SHROVE TUESDAY | letscelebrate

PANCAKE DAY or MARDI GRAS

OBJECTIVES

To learn about Mardi Gras (USA) and Pancake Day (UK).
To explore ways of developing communicative language skills through activities related to Shrove Tuesday.
To know different art techniques and writing proposals to foster creativity.

CONTENTS

When and how Mardi Gras and Pancake Day is celebrated, modern traditions and relevant vocabulary.
Resources and ideas to promote English skills in the ESL classroom.
Development of hands-on activities to foster creativity and language skills

WARM UP

Eliciting vocabulary game: Concentration… are you ready… If so… Let’s go…Names of food, kitchen tools, verbs related to cooking…

INTRODUCE LANGUAGE AND CONTENT

Locate in a map: We can use a map and post it to show where it is celebrated and how it is called in each place.

Describe the pictures: All of them were taken in Mardi Grass parade in New Orleans.

Listen and mime: First we read key sentences related to the celebration and children mime their meaning. Then, in couples they mime and the rest of the class must guess.

Running dictation: It can contain key words or expression for the little ones and a bit more of History or information for older children.

ACTIVITIES TO PRACTICE LANGUAGE AND REVISE CONTENT

Story Mr Wolf's Pancake

Drama activities:

Characters and emotions. Children must mime the emotions of the different characters.
Tableaux of the different parts of the story. In groups they represent the main characters and situations.
Make a new version of the story. This time the neighbors are nice and the story has a happy ending. We compare emotions and how characters feel in the two stories.

Songs: "Sugar, sugar" The Archies.

Gap filling activity to focus children's attention on key words.
Reading together, in pairs or in groups practicing sentence stress. We circle the content words on the lyric.
Children propose gestures and we create an easy dance together.

Mardi gras dance:

Read and watch how to make an Elmo Pancake.

Pancake recipes: Read together, taking turns or individually. Circle the imperative verbs, food vocabulary, tools for cooking, measure... Cut out the steps and they put them in order in groups.