Another year over and Christmas day has finally come!Songs are just perfect for teaching English and do make students more familiar with English-speaking cultures. Whether timeless classics or modern favourites, the set of Christmas songs I've presented for the last 10 days can be used with different age groups and according to (y)our own purposes: either just for fun / for singing, as a way to introduce vocab and Christmas traditions, to raise awareness of the hardships others face in different parts of the world or even to discuss the real meaning of Christmas, the choice is (y)ours.
In my classes this year I used the song "All I want for Christmas is you" by Mariah Carey , and ended up asking my adult learners what they wanted for Christmas. The topic was "All I want for Christmas is..." and each student wrote their own wishes in one of the bubbles. Today's Christmas tree is the result from one of my groups.
Unfortunately, worldwide wishes are surely different from our own and though Christmas should always be a time of peace, love and family gathering, consider the following cartoon from The Independent.
This is clearly a comment on American gun culture especially now in the wake of Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings that left 20 children and 6 adult staff members dead... yet, Americans still want more guns whereas in different places around the world (Aghanistan, Pakistan, Africa, Syria???) children all want the same for this Christmas: an end to violence!
Hope there are "Christmas truces" in conflict-stricken countries so that at least all children can have a peaceful Christmas.
As for myself, all I want for Christmas is not at all material or that different from the children in the cartoon... all I want is peace, love and harmony. A cliché, perhaps yet so true and heartfelt.
From my family to yours, we wish you all a very merry Christmas!
