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Customs and traditions around the English-speaking world: Warm up

Before reading the chapter, ask the students to work in groups as a class and give them the following questions to encourage them to explore the subject of customs and traditions in the English-speaking world. At this point students should be tapping in to their knowledge of the subject and not doing any research.

• What do students understand by the words ‘customs’ and ‘traditions’?

• What customs and traditions do they feel are a strong part of their own background?

• What is the significance of these customs and traditions for the students’ own identities?

• Think about the English-speaking world and which countries this refers to: do students know any customs and traditions from these countries?

19.1 New Zealand: Maori

Play the hit song ‘Royals’ by Lorde (access on YouTube) and tell the students that she comes from New Zealand and that she is a big hit there but also in the USA, the UK, and many European countries. Teachers may use this simply as a ‘hook’ to get students interested, but could also discuss the lyrics of the text which are based on lifestyle choices and the fact that not everyone has the same access to these choices. Students can research information about the singer.

Discuss knowledge of New Zealand: Where is it? What is the capital city? Is it associated with any famous people?

Read Text 19.1.1 about the Maoris and their cultural traditions. The teacher may read paragraphs first to give orientation for the pronunciation and then ask students to read aloud in pairs.

Pick out vocabulary and structures that you anticipate the students will not know and are not featured in the general comprehension or text handling exercises. Draw attention to their position in the text and ask students to make suggestions about their meaning, based on context clues.

Zoom in on grammar – Present perfect or past simple: Extend the activity by having students work in pairs and create a list of present perfect questions:

Have you ever been to/tried/seen/met/read/wondered/lost/experienced/bought…?

Positive answers will be in the past simple and negative answers in the present perfect.

19.2 The traditions of Christmas

Discuss the origins of Christmas. Why is it celebrated and what is the modern-day significance? Are students aware that our present-day calculation of time is based on the birth of Christ?

Are they familiar with the figure of Santa Claus?

Read Text 19.2.1, which explores the historical development of the figure of Santa Claus. Ask students to take notes as they read. After reading the text in pairs or small groups, students should look at their notes and use them to create a summary of the text.

TEACHER’S GUIDE

Customs and traditions around the English-speaking world19

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19 Customs and traditions around the English-speaking world

19.3 The traditions of Valentine’s Day

Discuss what Valentine’s Day means to the students. Predict vocabulary that may be in the text and list this.

Examine the Valentine poems before reading the text in pairs. Students should discuss the content and summarize it, sharing their summaries and thoughts with other students.

Further written work activity: Students can make their own poems, with or without rhyme, or acrostic poems. They could explore the Rhymer website, as well as the Read Write Think website.

19.4 Superstitions

Consider why countries around the world all have examples of superstitions, and what could be the common element which determines the emergence of them?

Exam practice

One of the assignments here is to write an article for the school magazine. This will be in formal to semi-formal English. Students should give some thought to the demands of this kind of text. It must be carefully planned because the structure will be formal: introduction – main body – conclusion. There will also need to be some thought given to reported speech: the article is based on an interview. Before students begin, take some time to talk about these aspects of writing with them. Students who have difficulties creating a text may benefit from an example – this could be written by the teacher, or composed by the class and the teacher together as a group activity using interactive technologies.

Suggestions for further reading (superstitions)

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Answers

Text 19.1.1

General comprehension

1 The Maori people are thought to have come from eastern Polynesia.

2 ‘ indigenous’

3 ‘Renaissance’ means re-birth. The culture has become attractive, giving the Maori people a greater sense of their own culture and increased pride and self-respect.

4 The tattoos were associated with steps along the road to maturity and marked significant events.

5 The settlers did not respect the Maori culture and instead imposed their own culture on the people, which meant that Maori cultural practices (such as tattooing) lost their appeal.

6 Fasting was a necessity due to the fact that tattoos on the face would cause swelling and make eating difficult or impossible.

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19Customs and traditions around the English-speaking world

Text handling

1 A

2 D

3 E

4 H

5 C

6 G

7 F

8 B

Grammar in context

1 never met

2 has been

3 lived

4 ate

5 has not been

6 started

7 have been

8 has lived

9 lived

10 have not met

Text 19.2.1

General comprehension

1 Santa Claus is based on St. Nicholas.

2 answers will vary

3 6 December was the celebratory day of St. Nicholas between 1200 and 1500.

4 The tradition was brought to the USA by emigrants from the Netherlands. It became popular as an opportunity to eat and drink.

5 ‘The Children’s Friend’ by an anonymous poet in 1821; ‘A Visit From St. Nicholas’ by Clement Clarke Moore in 1822.

6 Christianity was a persecuted religion.

7 During the 19th century.

Text handling

1 (Bibles) were burned

2 (kids) behaved themselves

3 a noisy feast

4 monitoring children’s behaviour

Text 19.3.1

General comprehension

1 No, Valentine’s Day is recognized in many countries.

2 Victorian England

3 There is an element of mystery, which makes receiving the card exciting.

4 It cannot be proved.

5 sympathetic, heroic, romantic

6 Developments in printing technology made cards commercially available.

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19 Customs and traditions around the English-speaking world

Text handling

Suggested answers:

Adjective Comparative Superlative

Important More important Most important

Mysterious More mysterious Most mysterious

Romantic More romantic Most romantic

Sweet Sweeter Sweetest

International More international Most international

Young Younger Youngest

Defiant More defiant Most defiant

Sympathetic More sympathetic Most sympathetic

Heroic More heroic Most heroic

Large Larger Largest

Text 19.4.1

General comprehension

1 a In ancient Eygpt, opening a sunshade indoors was considered to be disrespectful to the sun god. In Victorian times, the metal spokes of the umbrella could cause injury or breakages if opened indoors.

b fragile/easily broken

c answers will vary

2 a The triangle had religious significance for the Egyptians.

b In Christianity, the account of the ladder leaning against the cross at Christ’s crucifixion led to the belief in bad luck.

c usurped

3 a In Roman times, salt was used as payment for work.

b strong criticism

c Suggested answers: Because salt was rare/expensive to buy/very useful for preserving meat etc.

4 a The phrase became linked to disease during the Middle Ages.

b Suggested answer: The phrase spread as the highly contagious bubonic plague spread throughout different countries.

c Sneezing was thought to be a way to remove evil spirits from the body.

5 a Black cats were thought to be unlucky in Britain during the Middle Ages because people believed they were the companions of witches (or the witches themselves).

b Black cats can be considered lucky or unlucky depending on where you are.

c goodness/purity

6 a The ancient Greeks associated the crescent moon with the ability to have babies.

b answers will vary

c to ward away