The Legend of Santa Claus

A fun lesson about the Legend of Santa talks about the history of Santa Claus. This lesson is linked to a YouTube video and was made specifically for building vocabulary, improving listening skills, conversation and lots more. A great way to get students into the festive holiday mood and talking about stories of mythical people.

The Legend of Santa
Discussion
Warm Up
1. How is the weather in winter in your country?
2. What are some fun things to do in the summer? In the winter?
3. Is there any place in the world you would like to visit? Where?
4. What other traditional foods are popular in your country?

Vocabulary Check

sleigh, goddess, chimney,

grumpy, poem, publish, fur,

modern, actually, kind

Listening Comprehension Watch the YouTube video and answer the following questions. Copy and paste the following link to watch the video:


 1. Does everyone travel to be with their family at Christmas time?
2. What do some people do at Christmas time?
3. How is the weather in Australia in December?
4. What can people do in Australia at Christmas time?
5. What is a luau?
6. Where can people go for a cold, snowy Christmas?
7. What kind of animal can you see in these countries?
8. What big city is a popular place to go at Christmas time?
9. What can you do in this city?
10. What is the most popular place to be at Christmas time?


Matching
Match the words on the left with words or expressions on the right that are closest in
meaning.

1. variety
2. adventure
3. feast
4. reindeer
5. popular
6. suntan
7. Luau
8. celebrate
9. vacation
10. hula
A. A very large meal, usually on a special occasion like a
holiday or birthday.
B. Liked or enjoyed by many people or a group of people.
C. A traditional Hawaiian dance.
D. This is a Hawaiian party with lots of food and
entertainment.
E. To have a fun activity such as a party on a special day.
F. Many different types of something or many choices.
G. Time off from work or school to relax or travel.
H. An unusual, exciting, and sometimes dangerous activity or
experience.
I. Brown skin caused by being exposed to the sun.
J. An animal that lives in cold northern countries.

More Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever traveled to a foreign country?
2. Do you want to have an adventure?
What kind of adventure?
3. Who would you like to travel with on vacation?
4. What events do you celebrate in your country?
5. Do you know any traditional dances? What are they?

Words in Context - Fill-in-the-blanks
Use the words from the vocabulary box to complete the following
sentences. You may need to modify the tense or word form.
1. Most of my classmates like hamburgers but by far the most ___________ food is
pizza. Everybody loves pizza!
2. My soccer team won the championship game so we are going to __________ by
having a school dance this Saturday.
3. You can tell that Bob went to Hawaii on vacation. He has a beautiful _______
because he spent a lot of time at the beach!
4. At Christmas, Santa travels around the world in a sleigh pulled by eight
___________.
5. When we were in Hawaii my mom and sister learned how to _______ dance. Now
they practice at home every day!
6. Juan likes to have big _____________ when he goes on vacation. Last summer, he
went mountain climbing in Nepal!
7. Chen listens to a ___________ of music. Today he is listening to K-Pop but yesterday
he was listening to opera and rock and roll.
8. I can’t believe the ________ my grandmother made. We had turkey, roast beef, ham,
and roast duck for Christmas dinner!
9. Julia has been working twelve hours a day for the last three months to get the project
done. She really needs a _____________!
10. We enjoyed watching the singing and dancing while we ate a lot of food at the big
________ on the beach. It was fantastic!

Listening Practice
Fill-in-the-blanks
Watch the video and complete the sentences.
When you think of Santa Clause, what does he look like?
Today, almost everyone would say they think of a happy man in a red suit who gives
presents to children.
The modern image of Santa that we have today was first made popular in the poem 'The
Night Before Christmas', which was published almost 200 years ago!. In this poem, Santa
Claus was a fat, jolly man dressed in a bright red suit with fur and a hat. He drove a sleigh
pulled by flying reindeer and entered people's houses through their chimneys to give
presents to children.
However, not very long ago, people would have given many different answers to the
question, “What does Santa look like?”.
To people in Italy, Santa Claus was an old woman named Befana, who cleaned people's
houses and left cookies.
To people in the Netherlands, Santa Claus was actually called Saint Nicholas, a grumpy
but kind old man, who gave presents to good children and punished bad ones.
To the Germans, Santa Clause was sometimes a beautiful goddess, and other times was a
cute baby angel.
The Dutch brought their idea of Santa Claus to America when they built the city that
became New York city. Later, when the English took over that city, they changed the Dutch
name Sinterklass, to Santa Claus.
All of these stories came together over time. People would write about and share their
traditions with each other, and soon most people started to agree that Santa is a kind old
man, flying in the sky in December to give gifts to good children.
Funny how things change isn’t it? See you next time!

Transcripts
Hey there,
When you think of Santa Clause, what does he look like?
Today, almost everyone would say they think of a happy man in a red suit who gives
presents to children.
The modern image of Santa that we have today was first made popular in the poem 'The
Night Before Christmas', which was published almost 200 years ago!. In this poem, Santa
Claus was a fat, jolly man dressed in a bright red suit with fur and a hat. He drove a sleigh
pulled by flying reindeer and entered people's houses through their chimneys to give
presents to children.
However, not very long ago, people would have given many different answers to the
question, “What does Santa look like?”.
To people in Italy, Santa Claus was an old woman named Befana, who cleaned people's
houses and left cookies.
To people in the Netherlands, Santa Claus was actually called Saint Nicholas, a grumpy
but kind old man, who gave presents to good children and punished bad ones.
To the Germans, Santa Clause was sometimes a beautiful goddess, and other times was a
cute baby angel.
The Dutch brought their idea of Santa Claus to America when they built the city that
became New York city. Later, when the English took over that city, they changed the Dutch
name Sinterklass, to Santa Claus.
All of these stories came together over time. People would write about and share their
traditions with each other, and soon most people started to agree that Santa is a kind old
man, flying in the sky in December to give gifts to good children.
Funny how things change isn’t it? See you next time!