Non-Textbook
Holiday Contests
By: Raegina Taylor
What is it?
Want to include an aspect of culture to your lesson, or outside the classroom? Holiday contests are a series of activities, worksheets or goals that students complete, aiming to win a prize associated with the Holiday or culture. You can extend this beyond holidays to include international days of observance (International Day for Peace etc).
Activity Objectives
- Get students interested in the culture of other countries- not just English speaking countries.
- Build team work
- Create a sense of world in the school.
- Develop an understanding of students own culture
- Encourage students to experience aspects of different cultures
Types
- Christmas
- Decorations for the school tree
- Christmas cards
- What do you want for Christmas? Letters to Santa/ALT
- Halloween
- Costume ideas (a portfolio)
- General
- Word searches, puzzles
- Colour-in or find the picture puzzles
- Write a letter or question to the ALT about the occasion
- Completing a survey of other students
- Search or hunt (Easter egg hunt, but with visual or English hints)
Preparation and planning
You will need to get the support of your other teachers to make this effective. Have a specific time frame for the contest to run; the length of Lent, for example. It would be great to have a whole school announcement of the winners of the competition. This would mean that future contests get more participation. If you find participation is low, then review the activities and also the prize. They need to be fun, interesting and challenging for students. Remember, the easier it is to relate the activities and goals to the occasion, the more real and thus interesting it will be.
Summary
Holiday contests can be run however you want them to. They can even include sport-type activities. The main goal is to get the students involved actively in the cultural occasion, and if possible, to experience deeper the role and impact of the occasion in society.
Useful links