Merry Christmas Mr Bean

Teacher's note;

The activities in the worksheet at the bottom of this post are based on the full episode available on DVD or on youtube http://youtu.be/L2UCRNldC3s (it cannot be embedded here).

This post contains some exercises based on the embeddable youtube clips. The answers are in the worksheet.

DVD available here

Mr Bean celebrates the traditional British Christmas: the baubles, the crackers, the nativity scene, the carols, the presents, the turkey and the mistletoe... they are all here. As no British Christmas is complete without a disaster or two that makes it the typical British Christmas!

You are going to

• discuss Christmas
• watch the Christmas Mr Bean episode and do some activities
• find Christmas words in a word search exercise
• write the story in the past tense
• find out more about the typical British Christmas and some of the Christmas things in the video.

Christmas Vocabulary – crackers,  mistletoe, Christmas tree, tinsel, carols, carol singers, Santa Claus / Father Christmas, stockings, presents, holly, turkey, stuffing, fairy lights, angel, star, cards, pudding, baubles, nativity scene, baby Jesus, manger.

Discuss

• Do you celebrate Christmas?
• What do people usually do on Christmas Eve in the UK?
• What do people usually do on Christmas Day in the UK?
• Do you know of any special Christmas food or Christmas customs in the UK?
• What decorations do we have?
• What’s a cracker?
• What’s mistletoe?
• What are carols?

Watch clip 1
Answer the questions in the interactive exercise after you watch

1. Did Mr Bean have any Christmas decorations?
2. What Christmas decorations did Mr Bean have?
3. What kind of films were on TV?
4. Did Mr Bean like the films?
5. What did the children sing?
6. Did Mr Bean like them?
7. What did he eat?
8. Did he give the children anything?

Now do  exercise 1 (the answers to questions 9 and 10 are in the next clip)

Watch clip 2

Answer the questions in the interactive exercise after you watch

1) What were his 3 Christmas presents and who were they for?


2) Who says it?
Put “B” for Bean or “G” for his girlfriend.

___”Are you alright in there?”
___“Fine, thank you”

___“Cup of tea?”
___“Oh Yes, if you’re having one”
___“Well I might”
___“Have you got the turkey on?”
___“Do you want a hand?”
___“No, no, thank you”



3) Fill in the gaps from this list of verbs                        
USE THE PAST FORMS                                                      
(You can use some verbs more than once)
Pull  Eat  Give  Do  Cry  Make  Be  Ring  Find  Leave  Want  Scream  Throw  Lose  Put  Hang  Be  See

1. Mr Bean _____  lunch
2. The turkey ______ very big
3. He ______ stuffing inside the turkey
4. He ______ his watch
5. His girlfriend ______ the doorbell
6. She ______ up the mistletoe
7. She ______ when she ___ Mr Bean
8. She ______ the coal bucket out the window
9. Mr Bean ______ his watch
10. They ______ sandwiches for lunch
11. She ______ him a present
12. She ______ a kiss
13. He ______ want to kiss her
14. He _____ her a present
15. She ______ after she ___  her present and ______ the flat
16. Mr Bean ______ the cracker
17. There ___ an explosion

Now do exercises 2 and 3

4) Do the word square

There are 19 Christmas words hidden in this box. Can you find them all?
The words go across → and down ↓
 

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5) Do the crossword

Printable version here



Worksheet and answers

Merry Christmas Mr Bean for EFL

View more documents from David Mainwood

5) Writing

• Tell the story of Mr Bean's Christmas in the past. Start Mr Bean went shopping in Harrods. He...
• Describe your typical Christmas 
• Describe a similar festival in your country (talk about the typical food, clothes, traditional activities etc)

6) Reading / Webquest
Find out about the typical British Christmas.

Click on the links to find the answers
Why do we decorate our houses at Christmas?
When is Boxing Day?
Why is it called Boxing Day?
What is Christmas Pudding? 
Why do we have Christmas trees?
Who is Father Christmas?
What are mince pies?
What is a nativity play?
What do children do at Christmas?
What are the 12 days of Christmas?

Read more about the traditional British Christmas here  http://projectbritain.com/Xmas/index.html#top

More activities here http://www.esolcourses.com/topics/christmas.html

Never Left Home: Chandra from India - What is "traditional" Britain?

You are going to 

• discuss tradition and change
• watch a short clip about a man who is looking for "traditional Britain" and answer some comprehension questions
• discuss some IELTS writing questions on tradition and change
• write an IELTS / argument question on tradition and change 

1) Discuss

• Has your country changed much in the last 50 years?
• Is life for you different to when your parents or grandparents were young?
• What are the differences between now and the past?
• Do you think change is a good thing? Why / Why not?

Before you watch the video

• Have you been to Britain? / Would you like to visit Britain?
• How do / did  you imagine Britain?
• What do you think is "traditional Britain"?
• Do you think traditional Britain is the same as modern Britain?
• Do you think this poem describes modern or traditional Britain?  

 I wandered lonely as a Cloud    
That floats on high over Vales and Hills,    
When all at once I saw a crowd    
A host of dancing Daffodills;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

(William Wordsworth)

2) Watch

Answer

1. How does Chandra feel about his first visit to the UK?
2. What kind of education did he have?
3. Why was he surprised when he came to the UK?
4. How many Indians live in the UK?
5. What percentage of them live in London?
6. Why does he go to "Chaucer's" Canterbury?
7. What is he worried about?
8. What are the answers to his question about “traditional Britain”?
9. What does he find strange in the countryside?
10. What does he say about modern Britain?

Answers - highlight below

1. Excited
2. British influenced
3. He found so many Indians
4. More than 1.8 million
5. 35%
6. Maybe he’ll find the Britain he’s looking for
7. Has traditional Britain gone forever?
8. Countryside, “difficult to pin down”, Fish and chips, bad summer, tea…
9. The British don’t seem to know what he’s looking for. He thinks he learnt more about English history in India than the locals.
10. Modern Britain is full of global brands. Immigration has made it multicoloured. There is something for everyone

3) Discuss

What do you think?

• Why don't the British people in the video know what he's looking for?
• What are traditional values? Are they worth keeping?
• What is globalization? Is it a good thing?
• Should people know more about their history and traditions or should we look more to the future?
• Are we losing traditions and traditional values in the race to be modern? Is that good or bad?

4) Discuss / Write

Look at these IELTS writing topics. Discuss them and choose one to write (250 words).

1. Some people believe that visitors to other countries should follow local customs and behaviour. Others disagree and think that the host country should welcome cultural differences. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
2. People nowadays work hard to buy more things. This has made our lives generally more comfortable, but many traditional values and customs have been lost and this is a pity.
3. Society advances most when people break from the traditions of their predecessors. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
4. Cultural traditions today are often used for money making purposes, especially in the tourism industry.  Do you feel this development is more positive or negative?
5. It is inevitable that as technology develops so traditional cultures must be lost. Technology and tradition are incompatible – you cannot have both together. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
6. There are many different types of music in the world today, why do we need music? Is the traditional music of a country more important than the international music that is heard everywhere nowadays?

Remember to plan your essay.
Look here for advice on introductions IELTS: Writing introductions for task 2

Read

Chandra mentions 3 famous British writers / poets; Shelley, Wordsworth and Chaucer. 
Search on the net and find out about them. When did they live? What did they write?





More
Find out more about the UK here Life in the UK; The British and how to understand them
here  Visit Britain - Webquest
and here  Visit Britain - You're invited