(ang) Last Christmas "Last Christmas", This Christmas "Last Christmas", Next.....

No Christmas seems real Christmas without “Last Christmas”. It apparently is so. Last week, when going by car to do some shopping, I suddenly heard the well-known, recognizable tunes of the song which, for some years now, has been heralding Happy Christmas Time. Immediately, when hearing just a few first words, the lingering image of the video clip came to my mind. Cheesy, tacky? Maybe yes, maybe not. Both the song and video clip are inseparably linked to warm memories and keep telling me: “It’s time to get ready for Christmas. It’s time to go shopping. It’s time to start sending ‘Merry Christmas’ cards.”

The same day, when doing some dish-washing, I recalled the catchy tunes of “Last Christmas”. Quite automatically, I started humming and sort of singing to myself, scaring off the innocent-looking kitty, a mute witness to my fleeting madness.

So, there came the inevitable! As a teacher, I started thinking of any possible (and mostly silly) activities based on “Last Christmas” (lyrics and clip). One idea followed another, and still another one ….. So, below you’ll find a series of some classroom tasks for various levels and different skills. Similarly to my previous entry on Katwijk, also in this one there are some tables which you’ll find in the attached pdf file.

So, enjoy and any comments are welcome in the comment section (coming very soon).

“Last Christmas” - lyrics:

 1.     Listening comprehension – verb forms

/Introduce to Ss the song by playing the first tunes for them to recognize the song. Ss listen to the song twice and fill in the gaps in the lyrics with the missing verb forms./

/pdf/

2.      Grammar practice – IRREGULAR VERB FORMS

/Distribute tables with all the irregular verbs from the lyrics. Individually, Ss rely on their previous knowledge and fill in the gaps with the missing forms./

/pdf/

3.      Listening comprehension – spelling, phonetics, word choice

/Spelling (pronunciation-related mistakes) and wrong words are used in the lyrics, Alternatively, you may get Ss to listen to the song so as to find as many mistakes as possible. Elicitation follows – correct lyrics are gradually displayed in PowerPoint slides or Ss write correct words on the board./

/pdf/

 4.      Grammar – LAST, THIS, NEXT

/Remind Ss that in front of these target words followed by the days of the week , etc.  zero article – no article – is required. Give them some examples and then elicit some others, e.g. Wednesday, year, summer, week, month. Afterwards, get Ss to fill in the gaps in five sentences with one of these words./

1. ________year pre-Christmas shoppers spent less money than it’s estimated _________ year.
2. Jack has already bought a gigantic Christmas tree and he wants to decorate  it ________ week, because now he is snowed under with work.
3. Shops will stay open till 8pm ________ week, but also this week shop assistants have to work long hours because so many Christmas products should be arranged on shelves.
4. ________ Monday I went on a shopping spree with Susanna. She got tired after two hours and I suggested having coffee and ginger cookies in a nearby café.
5. “What do you expect from Santa this year?” “I don’t know, I haven’t been that good lately, but _______ year I’ll promise I’ll try to be a good girl.

 5.      Lexis – FIXED EXPRESSIONS IN CONTEXT

/The following expressions have been taken directly from the lyrics. Get Ss to choose the correct options in all the sentences./

1. “once bitten twice shy”

a/ I don’t want to be bitten by dogs anymore.

b/I’ve been there. I know the problems and don’t want to experience them once more.

c/ I’m so shy that I hardly ever make friends.

 2. “I keep my distance”

a/ I don’t want to be too close to people.

b/ I have a long ruler at home with which I measure all the distances I cover between my kitchen and my living room.

c/ My destiny is to keep everything deep in my heart.

 3. “You still catch my eye”

a/ You catch me and you see tears in my eyes.

b/ You look for me in a crowd, suddenly you notice me, look at me and I’m drawn to you.

c/ My glasses are about to fall to the ground, you catch them halfway, give them to me and I can see your face thanks to my glasses.

4. “You’d fool me again”

a/ You’d make a fool of me again.

b/ You’d make a fool of yourself again.

c/ You’d flirt with me and make me fall in love with you again.

 5. “I gave you my heart”

a/ I decided to have a heart transplant surgery to save your life.

b/ I fell in love with you.

c/ I bought a heart-shaped box of chocolates and, instead of eating them myself, I generously gave them to you.

 6. “your soul of ice”

a/ You’re a truly romantic person.

b/ You’re so reserved that it’s really hard to get through to you.

c/ You always dream of ice-cream.

 7. “I was a shoulder to cry on”

a/ I was there for you when you were sad.

b/ I could hold you in my arms when dancing to melancholic music.

c/ You saw my injured shoulder, which made you cry and cry.

 8. “with a fire in his heart”

a/ a man burning with passion, love and / or desire;

b/ a man who is on fire because someone has set fire to his Christmas tree;

c/ a man who’s had too much for dinner and now he feels acute pain not just in his tummy but also in his heart.

 6.      Over to you – speaking

/ In pairs, Ss think of situations, prepare dialogues or make up stories in which at least three from the above expressions are used./

 7.      Grammar – PHRASAL VERBS

A.     / In the lyrics to “Last Christmas” there are four phrasal verbs. Ss match the parts in two columns so that four phrasal verbs are reconstructed. Additionally,  elicit the meaning of the verbs referring Ss to the lyrics as a clear context. Stress that words should often be studied in their context and their meaning should be deduced in this way./

/pdf/

 B.   /When the meaning is clear, get Ss to fill in the sentences below with the target words. Remind them to pay attention to correct verb forms./

1. Last  Christmas I _____________ some of my presents to charity because I didn’t need extra socks, scarves or gloves.
2. Could you ____________  it __________ nicely for me, please? This is a present for my sister.
3. Her cute puppies were brutally __________________ . She wanted to keep just one of them, so the other one went to a town 500km away.
4. Come on! You mustn’t _______________ everything he tells you because then you may be easily disappointed.
5. Their project seems __________________. No more work! They can finally relax and look forward to Christmas.

     “Last Christmas” – video clip   

 8.      Lexis - Numbers and numbers

/Ss watch the video clip to “Last Christmas”. Get them to read the questions first to focus on the clip later. In order to do the exercise well, Ss should understand all the words./

1. How many cars are there at the start of the clip?
2. How many people present near a mountain cable car  are waving hello?
3. What’s the number of the cable car the friends are boarding?
4. How many windows are there on one of the walls of the mountain house towards which a group of friends is going?
5. How many plates is the blond girl putting on the table?
6. How many cakes is the young man bringing in?
7. How many bottles of wine are standing in front of the man played by George Michael himself?
8. On their departure, how many people are wearing checked coats?

9. Lexis – winter words

/Present a list of words – either on slips of paper or on the board – connected with winter. Get Ss to watch the clip again and to tick the words which correspond to the objects present in the video clip./

/pdf/

 9.      A.  Lexis in context – story reconstruction

/In pairs or in groups, Ss reconstruct the story told in the clip. In their stories, they       should use at least ten phrases from the previous exercise. In the stories, Ss pay attention to the weather and general atmosphere of the festive time./

 10.  Over to you – “Last Christmas”

/Ss think back to their “Last Christmas” – Christmas last year. In pairs, they exchange information both on the weather and atmosphere at home or somewhere else./

 11.  CLIL – geography

/Distribute any weather charts for your region – they should cover at least two first weeks of December. Looking at precipitations, air pressure, winds, temperatures and any possible snowstorms, Ss predict the weather for This Christmas Season. They may use internet websites and some vocabulary to find some language of learning – jargon. As they work in groups, afterwards one after another they present their forecasts./

 12.  Speaking – freeze-frame activity

/Coming back to the clip, use freeze-frame options and elicit from Ss some information and some lexis: [a] freeze-frame for the outdoor views – Ss describe the weather and scenery; [b] freeze-frame for the indoor views – Ss come up with dialogues of some scenes at the table./

 13.  Over to you – speaking and debating

/Give the following statement for Ss to discuss: “It is better to spend Christmas Time at home with family rather than with friends in the mountains”. Ss may either discuss it as the whole class or may get divided into two teams, where one team is for Christmas at home and the other – for Christmas away. They debate and you take notes and give them feedback afterwards./

14.  CLIL – sociological and civilizational studies

/Ss work in groups on Christmas campaigns. Here, they should be given some time for research, therefore, homework is welcome. Ss gather some data, present some diagrams, demonstrate statistics and come up with a poster. You give them three options to base their campaign on. Their campaigns may (but don’t have to) support the statements./

1. All shops should be closed on 24^th December and 31^st December to give the staff family quality time.
2. The best Christmas is a family gathering.
3. Post-Christmas sales are much better than Christmas presents.

15.  Speaking / Writing – “Last Christmas”

/Draw Ss attention to the clip again – Ss watch it paying attention to relationships. There is a group of young people there. Get Ss to give the people names, identities, backgrounds. Their task, either orally or in writing, is to construct a story entitled “Last Christmas Love Story”. Ss should present the story between the couple from the beginning to their break-up./

16.  Speaking – Talk-Show

/Again, the couple from the clip “Last Christmas” is in focus. They are on a Tv show. The title of the show is: “Last Christmas it was love at first sight, but…..”.  Ss, now totally involved in the storyline from the clip, present their versions to the audience. Ss are assigned roles: the woman, the man, two-three friends, a psychologist, a fortune teller, people from the audience, a talk-show leader. After some preparation, Ss start behaving as if they were on a TV chat show. You may record them or simply monitor and take part in the show as part of the audience./

So, no Christmas is fulfilled Christmas without hearing “Last Christmas” first. And when listening to it in a shopping mall, you unwittingly slow down, take still another box of chocolates, smile and hum to yourself: “…I gave you my heart…but the very next day…”. And so on and so forth! Not too loud, though!