father Christmas will bring them small presents, fruit and nuts (True)
• In Scotland they prefer New Year to Christmas (True)
• Christmas tree was made popular by Queen Victoria (False)
• The first Christmas tree appeared in England in 1840. (True)
1. Этап информации студентов о домашнем задании.
Be ready to speak about any Christmas tradition that impressed you most of all. For example: some interesting facts from the history of this holiday, or about Santa Claus; Christmas tree; Carols, “Hogmanay”, the tradition of giving gifts and so on.
7. Заключительный этап
1. Подведение итогов.
Teacher: It’s time to finish our competition. You were active and creative today. Who wins the competition? Let’s count your “snowflakes” and ‘’bells’’. Congratulations!
2. Рефлексия.
Teacher: Do you enjoy our party? What do you like best of all? What new things have you learnt today? What was difficult for you? What topic would you like to speak about next time?
At the end let’s sing the famous song “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.