Christmas Truce

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 5

The Christmas Truce

in this lesson we will be practising listening and writingskills while working on the IB theme experiences.

First we will be watching a Christmas advert by Sainsbury's. Questions will be asked during commercial.

00:39

What does the soldier get for Christmas?

1. a photo of his beloved
2. a bar of chocolate
3. some crackers

01:14

What is the English version of 'Stille Nacht' called?

01:52

What is the land where soldiers meet called?

1. No man's land
2. neutral territory
3. Unoccupied land

02:54

Why do the soldiers stop playing football?

1. the soldiers have exchanged their presents
2. the football game is over
3. the war is going to start again.

03:17

This commercial is based on true events

1. True
2. False

You will now hear part of a podcast (about 5,5 minutes). The questions on this will be asked after the podcast. 

The new soldiers arriving soon would be more experienced than Captain Chater

1. True
2. False

World War I would see the use of more technology than previous wars fought.

1. true
2. false

In this account, the British were the first to indicate they wanted a truce.

1. true
2. false

The way the soldiers showed that they wanted to be friends was to shake hands.

1. true
2. false

This happened in one place between the British and the German.

1. true
2. false

What two things indicated that the British and German trenches were close?

1. they could hear singing
2. they could smell cooking
3. they could hear talking

Who organised the Christmas truce?

1. the high ranking officers on the front line
2. The British and German government
3. Some of the soldiers in the trenches

What did the soldiers do during the truce?

1. improving their trenches
2. attending sermon
3. burying their dead
4. having Christmas parties

One more listening exercise to get into the Christmas spirit; we're going to watch and listen to 'stop the cavalry'. Listen carefully as you will have to fill in missing words. 

00:26

Hey, Mr.Churchill comes over here, to say we're doing.............
But it's very cold out here in the snow, marching to and from the ....................

01:09

I have had to fight, almost every night, down throughout these...............,that is when I say, oh yes, yet again, can you stop the cavalry? Mary Bradley..........at home, in the nuclear fall-out zone, wish I could be dancing now, in the..........of the girl I love.

01:50

Bang! That's another...........on another town, while the Tsar and Jim have tea, if I get home, live to tell the..........., I'll ...........for all presidencies.

02:33

Wish I ...........be dancing now, in the arms of the girl I love, Mary Bradley waits at home, she's been..................two years long.

Imagine you are in the trenches. Write a short diary entry of the Christmas Truce. You either choose to be a German, British soldier or one of the generals reporting the event.

150 -200 words.

Practise with using a wide range of vocabulary. For ideas: thesaurus.com