Bring Christmas into your MFL lessons!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Language and culture are two inseparable elements in the teaching-learning process of a language. Teaching a foreign language implies not only teaching vocabulary and grammatical structures to students. It also requires approaching different cultural elements as these have the power of changing the way that students see and understand other behaviours and points of view. Furthermore, teaching the culture enriches their learning and broadens their horizons which helps them to become rounded global citizens.

 Pfister Guenter (1992) points out that culture is the driving force behind learning other languages. Acknowledging cultural elements makes learning a new language meaningful, not only in coming to an understanding of who the other is but also to understand their way of seeing and behaving in different situations.

But what cultural elements should teachers teach and when? A research document from EnRedELE (August 2015) states that there is no correct answer, since this depends on several different factors such as interest, the particular needs from students and the language level pupils are able to manage.

December is a month that allows everyone to be in a festive spirit. Teachers can plan and carry out activities to cater for students from different contexts. The following “Tasks of Christmas” provide ideas that can be carried out with students to celebrate Christmas, using the target language and demonstrating their ability to communicate in another language. Some ideas are mine; others have been shared by different colleagues in previous years and I have incorporated them into my practice. If I have included your idea on this list do let me know and I will acknowledge it.   

Task One – A Christmas Tree Wall

I made a plan in Canva which gave me an idea of how to make my Christmas Tree Wall and to identify the resources I needed.

Find a wall in your school where you can put a Christmas tree display. This can be your classroom, the drama hall or a wall facing the playground. Measure the wall and then using cardboard make a Christmas tree. This can be as big as you want. I made a three-tiered Christmas tree this year.

Using gorilla tape, stick the tree on the wall. To decorate the tree, give students some paper tags and ask them to write Christmas messages in other languages, they need also to decorate the tags to make them nice and pretty. They can write messages to their friends and teachers and these messages then can be placed in the tree.

Students can also make posters saying Merry Christmas in other languages. I have a bank of posters saying Feliz Navidad in different languages. If you want to have the posters click HERE.

Task Two - A Christmas Carol

This is the example of a Christmas carol for year 7 using the vocabulary they have learned this term. To listen to the song in Spanish CLICK HERE.

  

Ask students to write their very own Christmas carol. They can combine the target language with English, or they can use simple vocabulary and expressions in Spanish. An example of a version of a Christmas Carol in Spanish and English to make the song even more accessible to everyone is HERE.

Task Three – El día de los Santos Inocentes

 

This is a national festival in Spain and Latin America. The day of the Holy Innocents is a Catholic religious holiday that takes place on December 28 and is named in honour of the young children who were slaughtered by order of King Herod around the time of Jesus’ birth. These young victims were called Santos Inocentes or “Holy Innocents.”  It’s a day for children to celebrate innocence by playing jokes or pranks on adults. The Día de Los Inocentes is much more than April Fool’s Day in the UK.

During the last class before the holidays, you can teach the festival and have some fun with students.

If you want to have the PowerPoint with suitable jokes for children and including sentence builders to offer opinions about the festival just send me an email and I will share this with you.

Task Four – My Christmas List 

  

Students can write a list of Christmas presents in the target language. This activity allows student to use vocabulary that is meaningful for them. Students can also include their dream presents using the conditional tense. To add a Christmas theme students can decorate it. For younger students, they can write a simple letter to Santa too.

 Task Five – A Christmas message in Spanish

 

Pupils can write a short message in the target language and include them when writing their Christmas cards for family members and friends.

This can be rewarding as students will impress others with their language skills.

Task Six – A Christmas poster

  

Students can produce a colourful Christmas poster to decorate their house or their bedroom during the Christmas period. They can include festive messages and vocabulary in the target language.

Task Seven – A comparison between Christmas in the UK and in Spain

Students can identify different cultural elements between UK, Spain or any of the Hispanic speaking countries and write sentences or a short paragraph explaining similarities and differences.

Task eight – What I most like of Christmas

 

Students can write sentences or a short paragraph explaining what aspects of Christmas they enjoy most and justifying why. They can include presents, food, decoration, special traditions, etc.

Taks Nine – My Christmas recipe

With your technology department organise a bake Christmas cookies lesson. Students write the ingredients and how to prepare the recipe in the target language. Praise the best cooky made for Santa!

Task Ten – My school Christmas dinner

 

Make the School Christmas dinner meaningful. Liaise with the canteen so they can provide the menu not only in English but also in Spanish. Encourage staff at the canteen and students to say Feliz Navidad. 

Taks Eleven – Test your knowledge about Christmas

Organise a Christmas quiz including key vocabulary and cultural elements.  If you want to have my quiz do send me an email.

 

 Taks Twelve – A Christmas card competition

 

Organise a Christmas Card competition. I have been doing this at my school for several years and students love it. Last year I received more than 450 cards across the school. To encourage participation, you can offer a prize (a chocolate Santa) and a certificate for the winner and runners up.  

 Bibliography 

 

Websites, Online Articles, and Presentations:

• Altamar Rondón, W. and Giraldo Sanguino, N.H. "Encuentro de Lengua Extranjera." Available at: https://spanishincolombia.caroycuervo.gov.co/encuentro-lengua-extranjera/ponencias/Altamar%20Rond%C3%B3n%20Wajibe%20y%20Nelson%20Hern%C3%A1n%20Giraldo%20Sanguino.pdf  
• Kelly Davies. (2022) "12 Days of Xmas." PowerPoint presentation, posted on 11 November 2022, Secondary MLF Matters. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/638955772787417/search?q=12%20task%20of%20christmas  

Books, Journals, and Conferences:

• Pfister, G.G. (1992) "Foreign Language Teaching: Encountering a Foreign Culture." The Clearing House, 66(1), pp. 21.
• EnRedELE (2015) Red académica de español como lengua extranjera. August.
• Quintana, E. (1993) "Lengua y cultura en clase de ELE: la España del siglo XX a través de la poesía." In: Jornadas sobre aspectos de la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera, Granada: Universidad de Granada.