Elementary Instant Lesson™

The World's Best Santa

Pre-Reading Activities

A: Class Vote

If a student is the best student in your class for this year, we say, "He/she is the Student of the Year."

Talk with your class. Decide who in your class is:

the hardest-working student of the year. the funniest student of the year. the sleepiest student of the year. the kindest student of the year.

B: Vocabulary

Look at this picture. Label the things in the picture.

chimney, reindeer, sleigh, Santa Claus, snow, gift, sack

C: Discussion

Work in small groups. Imagine you are having a contest for the "Santa of the Year". Answer this question:

What sports for Santas would you have? (One answer is done for you.)

1. climbing chimneys 2. 3. 4.

Reading Activities

A: Ordering Questions

Put the words in each sentence in order to make questions.

1. for 2005 / is / the / Who / of the / Year / Santa ? 2. from / Where / he / does / come ? 3. in Gallivare / Who / met / in November ? 4. sports / do / What / did / they ? 5. Wintergames / When / are the / Santa Claus ?

B: Comprehension Read today's article. Find the answers to your questions from Reading Activity A.

The best Santa in the world is from Estonia

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weden, November 20 (Reuters) - are Rebban from Estonia is the inner of the Santa of the Year for 005.

antas from around the world met in allivare in northern Sweden this eek, for the Santa Claus intergames.

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he Santas from Denmark, Finland, ussia, England, Estonia and Spain ompeted to find out who was the est Santa. They competed in himney-climbing, porridge-eating, eindeer-racing and other sports.

he winner for 2005 is Estonian anta, Aare Rebban. The intergames take place every year.

Article © 2005 Reuters Limited. Lesson © 2005 www.english-to-go.com Words: compete - try to win a race

C: Vocabulary Hunt

Find words with these meanings in today's article.

• the person who is first in (or wins) a competition • came together at a place • food made from oats cooked with milk • going up or down using your hands and feet • going very fast in a competition to see who is the fastest

D: True Or False

Read today's article again. Decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F).

1. The Santas at the Santa Claus Wintergames came from different countries. 2. The 2005 Santa Claus Wintergames took place in November in Gallivare, Sweden. 3. The Santas did different sports at the Santa Claus Wintergames. 4. Chimney-climbing, porridge-eating, and reindeer-racing were the only sports in the Santa Claus Wintergames. 5. The Santa Claus Wintergames will be held again in 2006.

Post-Reading Activities

You may do one or more of these.

A: Internet Research

Find out more about the Santa Claus Wintergames. Go to http://www.santaclauswintergames.com/infoeng.html

B: Write A Postcard/Email

Imagine you were at the Santa Claus Wintergames. Write a postcard or an email to a friend about them. (You could be: a Santa, a judge, a tourist or someone who lives in Gallivare.)

TEACHERS' NOTES AND ANSWER KEY

Pre-Reading Activities

A: Class Vote - Notes Do this activity as a class. If your class are particularly friendly, they may enjoy a secret ballot. Otherwise, hold a quick discussion for each of these titles (and/or any others that suit your class). Be careful to avoid having any discussion that may hurt someone's feelings: i.e. the 'sleepiest' student should be someone quite happy to get the title, not someone you are angry with for sleeping through your classes!

Reading Activities

A: Ordering Questions - Answers 1. Who is the Santa of the Year for 2005? 2. Where does he come from? 3. Who met in Gallivare in November? 4. What sports did they do? 5. When are the Santa Claus Wintergames?

B: Comprehension - Answers 1. Aare Rebban, 2. Estonia, 3. Santas from around the world, 4. chimney-climbing, porridge-eating, reindeer-racing, 5. every year (in November).

C: Vocabulary Hunt - Answers winner, met, porridge, climbing, racing

D: True Or False - Answers 1. T, 2. T, 3. T, 4. F (...and other sports), 5. T.

Santa Claus Wintergames is an annual and very nice gathering of Santas from all over the world. All the Santas that participate are registered and authorized by the Santa organizations. The purpose of the competition is to pick out the Santa of the Year. The Santas compete against and with each other in typical Santa-sports, for example chimney-climbing, porridge-eating, kick-sledding and reindeer-racing. During the days of competition you can see and meet the Santas in various places around Gällivare, in shops, at the town square and at the

homestead area. The children can get a ride in a horse-sledge with the Santas. The Santas that participated in 2004 came from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Russia, England, Estonia and Spain. This year there was also competitors from the Swedish travel-television programme När & Fjärran. The Santas that participated in 2005 came from the same countries as last year. We hope that even more countries will participate next year.