IT’S CHRISTMAS, LET’S EAT!

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

It is a Christmas advert by the global supermarket chain, ALDI.

TEACHER’S NOTESOBJECTIVE: To learn Christmas vocabulary and traditions and food vocabulary. To practice speaking skills, such as describing or narrating. To engender creativity, to have fun!

AGE GROUP & LEVEL: Teenagers, adults. Generally intermediate +, but the exercises are adaptable – the production activities will require more language support for lower-level students.

1. Ask students what they normally eat and drink at Christmas. This could be done in pairs, groups or as a brainstorm.

2. In pairs, students try to describe the two pictures below (enlarge them). What food and drink can they see? Get students to use the language of speculation if they aren’t sure eg. That could be / it might be / it must be / it can’t be etc – they are required to use this language in the spoken sections of many high stakes English language exams.

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3. Get students to fill in the text with the words in the box to learn about a Christmas tradition in the UK.

On ______________, children in the ___________often leave out ___________ with ___________ or some similar drink for _____________, and a_________ for the _____________.

Answer:

On Christmas Eve, children in the UK often leave out mince pies with brandy or some similar drink for Father Christmas, and a carrot for the reindeer.

GlossaryA mince pie: a sweet, fruit-based pie eaten at Christmas (see first picture!)

4. Show students this picture of a carrot. Ask the following questions: How does he feel? Why does he feel this way? What is he planning to do? This is a chance for students to be creative and imaginative.

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UK reindeer carrot

mince pies brandy Father Christmas Christmas Eve

5. Students do the exercise “Back to back with a twist” while watching the video. Put students in pairs. One student watches the first 30 seconds of the video (on mute) and provides a running commentary to their partner who is facing the other way. They tell a lie. The partner then watches the same segment. Can they spot the lie? The pair swap roles for the second 30 seconds of the video.

Narrating will be difficult for those at lower levels. To adapt this task you could: Choose a section where the action changes more slowly (or put the video in slow

motion! You can do this on YouTube). Allow the pupil who is speaking to see the section once prior to describing it. Pupils do a written summary as opposed to a running commentary. Pupils have to say three true points and one lie: which was the lie?

6. Watch the video again (still on mute). Students are given the following ten statements about the video and they have to put them in order. Even if students don’t know all the vocabulary when they first see the sentences, they should be able to work out a lot with visual context.

A) The carrot has to escape from some falling potatoes B) The carrot sets a Christmas pudding (and his hair!) on fire C) The carrot sees a shooting star in the skyD) The carrot is flying, attached to the reindeer’s antlers E) The carrot jumps into the Christmas tree F) The carrot walks through mashed potato with butter G) The carrot sees some dying friends H) The carrot falls asleep next to the mince pie and brandyI) The carrot walks through some ice cubesJ) The carrot knocks over a candle

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Answers

1. (C) The carrot sees a shooting star in the sky 2. (F) The carrot walks through mashed potato with butter 3. (G) The carrot sees some dying friends 4. (A) The carrot has to escape from some falling potatoes 5. (I) The carrot walks through some ice cubes6. (J) The carrot knocks over a candle 7. (B) The carrot sets a Christmas pudding (and his hair!) on fire 8. (E) The carrot jumps into the Christmas tree 9. (H) The carrot falls asleep next to the mince pie and brandy10. (D) The carrot is flying, attached to the reindeer’s antlers

ALTERNATIVE: You could provide students with different screenshots from the video, which they would have to order and then write a caption for. This would make the exercise more challenging and production focused. This could also be done before the exercise above: students could compare their captions with the statements above.

7. Tell students they are going to watch the video again, this time with sound. Show them the start of the audio script. Can they predict 1) using context and 2) using context and rhyme (with sky)?

Twas the night before ChristmasA carrot 1) ________ at the skyThinking ‘I could meet Santa’When he gets his 2) _____ ____

Answers:

Twas the night before ChristmasA carrot 1) gazed at the skyThinking ‘I could meet Santa’When he gets his 2) mince pie

8. Let students watch the video with sound. Then provide them with the audio script. What can they fill in from memory? Let them watch again to try to check.

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Audio script Answers

9. Give students the fifteen definitions and synonyms in the box below and ask them to find the corresponding words or phrases in the text. The answers come in order, so to make the exercise more difficult you could jumble the questions up.

Questions Answers

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‘Twas the night before ChristmasA carrot 1) ________ at the skyThinking ‘I could meet Santa’When he gets his 2) _____ ____ But a Christmassy spreadThough a 3) ______ to us allCan be quite 4) _____ When you’re three 5)_______ tall Still, our carrot went forthOn his dangerous 6) _______And soldiered on bravely To the 7) ________ breastHe finally arrived Though 8) ____________ methinks As he said to himselfJust a 9) __________ 40 winksThen all of a sudden Young carrot 10) ________ Flying high over London or Glasgow or Stoke So the sleigh flew much faster That cold 11) _________ _____Powered on by a carrot We like to 12) _________

1. Look at (in admiration or thought)2. Father Christmas3. A table full of food 4. happiness5. Frightening6. 7.62 cm7. A long, difficult search or journey8. Continued although it was difficult9. Valiantly

‘Twas the night before ChristmasA carrot 1) gazed at the skyThinking ‘I could meet 2) Santa’When he gets his mince pie But a Christmassy 3) spreadThough a 4) joy to us allCan be quite 5) scary When you’re 6) three inches tall Still, our carrot went forth

‘Twas the night before ChristmasA carrot 1) gazed at the skyThinking ‘I could meet Santa’When he gets his 2) mince pie But a Christmassy spreadThough a 3) joy to us allCan be quite 4) scary When you’re three 5) inches tall Still, our carrot went forthOn his dangerous 6) questAnd soldiered on bravely To the 7) chimney breastHe finally arrived Though 8) exhausted methinks As he said to himselfJust a 9) quick 40 winksThen all of a sudden Young carrot 10) awoke Flying high over London or Glasgow or Stoke So the sleigh flew much faster That cold 11) Christmas EvePowered on by a carrot We like to 12) believe

10.Project this map on the board. Ask students to label the three place names on the map with words from the advert (A,B,C). Which three countries can they see on the map (1,2,3)?

A)

B)

C)

1)

2)

3)

AnswersA) GlasgowB) StokeC) London

1) Scotland2) England3) Wales

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1. Look at (in admiration or thought)2. Father Christmas3. A table full of food 4. happiness5. Frightening6. 7.62 cm7. A long, difficult search or journey8. Continued although it was difficult9. Valiantly

‘Twas the night before ChristmasA carrot 1) gazed at the skyThinking ‘I could meet 2) Santa’When he gets his mince pie But a Christmassy 3) spreadThough a 4) joy to us allCan be quite 5) scary When you’re 6) three inches tall Still, our carrot went forth

11.Give students the following questions for discussion in pairs or groups.

• What is being advertised here? Is the advert effective? Why? • Which of the types of food you see in the video do you eat at Christmas? Do you

think this Christmas dinner looks better or worse than your own? Why?

12. Ideas for production. You could ask students to complete the following tasks:

• Retell the story from memory in the first person.• Write a Christmas story about a different type of food on the table. • You can invite five people to your Christmas meal. Who would you invite and

why?

13. Show students the video on YouTube with the subtitles on. How many mistakes can they spot? This will raise their awareness of the fact that they can’t yet rely on automated transcriptions on YouTube or other tools such as google translate (which students have been known to use!).

STUDENT WORKSHEET

1. What do you normally eat and drink at Christmas?

2. Describe the two pictures below. What food and drink can you see?

Use these phrases if you’re not sure about the names of the food: That could be / it might be / it must be / it can’t be…a type of…

3. Fill in the text with the words in the box to learn about a Christmas tradition in the UK.

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On ______________, children in the ___________often leave out ___________ with ___________ or some similar drink for _____________, and a_________ for the _____________.

GlossaryA mince pie: a sweet, fruit-based pie eaten at Christmas (see first picture!)

4. Look at this carrot. How does he feel? Why does he feel this way? What is he planning to do?

5. In pairs, one of you watches the first 30 seconds of the video (on mute) and you tell your partner (who is facing the other way) what is happening. Tell a lie! Your partner then watches the same segment. Can they spot the lie? Swap roles for the second 30 seconds of the video.

6. Watch the video again (on mute). Put the following ten statements in the order they appear in the video

A) The carrot has to escape from some falling potatoes B) The carrot sets a Christmas pudding (and his hair!) on fire C) The carrot sees a shooting star in the skyD) The carrot is flying, attached to the reindeer’s antlers E) The carrot jumps into the Christmas tree F) The carrot walks through mashed potato with butter G) The carrot sees some dying friends H) The carrot falls asleep next to the mince pie and brandyI) The carrot walks through some ice cubesJ) The carrot knocks over a candle

7. Look at the start of the audio script. Can you predict 1) using context and 2) using context and rhyme (with sky)?

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UK reindeer carrot

mince pies brandy Father Christmas Christmas Eve

Twas the night before ChristmasA carrot 1) ________ at the skyThinking ‘I could meet Santa’When he gets his 2) _____ ____

8. Watch the video with sound. Afterwards, look at the audio script below. What can you fill in from memory? Watch again to check.

9. Look at the fifteen definitions and synonyms in the box below and find the corresponding words or phrases in the text.

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‘Twas the night before ChristmasA carrot 1) ________ at the skyThinking ‘I could meet Santa’When he gets his 2) _____ ____ But a Christmassy spreadThough a 3) ______ to us allCan be quite 4) _____ When you’re three 5)_______ tall Still, our carrot went forthOn his dangerous 6) _______And soldiered on bravely To the 7) ________ breastHe finally arrived Though 8) ____________ methinks As he said to himselfJust a 9) __________ 40 winksThen all of a sudden Young carrot 10) ________ Flying high over London or Glasgow or Stoke So the sleigh flew much faster That cold 11) _________ _____Powered on by a carrot We like to 12) _________

1. Look at (in admiration or thought)2. Father Christmas3. A table full of food 4. happiness5. Frightening6. 7.62 cm7. A long, difficult search or journey8. Continued although it was difficult9. Valiantly10.Where you make a fire11.Very tired

10.Look at this map. Label the three place names on the map with words from the advert (A,B,C). Which three countries can you see on the map (1,2,3)?

A)

B)

C)

1)

2)

3)

11.Answer the following questions in pairs.

• What is being advertised here? Is the advert effective? Why? • Which of the types of food you see in the video do you eat at Christmas? Do you

think this Christmas dinner looks better or worse than your own? Why?

12. Can you…?

• Retell the story from memory in the first person.• Write a Christmas story about a different type of food on the table. • You can invite five people to your Christmas meal. Who would you invite and

why?

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1. Look at (in admiration or thought)2. Father Christmas3. A table full of food 4. happiness5. Frightening6. 7.62 cm7. A long, difficult search or journey8. Continued although it was difficult9. Valiantly10.Where you make a fire11.Very tired

13. Watch the video on YouTube with the subtitles on. How many mistakes can you spot?

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