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Seasonal English A1

Englisch

Ideas for English at Easter: activities for A1 classes

Teacher’s notes Aims – To present information about Easter in the United States – To focus on vocabulary connected to Easter – To practise speaking about traditions in the student’s country

© 2009 Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Task To discuss and compare Easter rituals and traditions by reading about and comparing Easter in the USA with Easter celebrations in the student’s own country. Preparation 1. Make enough copies of the worksheet with Easter-words cards to be able to give one set of cards to each student pair. Cut the cards out along the dotted lines. 2. Make copies of the two worksheets with the instructions for the students. Timing 30 mins for all activities Procedure 1. Introduce the topic by asking students if they know when Easter is and whether they will be celebrating it. Don’t give away too much information. 2. Put the students in pairs and give them a set of cards. Ask them to use the words to say something about their own Easter traditions. Ask them to write down two sample sentences per pair. Which of the words are not related to Easter and why? 3. Collect some of the sentences in open class and discuss them. 4. Hand out the worksheets and ask the students to proceed with the definitions exercise (exercise 2). Check over their answers with the whole class. 5. Now ask them to read the text about Easter in the USA (exercise 3) and discuss differences and similarities with their partners, then collect these in class. 6. Ask the students to complete the cloze sentences (exercise 4) and compare their answers with their partners. The missing words are: holidays, day off, more important, blesses, paint, invites. 7. Ask the pairs to think about the questions in exercise 5 and discuss their answers with their partners. They don’t have to write their answers.

Autor: Nicole Tomberg www.cornelsen.de/erwachsenenbildung

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Seasonal English A1

Englisch



family

eggs

church

Thursday

Monday

Friday

holiday

bunny

food

tree

sausages

celebration

colour

eating and drinking

candle


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Seasonal English A1

Englisch


Easter in the USA 1. Easter words a) Look at the cards with your partner. Which words do not have anything to do with Easter? (Schauen Sie die Karten mit Ihrem Partner an. Welche Wörter haben mit Ostern nichts zu tun?) b) With the help of the cards, make some sentences about your own Easter traditions. (Benutzen Sie die Wörter auf den Karten, um Sätze zu Ihren eigenen Ostertraditionen zu bilden.)

2. Definitions Match the following words with the correct definition. © 2009 Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

(Ordnen Sie die Wörter der richtigen Definition zu.)

1. bunny

A. a big party with lots of food

2. egg

B. the season after winter

3. spring

C. it comes from hens and you can eat it

4. bonnet

D. a rabbit

5. feast

E. an old word for hat

3. American Easter Here’s some information about Easter in the USA. Read the text and ask your teacher about words which you don’t understand. Then talk to your partner about differences and similarities between Easter in the USA and in your country. (Lesen Sie den Text zu Ostern in den USA. Ihr/e Lehrer/in kann Sie mit Wörtern helfen, die Sie vielleicht nicht verstehen. Sprechen Sie dann mit Ihrem Partner über Unterschiede und Ähnlichkeiten zwischen Ostern in den USA und in Ihrem eigenen Land.)

No holidays! Easter in the United States is very similar to Easter in Europe, but there are some differences. For example, Good Friday and Easter Monday are normal working days, but most schoolkids have a day off on Good Friday. Orthodox Easter Especially for people whose families came from Eastern Europe, Easter is even more important than Christmas. Usually the families cook lots of food. On the Saturday evening, families pack all the food in baskets and take it to church so that the priest can bless it. Traditions American Easter is a big family feast and the whole family comes together on Easter Sunday to eat lots of homemade food. Americans paint eggs for Easter, just like many Europeans, and on Sunday there is an Easter-egg hunt for the kids. Of course, the Easter bunny hides the eggs outdoors if the weather is fine. Every year the President of the USA invites children from all over the country to come to the White House for an Easter-egg hunt. Autor: Nicole Tomberg www.cornelsen.de/erwachsenenbildung

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Seasonal English A1

Englisch


4 Differences and similarities Complete these sentences. Compare your sentences with your partner’s. (Vervollständigen Sie diese Sätze. Vergleichen Sie Ihre Sätze mit denen Ihres Partners.)

In the USA, Good Friday and Easter Monday aren’t Most schoolchildren have a

. on Good Friday.

For Eastern European families, Easter is often

than Christmas.


In some churches, the priest

the food for Easter.

Lots of Americans and Europeans The American president

eggs for Easter. children from all over the country for an Easter-egg hunt.

5 What about you? What are your answers to these questions? Think about it for a few minutes and then talk about your answers with your partner. (Wie sind Ihre Antworten zu diesen Fragen? Überlegen Sie für einige Minuten und dann sprechen Sie mit Ihrem Partner über Ihre Antworten.)

– – – – – –

How do you celebrate Easter? Do you have a family? What do you do together at Easter? Do you usually paint eggs? When you were a child, did your parents hide eggs for you? What are your favourite colours? Do you also have your favourite colours in your home? Do you sometimes go away on holiday at Easter? Where do you go and what do you do there?


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