This is time to be jolly, as they say. But with all these sweet „White Christmas” and „We wish you Merry Christmas” I get a bit weary of too much plastic and near to zero profound message.
That’s why, as my students know, I tend to resent the candy-like tunes and instead turn to more bitter or even grim take on Christmas as an „antidote to tinsels and sleigh bells”.
The first song I torment the young minds with (before they molest me with Mariah Carey’s hit) is The Fairytale of New York by The Pogues. Tefltunes.com has got a brilliant handout for that and I have been using it for years: https://tefltunes.com/lesson/fairytale-of-new-york/. It’s free if you register, and really I do recommend it. Once you do it, you can access plenty of free handouts based on songs that you and your kids will exploit to the maximum. Why do I like it? It has Irish folk in it and mesmerizing lyrics!
Mind you! It contains vulgar language so prepare how you will tackle this issue in the classroom.
Of course, I have developed my own version of the handout compact and neat so it suits my needs. Help yourself:
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I have also prepared a reading comprehension activity (matching headings) based on the article from www.joe.ie about the song.
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Enjoy and make sure you motivate your students to learn a bit more about Ireland!
And one more thing, as the original video for the song is rather dull for the modern tastes, I alway balance that with more digestible version here:
