A Monthly Newsletter for Teachers of English

March 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

- 1 -

S

TARTING OFF

Discuss the questions below with a partner:

1. How many days in the year are there in your country when people do not have to go to work or school? Work with

a partner and make a list.

2. What do you do on each day? Do you usually spend it alone? With your family? With friends? Are there any

special tradition on each day in your country (e.g. eating carp on Christmas Eve, painting eggs at Easter)?

Compare what you do with other people in your class. Do they do similar things to you?

B

EFORE YOU READ

For Irish people March 17

th

– St. Patrick’s Day – is a special day. How much do you know about Irish culture?

Work with a partner and try to answer the questions below:

1. Which colour is traditionally the colour of Ireland?

a. red

b. yellow

c. green

2. Who or what is a leprechaun?

a. a kind of dance

b. a kind of monster

c. a small magical old man

3. Which country was St. Patrick from?

a. Ireland

b. England

c. Scotland

4. There are no snakes in Ireland.

True or False?

5. St. Patrick’s Day is only celebrated in Ireland.

True or False?

A C T I V I T I E S S H E E T

March 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

- 2 -

F

IRST READING

Read the text and see if your ideas were right. Read as quickly as you can and remember that you don’t need to read
everything, just to find what the numbers mean.

V

OCABULARY

1

Find and underline the words below in the text.

Paragraph 1:

‘celebrations’ ➙

………………………...

Paragraph 2:

‘symbols’

➙

………………………...

Paragraph 2:

‘disappear’

➙

………………………...

Paragraph 3:

‘top’

➙

………………………...

Paragraph 4:

‘more’

➙

………………………...

Paragraph 5:

‘around’

➙

………………………...

Now try to find another word in each paragraph with the same meaning as these words.

V

OCABULARY

2

Find words in the text to match the definitions below.

Paragraph One

(‘March 17

th

-

a festival of all things Irish’)

1. When you talk about two things together, and you mean not only one of them but two (all) of them

Paragraph Two

(‘Symbols of Ireland’)

2. After rain, if the sun shines you can see one of these in the sky

3. Money is made of banknotes and...

Paragraph Three

(‘Who was St. Patrick?’)

4. An action done by God, which is impossible according to the laws of nature (e.g. changing water into wine)

5. A person, event, or thing that makes something else happen

Paragraph Four

(‘St. Patrick’s Day traditions in Ireland’)

6. The city where a country’s government is, usually the most important city (in England, London; in Russia,

Moscow)

7. A public celebration with music, bands and people moving through the streets

Paragraph Five

(‘St. Patrick’s Day around the world’)

8. To use a substance to change the colour of something (your hair, your clothes, for example)

9. Something which you think is big, good, expensive, important etc.

A C T I V I T I E S S H E E T

March 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

- 3 -

V

OCABULARY

3

Work in the same groups and complete the sentences below using items from Vocabulary 1 and 2.

1.

The Rio de Janeiro carnival is famous for its wonderful ………………………….

2. I don

’t know what colour to ………………………… my hair. What do you think - black or blonde this time?

3.

The ………………………… of Mount Everest is almost 9000 metres above sea level.

4.

I have a ten euro note and maybe sixty cents in ………………………….

5. One day he was at work as usual, th

e next day he simply …………………………. Nobody knew where he went.

6.

I have a cat and a dog. I love them ………………………….

7.

The eagle is the ………………………… of several European countries: Germany, Poland and Russia, for

example.

8.

Quick, come to the window! There’s a beautiful ………………………… in the sky. Look at the colours!

S

ECOND READING

Five phrases have been taken out of the text, one from each paragraph. Read the text once again and try to decide

where they should go.

Paragraph 1:

‘the national colour of Ireland’

Paragraph 2:

‘who like to play tricks on us’

Paragraph 3:

‘top’

Paragraph 4:

‘both north and south of the border’

Paragraph 5:

‘and not only where there are Irish people!’

S

PEAKING

Imagine you are going to organise a day celebrating your country and culture, just as

St. Patrick’s Day celebrates Irish

culture. Work in a group and discuss the questions below.

1. What kind of celebration would be best - parades, concerts, speeches, private parties, organised displays or

something else?

2. Where would the most important parts of the celebrations be organised?

3. What colours would be used? Would people wear any special clothes?

4. What music would be played? Would you invite any particular group or singer to perform?

5. Who would lead the celebrations? Which people would you say best represent your country?

6. What would you call the day?

Present your ideas to the rest of the class and explain your thinking. Were your ideas similar?

A C T I V I T I E S S H E E T

March 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

- 4 -

March 17

th

- a festival

of all things Irish

Every year on March

17

th

Irish men and

women everywhere
organise celebrations
for

Lá Fhéile Pádraig -

St. Patrick’s Day. The
colour green is
everywhere and the day
is a national holiday in
both parts of Ireland.

Symbols of Ireland
The colour of Ireland is
green but there are
many other emblems of
the country. The most
famous, perhaps, is the
shamrock or clover
(below). Finding a four-
leafed clover is still
thought to be very lucky.

Another symbol of

Ireland is the
leprechaun (right) -
magical little old men.
According to legend, if
you see a leprechaun
then it cannot disappear
as long as you look at it,
but when you look away
it can vanish.
Leprechauns are usually
very rich, but their gold
is hidden, buried in the
ground at the ends of
rainbows.

A third symbol of

Ireland is the Irish
harp (right),
which is found
on Irish coins, Irish
uniforms and, of course,
on the black thick beer
of Ireland, Guiness.

Who was St. Patrick?

St. Patrick is the patron
saint of Ireland.

Historically, he was

probably an
English missionary
who worked in Ireland

around 400 A.D - over

1,500 years ago.

According to
legend,
Patrick
converted the

Irish to Christianity

and performed many

miracles. Irish legend

says that it is because
of Patrick that there are
no

An Irish Leprechaun

snakes in Ireland today.
According to this
legend, Patrick climbed
to the top of Croagh
Patrick - a hill or
mountain with a peak
about 850m high,
causing all the snakes
to leave the island.

St. Patrick’s Day
traditions in Ireland
The largest St. Patrick’s
Day celebrations in
Ireland take place in the
capital, Dublin, each
year, though there are
celebrations in many
more cities. In Dublin
the St. Patrick’s Festival
lasts five days and is a
celebration of Irish
culture, the Irish
language, Irish food and
drink and Irish traditions
in art and music. The
most important parts of
the celebrations are
parades with music and
dancing. Over half a
million people came to

the St. Patrick’s Day
parade in Dublin in
2006, for example.

St. Patrick’s Day
around the world
St. Patrick’s Day is
celebrated all over the
world. In London there
is a parade in Trafalgar
Square and in 2008 the
water in the fountains
there was dyed green.
In the United States
the biggest St. Patrick’s
Day parades are in
Chicago. The parades
are an impressive sight,
especially when they
cross the river: every
year Chicago dyes the
water of the Chicago
River bright green for
the celebrations. Even
the river is green on
St. Patrick’s Day!
















The Chicago River