Introduction

Fröhliche Weihnachten,  Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, Buon Natale, Merry Christmas...whatever language you choose to say it in, it still means Merry Christmas.  Christmas is a holiday that is celebrated in many ways around the world.  This is called a tradition.  In the United States, a Christmas tradition that many of us are familiar with is when Santa Clause comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and leaves presents under the Christmas tree for all the good boys and girls.  Does England, Germany, and Australia have the same tradition?  How about France, Italy, and Ireland?  Does Santa Clause even visit these countries, or do they have another Christmas tradition that we would like to know more about?

In this project you will work as a team to research Christmas traditions in a country that your team chooses.  Your team will create a Power Point presentation about the Christmas traditions you found in the country.  As a team you will also come up with 3-4 important facts that you feel the rest of the class should know about.  These facts will be put together by your teacher and used as your final test.

In order to discover the different Christmas traditions from other countries, you will:

1. Compile a list of Christmas traditions in the United States;
2. Choose a country in which you would like to research it's Christmas traditions;
3. Use the web to enable a search for your information;
4. Answer a multiple choice test about the other countries presented.

1. Your teacher will help put you into groups of three.  This will be your team.
2. As a team, select a country, other than the United States, in which you would like to research it's Christmas traditions.  There should be no two groups with the same country.
3. Gather information from the internet sites or books about Christmas traditions in the country that your team chose.  A list of internet sites is included after the process.  For other sites search for the country name and Christmas traditions.  For example, "Australia's Christmas Traditions".
4. Gather information from internet sites and books about Christmas traditions in the country that your team chose.
5. View the teacher's example of a Power Point presentation in the United States.
6. Prepare a 10-15 minute Power Point presentation using 7-10 slides.  The following information should be in your slide show:

• Introduction slide-title of your presentation and a list of the group members.
• Map of the country you chose.
• List of Christmas traditions in your country.
• Similarities between Christmas traditions in the United States and your chosen country.
• Differences between Christmas traditions in the United States and your chosen country.
• 3-4 multiple choice questions about what you talked about in your presentation.
• Answers to the questions.
• References to where you found your information.
• Pictures or graphics on each slide.

7. Each group will present their Power Point presentation to the rest of the class.
8. After each group has presented, your teacher will take the multiple choice questions from each team and make it into a test for the class to take.

Internet Sites:

http://www.portharbor.com/santa/xsatrad.htm

http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/around.html

http://www.christmas.com/worldview/http://www.soon.org.uk/country/christmas.htm

http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

http://www.santaclaus.com/world.html

Describe to the learners how their performance will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades.

 

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Teamwork	Needs improvement working as a team.			Worked well as a team.
Variety of sources used	Used only one source to gather information.			Used several sources to get information.
Questions	Multiple choice questions unorganized.			Multiple choice questions were phrased properly and include information from the presentation.
Overall presentation of Power Point	Pictures missing.  Unorganized.			Neatly presented.  Pictures on each page.
Information	Only the basics included.			Variety of information included.

In researching Christmas traditions in other countries, you have seen that not every country celebrates Christmas like the United States.  Now that you have seen how other countries celebrate Christmas, think about how you might be able use some of your new knowledge to start your own Christmas tradition in your family.

Christmas Around the World lesson plan: www.askeric.org/Virtual/Lessons/Social_Studies/World_History/WRH0027.html

Internet Resources for Students:             http://www.portharbor.com/santa/xsatrad.htm

http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/around.html

http://www.christmas.com/worldview/http://www.soon.org.uk/country/christmas.htm

http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

http://www.santaclaus.com/world.html

Pictures and graphics are from Microsoft Office Clip Art and Media: http://dgl.microsoft.com/?DPC={911B0409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9}&DCC={0367AFE7-9DD8-11D3-810F-0080C728108A}&AppName=Clip%20Organizer&CLCID=1033&HelpLCID=1033