Caracas – a South-American capital on 24th December – Christmas Eve, early morning with the streets closed to traffic. At first you may hear a noise getting steadily closer and then, in the distance, you’ll see the first roller skaters moving quickly in your direction... A sporting event? Maybe a race? It may be misleading if you’re visiting Caracas for the first time – every year hundreds of people roller-skate to church to take part in the early morning service, which is held every day from 16th to 24th December.

The southern hemisphere. Santa is dressed in summer clothes, kangaroos called six white boomers are pulling Santa’s sleigh instead of reindeer, a traditional Christmas dinner: roast turkey, Christmas pudding, biscuits with dried fruit served on a snowy-white tablecloth on the beach... Why not if Christmas time falls in the middle of summer? With temperatures reaching 30°C many people decide to have a cold Christmas dinner or a barbecue with some delicious seafood.

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, Stand with your back to the door, take off your shoe and throw it over your shoulder. If the toe of your shoe points to the door, it means that you will get married in the coming year. Does it sound a bit like the custom from Saint Andrew’s Day as celebrated in Poland? Well, in fact it’s one of quite popular... Christmas customs practiced among our southern neighbours!

Have you ever heard about an island town called Bonny or Ibani and the famous masquerade which the residents of the town perform every Christmas? It’s called Nwaotam and is one of the most colourful performances connected with the island’s culture. Powerful music, dances and people dressed up in colourful costumes make the show look really exotic and fascinating. Nwaotam is similar in many ways to the European carnival, which starts in January.

Surprisingly, in a country where the main religion is Hinduism, while Christians only constitute a little bit more than 2% of the population, people also celebrate Christmas by giving presents and attending a midnight mass in church. Only the Christmas tree may appear a little unusual for Europeans – instead of the traditional fir or spruce tree, people decorate a banana or mango tree, which is definitely more common in that part of the world!

Christmas in Poland is usually associated with a Christmas tree, Santa Claus bringing gifts, people singing Christmas carols, hay under the table cloth, a mass at midnight on Christmas Eve and having a great time with family and friends. But in some parts of the world Christmas customs and traditions differ greatly from what we are used to here.Do you find any of them surprising?

Different countries,

different customs

and traditions...

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Read the text quickly and try to guess: What countries do the Christmas customs and traditions come from? What continents are these countries found in?

Task 1

Task 2Read the text again and answer T (True) or F (False)

Task 3Do the Christmas crossword and discover the hidden word.

1. Santa usually gets into the house through it.2. A long series of small paper rings used to decorate

a Christmas tree.3. In Caracas people roller-skate there to take part in the

morning service.4. Animals which traditionally pull Santa’s sleigh.5. In England people usually have a... turkey for Christmas

dinner.6. In Poland the Midnight Mass starts at... o’clock.7. Dinner is an example of a...8. They can be made of glass and are usually used to decorate

Christmas trees.9. In the UK children hang one on their beds on Christmas Eve.10. Children love it when there is a lot of... at Christmas and they

can make a snowman.11. At Christmas time we wish everybody a... Christmas.12. At Christmas people often kiss under it.13. Songs usually sung at Christmas time.14. Another word for present.15. Santa uses it as means of transport.

Task 4Project: Search the Internet. Find some unusual facts about Christmas customs and traditions from all over the world. Make a poster to present the information to your class.

© 2015 Nowa Era Sp. z o.o. – Materiały do kopiowania

1. Throwing a shoe over your shoulder is a Polish Christmas tradition.2. Throwing a shoe over your shoulder allows you to look into the future.3. Nwaotam is the name for a town on Ibani island.4. The Ibani masquerade is held in the same month as the European carnival.5. Most people in India are Christians.6. Christmas in India and in Poland is celebrated in a similar way.7. Rollerskating is the national sport of Venezuela.8. In Caracas people rollerskate to church to attend the midnight mass. 9. Santa’s sleigh in Australia is pulled by reindeer.10. In Australia many people have a cold Christmas dinner because of the high temperatures.

1. Pair work – ask your students to brainstorm what they know about Christmas in the UK.

2. Encourage them to present their ideas in front of the class; write down the key vocabulary on the board.

3. Give some questions for students to answer. For example:

4. Draw a table on the board. Ask your students to match the date with its name.

Teacher’s notesCopy an appropriate number of worksheets for your students.

24th December Christmas Day

25th December Boxing Day

26th December Christmas Eve

Task 1

Ask your Students about the illustrated flags, and national emblems – what countries do they represent? Then – what continents are these countries found in? If they can’t guess, ask them to read the text quickly and find some clues.

Key: 1. The Czech Republic / Slovakia – Europe2. Nigeria – Africa3. India – Asia4. Venezuela – South America5. Australia – Australia

Task 2

Ask your students to read the text for the second time and decide if the given sentences are true or false.

F T F F F T F F F T

Task 3

Competition: divide your students into groups of 4–5 people and ask them to do the crossword. The group who get all the correct answers first are the winners.

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Homework: Task 4

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Project work

© 2015 Nowa Era Sp. z o.o. — Materiały do kopiowania

Warm up

Key:

Key:

C H I M N E Y

C H A I NC H U R C H

R E I N D E E RR O A S T

T W E L V EM E A L

B A U B L E SS T O C K I N G

S N O WM E R R Y

M I S T L E T O EC A R O L S

G I F TS L E I G H

Key:

• How many reindeer pull Santa`s sleigh? (9)• What are the names of the reindeer? Give at least 3. (Vixen, Prancer, Rudolph, Dancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Dasher, Blitzen)• How does Santa get into houses? (through the chimney)• When do people in the UK and America exchange presents? (on Christmas Day)• Where do British and American people find their presents? (in stockings; under the Christmas trees)• What do British and American people eat for Christmas dinner? Name at least 3 dishes. (e.g. roast turkey, mince pie,

Christmas pudding)• What are houses decorated with? Give at least 3 examples. (e.g. paper chains, glass baubles, stars, candles, lights, mistletoe)• What can you find in a Christmas cracker? (a paper hat, a present, a joke)• What do we sing at Christmas? Give at least 1 title of such a song. (carols: e.g. Silent Night)

24th December – Christmas Eve 25th December – Christmas Day 26th December – Boxing Day