CHRISTMAS CAROLS

Objectives:

• To use the linguistic and strategic resources suitable to the given situation.
• To automate the knowledge about the English language itself and the rules of its linguistic system to speak in a correct, coherent and cohesive way in order to understand and produce spoken discourses.
• To develop learning strategies in order to use the English language in an autonomous way.
• To know the social and cultural features of the English language in order to understand and interpret better the different cultures that the English language accomplishes.
• To value the use of the English language in order to get access to other kinds of knowledge and cultures, recognizing the importance that the language has got as a tool of communication and international understanding, being aware of the similarities and differences among cultures.
• To enhance self-assessment strategies in the acquisition of the English language communicative competence, showing trust, responsibility and entrepreneurship in this process.
• To be able to teach and share one's knowledge with others and feel empathy. 
• To work cooperatively with other partners and see every student, no matter the age, as equal members of the same community.
• To create links between different educational stages and learn to respect each other's differences.

Contents:
Linguistic contents:  

• Christmas time lexicon extension.
• Revision of grammar structures when reading the text.
• Improvement of pronunciation, intonation and pitch.
• Production and interpretation of different rhythms, intonation and pitches to understand a read text.
• Accuracy when pronouncing in the target language. 

 Learning to learn:

•  Recognition of the different registers of the language: written and oral, formal and informal speech.

• Application of strategies to revise, widen and consolidate lexicon and grammar structures.
• Reflection and application of self-correction and self-assessment strategies to progress in the autonomous learning of the English language.
• Recognition of errors and mistakes as something necessary in their learning process.
• Interest to take profit of the learning chances inside and outside school using Christmas carols.
• Value of trust and cooperation in the learning of the English language.

Socio-cultural aspects

• Social contact with peers showing respect towards other people’s opinions and attitudes.
• Knowledge and value of the most relevant cultural elements.
• Significant similarities and differences among customs, behaviors, attitudes, values and beliefs among speakers of the English and Spanish language.
• Use of suitable registers according to the context, speakers and communicative purpose.
• Interest to establish communicative exchanges to know cultural information of English speaking countries.
• Value of the English language as a tool of communication and understanding among peoples which provides with the access to other cultures and that helps to enrich ourselves personally  
• Value of the English language as a means to access knowledge in students' future academic and professional lives.

Procedure:
Students are told they need to choose a Christmas carol to be taught to Infant Education students. They must choose among a list of famous Christmas carols. The most popular one, will be the Christmas carol to be taught to students. 

To do so, students must work on the lexicon the carol has got, the pronunciation of all the words, intonation, pitch in order to teach it correctly. They must also look for images that can help little students understand the lyrics of the Christmas carol.

When the Christmas carol is completely prepared, students will go to different lessons, with different courses, to teach it. 

Assessment:
Teacher assessment:
Students will be accompanied by the little students' teachers. They will guide and help them if necessary, and will assess them at the end of the activity. This assessment will be reported to the teacher at the end of the session.

Peer assessment:
Little students will report a kind of assessment about how the elder mates did perform the activity. 

Both assessments, teachers' and peers' will be taken into account to finally grade students.
 

ACTIVITIES

READING AND LISTENINGSKILLS:
Choosing the Christmas Carol:
Students must choose from a range of popular Christmas carols. They must pay attention to the lexicon and the grammar structures of the carols and decide, with the teacher's guidance and help, if the carols are appropriate and challenging enough for infant students.
The chosen Christmas carols are the following:

1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:

2. Santa Claus is coming to town:

 

 

3. Jingle Bells:

4. All I want for Christmas is you:

Preparing the Christmas Carol:
After analyzing the different Christmas carols, students have chosen one of them: Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. They must prepare some flashcards to help students understand the main concepts of the carol and learn the new vocabulary:

 

 

Thanks to this visual support, students show the little kids the meaning of certain words that can be difficult for them like for example "reindeer" or "shiny".










Speaking:
Students teach the Christmas carol to little students. They are all wearing a Santa Claus hat or Rudolph ears in order to make the activity more attractive for little students. They must be very careful with their pronunciation, pitch and intonation of the different lines of the song.