Saying Merry Christmas around the World
Make two columns on Chart paper. One column is labeled country and the other column is labeled How to Say Merry Christmas. Before class, print all countries on index cards, try and use the students’ nationalities. As well, write how they say Merry Christmas on a separate card.
Place all the Merry Christmas sayings on the chart paper for the students to view. Place all the countries in a bag or box. Ask a student to pick out a country. Place the country on the chart paper in the appropriate column. Ask your students how the people of the country would wish someone a Merry Christmas. Continue asking until a correct response is given. Continue until all countries are paired with the appropriate Merry Christmas.
After, have a map of the world on the board. Students are to find the appropriate country and then they will tape Merry Christmas to the board. Since many countries are very close together, an option is to take a piece of yarn and tape or pin it to the country and have it extend out to their Merry Christmas. Students will be able to view the map and say Merry Christmas in a variety of languages.
Christmas Celebrations
Not all people celebrate Christmas on December 25th. For this lesson have students research the date of Christmas celebrations around the world. You may wish to divide students into groups and find the celebration date of Christmas for a fixed number of countries.
Groups will share their data and all students will record. Students after recording the data will put the information into a bar graph or pictograph to illustrate how many countries celebrate on the 25th of December or another date.
If the students did the Saying of Merry Christmas around the World they can add the new data to the map. The map will be a quick resource to learn the facts about Christmas around the world.
Christmas Traditions
Students in pairs research a specific countries tradition about Christmas. Once the data is collected students must put the information into a song or a poem. Students will present their poem or song to the class.
The teacher will photocopy the songs and poems and each student will receive one from each group. This information can be studied by the students and a test can be given based on the information.
