February is Full of Fun!

What is Pancake Day? B1 B2 reading into writing/speaking

Pancake Day (also known as Shrove Tuesday) is traditionally celebrated all over the UK. It is

the last day before the period which Christians call Lent. It is traditional on this day to eat

pancakes. A pancake is a thin, flat cake, made of batter and fried in a pan.

Lent is a time of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to

indulge yourself and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent before

you fast*.

Today everyone celebrates Pancake Day regardless of religion. Pancake Day is exactly 47

days before Easter Sunday. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain flour,

butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.

Nowadays, Caster sugar (superfine sugar) is sprinkled over the top and a dash of

fresh lemon juice added. The pancake is then rolled. Some people add golden

syrup, jam, caramel or chocolate spread to their pancakes instead. Yummy!

* To fast - a period of time when you do not eat any food

Answer the following questions as a written exercise or as a speaking activity:

What do pancakes contain? What topping would you have on your pancake?

How do we cook the pancakes? What’s another name for Pancake Day?

If you had to give up something for 47 days, what would it be and why?

What would you indulge in before your fast?

Maths Challenge - If Pancake Day is 47 days before Easter Sunday and Easter Sunday is the

5th April, when will Pancake Day be in 2015?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4240000/newsid_4244600/4244671.stm (quiz to have in class)

Making pancakes – B2 Writing and reading

Ingredients

220g/8oz flour, sifted pinch of salt

2 eggs 1 pint of milk

50g/2oz butter

Read through the following instructions for making pancakes:

Add your favourite topping

Flip the pancakes and cook until golden

Cook until pancakes start to bubble

Eat the pancakes and enjoy!

Mix the dry ingredients together

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients

Pre-heat a large frying pan

Pour a small amount of the batter into the pan

Repeat with the remaining batter

Whisk the wet and dry ingredients together

Dictionary work

Having looked at the instructions there may be some words that you do not understand.

Look up the following words before ordering the instructions to help.

Whisk –

Pre-heat –

Flip –

Batter –

Sift –

When ordering the instructions try to add in sequencing words e.g. first, second, next, finally etc.

From the instructions find synonyms for the following words:

foods - combine - brown –

fry - turnover - left over –

Connectives Challenge C1 – Complete these sentences with although or otherwise

The chef mixed the batter well so there were no lumps the customer would be disappointed with their pancake.

The child ate her two pancakes she wished that she had more.

The waitress had to remember the order she might lose her job.

The pancake wasn’t healthy it was still very delicious.

Ask your students to make up their own sentences using the connectives to challenge their

friends in the class.

Vocabulary challenge - Write down as many verbs as you can to describe a cooking technique

Mix, mash, pour, spread etc.

Play a charades game and have the other students guess – some imagination is needed:

Are you pouring hot chocolate sauce over pancakes? Are you flipping your pancake?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

This rhyme may help your students order the instructions! Mix a pancake, Whisk a pancake, Pop it in the pan; Fry a pancake, Toss a pancake,

Catch it if you can!

Five Crispy Pancakes - A1 Speaking into writing activity

Do a Google search (www.google.co.uk) for “pancake day” and select images. If you do not have an Interactive white board or projector to project the images print off some copies. You will see a number of images of pancakes with a selection of different toppings. Talk about the different toppings with your class and ask if they recognise any and can say what they are.

You could use a simple structure like: I can see chocolate on the pancake, jam etc. Or more complicated language: The pancakes are covered in chocolate, jam etc.

What topping do you like on your pancake?

Sprinkle with sugar

Spread with jam Spread with chocolate

Spread with syrup

Nam

e

Show the students the table above and hand out one to each student. Explain to them that they are going to ask five students in their class what topping they like on their pancake from the four choices.

Once the students have completed the speaking activity and have filled in their table discuss some of the answers as a group. Elicit some questions and answers.

Who did you ask? I asked Maria. What topping does Maria like on her pancake? Maria likes to sprinkle sugar on her pancake etc.

Introduce the following rhyme to the class:

Five crispy pancakes in a frying pan, Flip them and toss them and catch them if you can. Along came (choose a child from your class), For a pancake one day Sprinkled it with sugar and took it away.

Four crispy pancakes in a frying pan... etc and so on.

Explain that from their results of the survey they need to create their own version of the

rhyme by adding in the student’s name with their preferred topping from their survey. Ask a

student to share with the rest of the class the first verse as an example. Once the students

have completed their rhyme bring the group back together. What do they think the last

verse could be? Discuss and write as a shared writing. Students can now act out their rhyme!

This could be acted out with real pancakes (or pancakes made of plasticine) and you could have a race like in the UK!

See the following YouTube clip for an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLjNjJwDV7E

A history of St Valentine – B2 listening

http://www.storynory.com/2008/02/03/st-valentine/

Is Valentine´s Day too nice? – A2 Reading

Valentine's Day is celebrated on February the 14th. It is the traditional day for people to express

their love to each other. People also express their love to their nice friends, families and nice

classmates. They do this by sending nice Valentine’s cards with nice messages and sometimes

nice poems inside. It is common to leave the card unsigned so it is a surprise. Other traditions on

this day are buying nice chocolates and giving some nice red roses or flowers. Nowadays,

Valentine’s Day is celebrated all over the world and on that day we see a collection of

symbols such as red roses, hearts and cupids holding an arrow. Cupid is the Roman god of

love.

Activity 1 - Ask the students to read through the text. Ask them if they notice a word that is

overused/repeated many times in the text.

What word is it? How does it make the text sound?

Brainstorm in groups alternatives to the word nice that would fit into the context. Have a

few students read out their answers. Do any other students have other options? Discuss.

Activity 2 - The following words have been taken from text and scrambled up. Unscramble

the letters to correctly spell out a word. Use the text to help you.

For arts and crafts ideas for Valentine´s Day see:

http://spotlight.britannica.co.uk/Valentine/Valentine_Activity.html

rseo tarshe

Venlentia hcaelctoos

racds ipucd

veol orraw

erd yFbrruae

mopes fwsloer

Love is in the air - A2 listening

Love is in the Everywhere I look around Love is in the air Every sight and every

And I don't know if I'm being foolish Don't know if I'm being wise But it's something that I must believe in And it's there when I look in your

Love is in the air In the whisper of the Love is in the air In the thunder of the

And I don't know if I'm just dreaming Don't know if I feel sane But it's something that I must believe in And it's there when you call out my

(Chorus) Love is in the air Love is in the air Oh oh oh Oh oh oh

Love is in the air In the rising of the Love is in the air When the is nearly done

And I don't know if you're an illusion Don't know if I see it But you're something that I must believe in And you're there when I reach out for you

Love is in the air Everywhere I around Love is in the air Every and every sound And I don't know if I'm being foolish Don't know if I'm being wise

But it's something that I must in And it's there when I look in your eyes

(Repeat Chorus 4X)

Word bank

eyes air

day sea

true look

trees sun

sight believe

name sound

Translate the words in BOLD into your

language to help with comprehension.

Foolish -

Wise -

Whisper -

Illusion –

Have the students read through the

lyrics without the word bank or the

lyrics playing and ask them to guess

words that could fit in the gaps.

Play the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N

NC0kIzM1Fo and have them check to

see if they got any correct.

Finally, give them the word bank and

again play the song a few times.

Go over the whole song pausing at

each gap.

Did they use any techniques to work

out what the word was before

listening?

Speed dating EFL style – B2 C1 Speaking

This is a fun activity you can do with your students based on the format of speed dating. It

can be used to discuss topics that you have already touched upon in class or to introduce

new topics/themes that you would like your students to discuss. You could also use this

format for CLIL classes where students have to discuss/describe different areas from their

subject taught through English i.e. describe the process of photosynthesis etc. It works as a

fun activity as well as a way to evaluate your students’ knowledge without giving them a

test. This is also a great activity for a first class where students get to introduce themselves

to their new classmates.

Get everyone up, move the desks into a long line with one student facing another. Hand out

cards with questions or topics to talk about. Give all couples 2-3 minutes to talk to each

about their ideas on the topic or to answer the question. Once the time is up, ask a student

to feed back to the class on their discussion. After feedback, everybody moves either to the

right or the left and thus has a new “date” with a new question to be discussed.

Become an agony aunt/uncle for the day – writing to give advice – B2 C1 Writing

Imagine you are the “Agony Aunt/Uncle” for a local teen magazine. People write to you with

their problems and your job is to tell them how best to deal with the situation by giving

them advice. Below is an example of a letter you have received.

Dear Agony aunt/uncle,

I am 16 years old and I have a problem I hope you will be able to help me with. On the 14th

February I sent a Valentine´s card to my best friend to show her how much her friendship

means to me. I was very disappointed and let down that she didn´t send one back to me.

Everyone talks about Valentine´s day now and to me it seems that more and more people

are using it to show their appreciation to their friends rather than to their boyfriends or

girlfriends, so you can imagine how sad I am. I have heard other groups of friends at school

talking about the cards they received from their friends. What should I do about my friend?

Should I confront her and ask her why she hasn´t sent me one? Should I wait a little longer?

Many thanks,

Write a reply to the letter you have received. Remember:

Use connectives to present different points of view

Informal/colloquial (chatty) style

Sympathise with your reader (I know it is hard…….)

Put in your point of view

Use IMPERTIVE verbs (Be patient, Stay positive)

Sum up your advice at the end (something positive)

Give yourself a name! Agony Aggie? Agony Andy? Make one up!