IT’S NEARLY CHRISTMAS!

To be used with video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5RhP3H3G7w

It is a Christmas advert by the British department store, John Lewis.

TEACHER’S NOTESOBJECTIVE: To learn Christmas vocabulary, to practice speaking such as comparing and contrasting or making predictions, to have fun!

AGE GROUP & LEVEL: Teenagers, adults. Low intermediate, production activities may require support for students of lower levels.

1. Show students these song lyrics (from ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want’ by The Smiths. The version in the advert is a cover by Amelia Warner).

So please, please, pleaseLet me, let me, let meLet me get what I wantThis timeGet what I want this time

Ask students what they think the person in the song wants and why.

2. Pre-watching discussion questions. Get students to ask and answer these questions in pairs or groups and then feed back to the class.

1) When do you start to think about Christmas?2) How can you tell that Christmas is getting closer? 3) What is it about the Christmas holidays that makes you most excited and why? 4) What Christmas present do you want to receive this Christmas and why?5) What is the best Christmas present you have ever been given and why?

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3. Prediction. Show students these pictures of the boy in the video. Ask them how they think he feels and why he feels that way. This is a chance for students to be creative and imaginative and to predict the content in the video. (NB. These screenshots were made with the Windows snipping tool)

4. Watch until 1:07 (until the little boy wakes up) then pause. Ask students to predict what they think the little boy will have got for Christmas based on what they have learned about him. Invite suggestions with reasons.

5. Watch the end of the video (the idea is that with the previous exercise we’re setting it up to be even more of a surprise and we will also have generated language).

6. Provide students with the lists of vocabulary below. Students should tick the items they see in the video. To check we watch again and ask students to call out “Pause” when they think they have seen one of the items – this way we can check their understanding (many of these words will have been encountered in the other activities). This exercise could be done as a team game.

ALTERNATIVE: another way to do this exercise would be a ‘Word Grab’ activity. The lists are printed out (large font) and cut up. Students are put into groups (of about 4). Students have to grab the pieces of paper with the words on as they appear on screen: the students with the most at the end wins. The element of competition/race makes this activity very popular with students.

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Tick the things you see in the video.

An advent calendar (04)

Mince pies

Tick the three costumes we see being worn in the video

A shepherd (34)

Father Christmas

7. Give students the following TRUE/FALSE comprehension questions. The statements they think are false should be corrected.

1) The little boy passes the time by throwing a ball at a wall (T) 2) His little brother is drawing in his bedroom (F)

(suggested correction) His little brother is drawing in the kitchen

3) The little boy tries to speed up time with a magic wand (T) 4) His dad is reading a magazine in the living room (F)

(suggested correction) His dad is reading a newspaper in the living room

5) The first thing he does when he wakes up on Christmas morning is to open his presents (F)

(suggested correction) The first thing he does when he wakes up on Christmas morning is to give a Christmas present to his parents

8. Give students the following discussion questions to be done in pairs or groups, with students feeding back to the class afterwards

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Tick the things you see in the video.

An advent calendar (04)

Mince pies

Tick the three costumes we see being worn in the video

A shepherd (34)

Father Christmas

1. How does the video make you feel? Why? 2. Do you like the advert? Why?3. Is the advert effective? Why?4. Why might the video not be appropriate for young Children? (it shows that we buy

presents for each other – they aren’t bought by Father Christmas!) 5. What is the first thing you do when you wake up on Christmas morning? 6. What was the best received present you ever bought? Who was it for? Why was the

person so happy to get it?7. Do you prefer giving or receiving Christmas presents? Why?

9. Secret Santa

Students find something old at home and that they want to throw away. They bring it to class.

Get half of the class describe what they’ve got, without saying what it is, persuading the other half to pick their gift.

The other half will have to make a decision and pick one gift, according to their classmates’ discourse.

If more than one person wants the same gift, they will have to agree who’s getting it.

If any of the gifts is left out, the person “selling” that gift will have to find new ways to talk into their classmates.

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STUDENT WORKSHEET1. Read these song lyrics:

So please, please, pleaseLet me, let me, let meLet me get what I wantThis timeGet what I want this time

What do you think the person in the song wants and why? Be creative!

2. Ask and answer these questions in pairs:

When do you start to think about Christmas?

How can you tell that Christmas is getting closer?

What is it about the Christmas holidays that makes you most excited and why?

What Christmas present do you want to receive this Christmas and why?

What is the best Christmas present you have ever been given and why?

3. Look at this little boy. How does he feel? Why does he feel this way?

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4. Watch the video until 1:07. Based on what you have seen of the little boy, what do you think he’s going to get for Christmas and why?

5. Watch the end of the video.

6. Look at the list of Christmas words and costumes. Watch the video again and tick the items which appear.

7. Look at these statements. Are they true or false? Correct the false sentences so they are true

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Tick the things you saw in the video.

An advent calendar

Mince pies

A Christmas tree

A turkey

Snow

A snowman

Fairy lights

Father Christmas

A herd of reindeer

Christmas presents

A stocking

Wrapping paper

Ribbons

Tick the three costumes we see being worn in the video

A shepherd

Father Christmas

An elf

A magician

A polar bear

A gruffalo

1) The little boy passes the time by throwing a ball at a wall 2) His little brother is drawing in his bedroom 3) The little boy tries to speed up time with a magic wand 4) His dad is reading a magazine in the living room 5) The first thing he does when he wakes up on Christmas morning is to open his

presents

8. Ask and answer these questions in pairs:

1) How does the video make you feel? Why? 2) What was the best received present you ever bought? Who was it for? Why was the

person so happy to get it?3) Do you prefer giving or receiving Christmas presents? Why? 4) Why might the video not be appropriate for young Children? (it shows that we buy

presents for each other – they aren’t bought by Father Christmas!) 5) Who is the advert made by? Do you think it is effective? Why? 6) What is the first thing you do when you wake up on Christmas morning?

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