Tasks: to describe two Irish symbols
to learn some facts about St. Patrick’s life and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations
Preparation: make copies of the worksheet (1 copy per student)
make copies of the extension task (1 copy per student; optional)
Skills: reading
Language: vocabulary of celebrations
collocations
Sources: WIKIPEDIA (en.wikipedia.org) – the FREE encyclopaedia and
Broukal, M., A First Look at the USA. A Cultural Reader. Longman.
■ Elicit that (Irish) people around the world celebrate March 17th as St. Patrick’s Day.
■ Explain that there are many symbols of Ireland. You may try to elicit any ideas from your Ss. Then, distribute the worksheets and ask Ss to complete the task. They have to match the phrases with the pictures.
Key
Shamrock:
· is green
· may bring you good luck
· St. Patrick used it to teach about God
· usually has three leaves
Leprechaun:
· has got a pot of gold
· lives in the forests of Ireland
· is very quick
· will give you his treasure if you catch him
■ Ask your Ss to work in pairs and put the phrases in the correct order. Once they have the correct text, they will learn some facts about St. Patrick’s life. Check their answers and ask some comprehension questions if necessary.
He was born in Britain in the 4th century. When he was sixteen, pagan raiders sold him as a slave. At the age of twenty-two, he escaped and returned to Britain. Then, he started teaching people about God and Christianity. In 431, he became the Bishop of Ireland. People believe that he died on March 17th 461.
■ Explain that St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in many countries. Elicit from your Ss whether people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in your town (e.g. the local Irish Pub).
■ You may need to pre-teach some words.
· Task : shade, bunch, lapel, ribbon;
· Task : participant, march, origins.
■ Ask Ss to read texts in Tasks and and, then, answer the questions in the box on the right. Ask them to underline the phrases which support their answers.
§ TRUE – a week long St. Patrick’s festival
§ FALSE – the New York parade is the largest parade in the world
§ TRUE – New York: 1756 vs. Ireland: late 19th century
§ FALSE – St. Patrick’s Day is not a national holiday in the United States
■ Ask your Ss to look at the two texts again and try to choose 4 phrases (not words) that they would like to remember. Ask them to write down the phrases in the boxes provided (and learn them by heart, of course).
■ This task consists of two parts. First, your Ss have to form collocations (all of them are used in Tasks and , so there should be no problem with finding them). Then, using the phrases, your Ss have to translate into English two sentences about the festival.
PART A
(1) national
(2) origins
(3) saint
(4) traditional
(5) emigrate
(6) firework
(7) bunch
(8) late
PART B
· In the late 19th century, many people emigrated from Ireland to the United States.
· There are traditional parades and firework displays in many towns in Ireland and the United States.
■ [VOCABULARY] Help your students with learning the 4 phrases they have chosen: Ask them to use them in 4 sentences.
■ [VOCABULARY] Assign the extension activity to Task as homework.
■ [WRITING] Ask your student to write a short text about a famous person. Set a number of sentences they have to write (something between 6 and 8). Ask them to use some of the time expression from Task (at the age of…, when s/he was…, then…).
Task – extension activity
Part A
Fill in the correct word(s) from the list below. Use the words only once.
bunch, emigrate, firework, late, national, origins, saint, traditional
Designed by Bartosz Michałowski for Pearson Longman
(1) a …………………… holiday
(2) to have Irish ……………………
(3) a patron …………………… of Ireland
(4) a …………………… parade
(5) to ……………………from Ireland to the US
(6) a …………………… display
(7) to wear a …………………… of shamrocks
(8) in the …………………… 19th century
Translate the following sentences into Enlish.
§ W końcu XIX wieku wielu ludzi wyemigrowało z Irlandii do Stanów Zjednoczonych.
§ W wielu miastach w Irlandii i Stanach Zjednoczonych odbywają się tradycyjne parady i pokazy sztucznych ogni. (start with There are…)
Designed by Bartosz Michałowski for Pearson Longman PHOTOCOPIABLE
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