The First Christmas Card

Objective & content

A listening sheet about the first Christmas card, sent in London in 1843. In the recording (1 minute 5 seconds), pupils hear how Henry Cole had too many Christmas letters to answer, how the artist John Horsley drew the picture, and how they printed a thousand cards. Before listening, pupils guess the story from three words. While listening, they answer ten questions (true or false, multiple choice and the words on the card). After listening, they draw and write their own Christmas card, then talk in pairs: is a card better than a message on a phone? The answer key and the teacher notes are on the last page. About 20 minutes.

Pedagogical guide

The recording is short, so pupils can hear it two or three times without getting bored, and every answer is in what they hear. The guess before listening gives them a reason to listen: they want to know if they were right. The sheet has no picture of the 1843 card on purpose, because a picture would give away two answers. The card writing at the end is personal and creative, with a model message and a box of useful words (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, I hope..., Thank you for..., Love,). The audio file comes with this resource: download it from this page. The same recording is also on the Academy app, with its pictures (series Look Closer, "A British Christmas: The first Christmas card").

Suggested procedure

1. (3 min) Hand out the sheet. Pupils read the three words and choose what the story is about.
2. (2 min) Play the recording once. Pupils check their guess.
3. (6 min) Pupils read questions 1 to 10. Play the recording twice more while they answer.
4. (3 min) Correct with the key on the last page.
5. (6 min) Pupils make their own card (a drawing and 2 or 3 sentences), then talk in pairs with the two sentence starters.

Adaptations

[S] Pause the recording after each answer the first time you play it. Pupils can copy the model message and change only the name and one sentence.

[A] Pupils answer questions 1 to 10 after one listening only. In the pair talk, ask them to give two reasons.

Materials & prerequisites

The audio file the-first-christmas-card.mp3 (download it from this page) and speakers. One sheet per pupil, in colour or in the low-ink version; the answer key is on the last page. Pupils should recognise the past simple of common verbs (sent, had, drew) and the numbers to a thousand. The word search in the same pack hides the greeting from this card.