I. INTRODUCTIONI. 2. Teaching British Festivals

New Year’s Day, St. Valentines Day, Easter, All Fool’s Day, Mother’s

Day, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Day, Bank Holidays – those are only a few

festivals celebrated in Britain. It can be said that almost every moth has its own

festival or at least Bank Holiday. They teach us about traditions and customs of

the country and they are a rich source of cultural information.

The main topic of this thesis is teaching British festivals through songs in

an interesting and enjoyable way for the pupils. This gives them basic

knowledge of how the Brits celebrate some festivals and what vocabulary is

connected to them because without vocabulary the pupils will not be able to

understand the lesson and basic features. For my thesis I chose New Year’s

Day, St. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Summer Bank Holiday, Halloween and

Christmas, which were confirmed by a British native speaker as the main

festivals that are celebrated in Britain and which I think the pupils will enjoy as

they can compare them with the Czech traditions and customs.

This bachelor thesis is divided into two major parts. The first part is

theoretical and focuses on the description of the activities used in the second,

practical part and why those activities and tasks are important and in what way

they develop pupil’s skills. They also suggest how those activities enrich pupil’s

knowledge about the certain festival. The theoretical part is divided into sections

according to the practical part – Introduction of a lesson = motivation, The use

of songs in teaching festivals, The importance of teaching vocabulary in

connection with festivals and Challenging activities in teaching British festivals.

All those activities are variously used in the practical part to broaden pupil’s

experience.

The second part is fully practical and divided into six lesson plans

according to six British festivals in the order in which they appear thorough the

year – New Year’s Day, St. Valentines Day, Easter, Summer Bank Holiday,

Halloween and Christmas. The crucial activity used in every lesson plan is the

use of songs. I have chosen those songs according to their content and

informational contribution for the pupils. Each lesson plan also contains basic

information for the teacher, such as time, materials needed, etc. There is also a

certain number of handouts for each lesson plan at the end of the thesis.

Moreover, I have tried some of the lesson plans in a language school to

get some feedback for myself and the results will be mentioned at the end of

each lesson plan tested.

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II. THEORETICAL PARTII.1. Introduction of a lesson = motivation

There are several tips in almost every teacher’s book how to introduce

an English lesson but it depends only on the teacher how good his/her lesson’s

introduction will be and how much he or she will motivate the pupils. Introducing

activity or the warm-up activity is “a short fun game which a teacher or trainer

can use with students.”1

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The purpose of these exercises is to get pupil’s attention, make them ignore

disturbing thoughts and get them focused and ready for the lesson.

Here are some of the warm-up activities to introduce the lesson suggested

by Enabling Educational Network1:

Find someone who...

Find the lie

Tongue twister

Associations

Memory games

But not only a well-prepared and engaging introduction is the key to a successful

lesson but also the teacher is one of the building stones. The teacher’s temper and

mood is the first thing the pupils see when he or she enters the class. If the

teacher comes to the class and looks tired, miserable, in a bad mood and the first

thing he or she says is “open your books on page...” is not only uninteresting and

without any stimulus for the pupils to look forward to their lesson but also very

inactivating. The teacher has to be not only enthusiastic about the subject but also

stimulating for the pupils to enjoy their lesson.

“We can’t change our personalities but we can alter the impression we give

in class: by smiling – that doesn’t mean that you have to walk around with a fixed

grin, but showing a friendly attitude warms the students to you...”2

1 “Ideas for warm up activities.” Enabling Educational Network. 8 April 2009. <http://www.eenet.org.uk/key_issues/teached/cambodia_warmups.pdf>2 Gower, Roger, Diane Phillips, and Steve Walters. Teaching Practice A handbook for teachers in training. Oxford: Macmillan Education, 2005.

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