St. Patrick’s Day: Teaching Ideas

This posting answers the request of a viewer for ideas related to the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day holiday.

Have your students watched my video on St. Patrick’s Day? You can watch the opening talk together and then pose comprehension questions. For example:

1. Who celebrates St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S.?

2. When is it celebrated?

3. What is one symbol of this holiday?

After doing the exercises in the video, have students create examples of their own to illustrate their understanding of the target expressions. You can give prompts:

1. Describe a problem that you were able to solve easily. [as luck would have it]
2. Describe a time you felt that you didn’t have support from others. [rain on my parade]
3. Name an event that you must prepare for very soon. [just around the corner]

You can also create your own supplemental material to this video by using ESLvideo.com. The site allows you to embed the video and create an original interactive quiz. You’ll then have a link to share your custom-designed quiz with your students.

Alternative ideas:

• Have conversation about

– why certain colors are associated with particular holidays (e.g., green with St. Patrick’s Day)

– why a shamrock is considered lucky/ other symbols of luck

– other holidays that allow people to celebrate their ethnicity/ nationality

– other spring holidays around the world

• Teach and practice more vocabulary (expressions about luck): down on one’s luck, out of luck, be in luck, etc.

Hope that helps, Rone! Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone!