ESL Level 1/2 Christmas Traditions Most of our Christmas Traditions come from Europe, where Christmas comes in the middle of winter In a European winter, it is dark and very cold, so people want to see bright lights and bright colours to make them feel happy During the cold dark winter in Europe, people gather wreaths of evergreen tree branches to decorate their homes Most trees and bushes in Europe lose their leaves in winter, except for Evergreen trees, and plants like holly and mistletoe All these plants stay green in winter This is why green and red are the traditional colours of Christmas Document Created by ThereseQuinlan \\Padm2\home\ThereseQuinlan\Christmas Traditions.doc 26/08/2016 ESL Level 1/2 Christmas Traditions Holly is a bright green plant with bright red berries It stays green in winter At Christmas, people decorate their houses, gifts, and food with holly You can find pictures of holly on Christmas cards, on gift wrapping paper, and in advertising Document Created by ThereseQuinlan \\Padm2\home\ThereseQuinlan\Christmas Traditions.doc 26/08/2016 ESL Level 1/2 Christmas Traditions Because holly does not grow well in Australia, people use poinsettia instead As you can see, poinsettia plants have bright green leaves and bright red flowers, the traditional Christmas colours We also decorate evergreen pine trees with ornaments in green, red, and other bright colours Even in Australia, where it is very hot at Christmas, and where most of the trees not lose their leaves, we still carry on this tradition Document Created by ThereseQuinlan \\Padm2\home\ThereseQuinlan\Christmas Traditions.doc 26/08/2016 ESL Level 1/2 Christmas Traditions Kissing under the Mistletoe: Image from http://www.squidoo.com/xmas-mistletoe Mistletoe is another evergreen plant It is different from holly At Christmas, people stand under the mistletoe and kiss each other Document Created by ThereseQuinlan \\Padm2\home\ThereseQuinlan\Christmas Traditions.doc 26/08/2016 ESL Level 1/2 Christmas Traditions What other Christmas traditions you know about? Write them here: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Here are some clues: Document Created by ThereseQuinlan \\Padm2\home\ThereseQuinlan\Christmas Traditions.doc 26/08/2016 ESL Level 1/2 Christmas Traditions EXERCISES A B C Fill in the gaps in these sentences: In Europe winter is _ and People decorate their homes with trees Evergreen trees don’t lose their _ in winter Holly is a plant with green _ and red berries Poinsettia is a plant with green leaves and red _ The traditional colours of Christmas are and TRUE OR FALSE: Holly is an evergreen plant Christmas is a European tradition In Europe, winter is hot and humid Holly doesn’t grow very well in Australia The traditional colours of Christmas are blue and yellow At Christmas, people kiss each other under a holly plant There are some mistakes in this paragraph Correct them: Chrismas is a European traditon In Europe, summer is cold and dark, so peeple want toe see brite colours and lites They decorate there buses with gum trees and roses Sum pipple go two church on Christas Eve and sing Crismas carells They hav a bigg lunch on th 26th of November but thay call it “Christmas dinner” The eat roast turky an hamm Thay give itch other present and Christmas cars Than they has a bigg sleap! Document Created by ThereseQuinlan \\Padm2\home\ThereseQuinlan\Christmas Traditions.doc 26/08/2016