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School says Hello Kitty Christmas tree can stay (25th December, 2015)

The Reading / Listening - Level 6

A maths teacher at a high school in Maine, USA has been allowed to keep her pink Hello Kitty Christmas tree in her classroom. The tree was made from pink plastic and was adorned with Hello Kitty ornaments. The teacher, Catherine Gordon, had earlier been ordered by the school principal Paul Butler to remove it after he decided it was an "inappropriate" Christmas decoration. Mr Butler explained to ABC News that he initially believed the tree did not fit with the way the school celebrated the different religious events happening at this time of the year. He said: "A concern was shared with me regarding an inconsistency with our balanced approach to holiday observances."

Ms Gordon said: "I didn’t think a pink Hello Kitty tree was offensive….It's a tree that's been up in my classroom for years." She posted her story on Facebook and it quickly went viral. She wrote: "The tree had no religious symbols on it whatsoever. No crosses or angels, just pink Hello Kitties and my students really enjoyed it." She added that society was becoming too worried about upsetting different people. She said: "I feel that this is definitely a turning point in our society when everything offends everyone all the time. It just sucks the joy out of everything." She told the local newspaper that: "It just seems that in our quest to be tolerant of everything, we've become intolerant to everything."

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Level 4 or Level 5

Sources

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hs-teacher-told-remove-kitty-christmas-tree-classroom/story?id=35908832
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/teacher-asked-to-remove-hello-kitty-christmas-tree-from-clas#.lmqaZqqK6
http://fox4kc.com/2015/12/22/after-forcing-teacher-to-remove-christmas-tree-school-backs-down/

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The 40 Lesson Activities on the PDF Handout

WARM-UPS

1. CHRISTMAS TREES: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about Christmas trees. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?

maths teacher / Christmas tree / ornaments / school principal / believed / balanced / pink / offensive / religious symbols / worried / society / offends everyone / intolerant

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. CHRISTMAS: How important are these Christmas things? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	How important?	Why?
Helping others
Presents
Turkey
Parties
Trees
Movies

4. CARTOON CHARACTERS: Students A strongly believe cartoon characters should never be used in religious celebrations; Students B strongly believe it's no problem if they are. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

5. CARTOON CHARACTERS: Rank these with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

• Hello Kitty

• Mickey Mouse

• Superman

• Snoopy

• Elsa from Frozen

• Woody from Toy Story

• Shrek

• Wonder Woman

6. PINK: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "pink". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	A school had an issue over a pink Christmas tree.	T / F
b.	The principal of the school ordered a teacher to remove a Xmas tree.	T / F
c.	The principal said the tree did not match its religious events policy.	T / F
d.	The principal said the school needed a balanced approach to Xmas.	T / F
e.	The teacher said she thought the tree might have been offensive.	T / F
f.	The tree had small crosses and angels on it.	T / F
g.	The teacher said society seems to be offended by everything.	T / F
h.	The teacher said society was becoming more tolerant.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	adorned	a.	at first
2.	ordered	b.	insulting
3.	inappropriate	c.	troubling
4.	initially	d.	unsuitable
5.	concern	e.	at all
6.	offensive	f.	decorated
7.	whatsoever	g.	worry
8.	upsetting	h.	accepting
9.	joy	i.	instructed
10.	tolerant	j.	pleasure

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	adorned with	a.	point in our society
2.	the school	b.	to everything
3.	he initially believed the tree	c.	holiday observances
4.	the school celebrated the different religious	d.	whatsoever
5.	our balanced approach to	e.	principal
6.	it quickly went	f.	out of everything
7.	no religious symbols on it	g.	events
8.	this is definitely a turning	h.	viral
9.	It just sucks the joy	i.	did not fit
10.	we've become intolerant	j.	Hello Kitty ornaments

GAP FILL

A maths teacher at a high school in Maine, USA has been allowed to (1) ____________ her pink Hello Kitty Christmas tree in her classroom. The tree was made from pink (2) ____________ and was adorned with Hello Kitty ornaments. The teacher, Catherine Gordon, had earlier been (3) ____________ by the school principal Paul Butler to (4) ____________ it after he decided it was an "inappropriate" Christmas decoration. Mr Butler explained to ABC News that he (5) ____________ believed the tree did not fit with the way the school celebrated the different (6) ____________ events happening at this time of the year. He said: "A (7) ____________ was shared with me regarding an inconsistency with our (8) ____________ approach to holiday observances."

plastic
concern
remove
balanced
keep
religious
ordered
initially

Ms Gordon said: "I didn’t think a pink Hello Kitty tree was (9) ____________ ….It's a tree that's been up in my classroom for years." She posted her story on Facebook and it quickly went (10) ____________. She wrote: "The tree had no religious (11) ____________ on it whatsoever. No crosses or (12) ____________, just pink Hello Kitties and my students really enjoyed it." She added that society was becoming too (13) ____________ about upsetting different people. She said: "I feel that this is definitely a (14) ____________ point in our society when everything offends everyone all the time. It just (15) ____________ the joy out of everything." She told the local newspaper that: "It just seems that in our quest to be tolerant of everything, we've become (16) ____________ to everything."

angels
viral
turning
intolerant
offensive
symbols
sucks
worried

LISTENING - Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1)	The tree was made from pink plastic and was adorned with ______
	a. Hello Kitty ornaments b. Hello Kitty ornament c. Hello Kitty ornamental d. Hello Kitty adornments
2)	The teacher, Catherine Gordon, had earlier been ordered by ______
	a. the school principal b. the school principle c. the school principals d. the school principles
3)	remove it after he decided it was an "inappropriate" ______
	a. Christmas decorations b. Christmas decorative c. Christmas decorated d. Christmas decoration
4)	the school celebrated the different religious events happening at ______ year
	a. this time in the b. this time at the c. this time of the d. this time by the
5)	regarding an inconsistency with our balanced approach to ______
	a. holiday observance is b. holiday observances c. holiday observance d. holiday observe ants is
6)	I didn’t think a pink Hello Kitty tree ______
	a. was offensive b. was defensive c. was offended d. was offensively
7)	She posted her story on Facebook and it ______
	a. quickly went vital b. quickly went pivotal c. quickly went revival d. quickly went viral
8)	She added that society was becoming too worried about upsetting ______
	a. differently people b. difference people c. differential people d. different people
9)	a turning point in our society when everything offends everyone ______
	a. all the time b. all this time c. all the times d. all these times
10)	in our quest to be tolerant of everything, we've become ______
	a. intolerant too everything b. intolerant two everything c. intolerant to everything d. intolerance to everything

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

A maths teacher at a high school in Maine, USA (1) ___________________ to keep her pink Hello Kitty Christmas tree in her classroom. The tree was made from pink plastic (2) ___________________ with Hello Kitty ornaments. The teacher, Catherine Gordon, had earlier been ordered by the school principal Paul Butler to (3) ___________________ he decided it was an "inappropriate" Christmas decoration. Mr Butler explained to ABC News that he initially believed the tree (4) ___________________ the way the school celebrated the different religious events happening at this time of the year. He said: "A concern was (5) ___________________ regarding an inconsistency with (6) ___________________ to holiday observances."

Ms Gordon said: "I didn’t think a pink Hello Kitty (7) ___________________ ….It's a tree that's been up in my classroom for years." She posted her story on Facebook and it (8) ___________________. She wrote: "The tree had no religious symbols on it whatsoever. No (9) ___________________, just pink Hello Kitties and my students really enjoyed it." She added that society was becoming too worried about (10) ___________________ different people. She said: "I feel that this is definitely a turning point in our society when (11) ___________________ everyone all the time. It just sucks the joy out of everything." She told the local newspaper that: "It just seems that in our quest to be tolerant of everything, we've (12) ___________________ everything."

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.	Where can a teacher now keep her Christmas tree?
2.	What kind or ornaments was the tree adorned with?
3.	What kind of Christmas decoration did the principal call the tree?
4.	Which news agency did the principal talk to?
5.	What approach does the school have towards holiday observances?
6.	For how long has the tree been in the classroom?
7.	What kind of symbols are not on the tree?
8.	What kind of point in society did the teacher talk about?
9.	What did the teacher say is sucked out of everything?
10.	What did the teacher say we've become intolerant of?

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ

1.	Where can a teacher now keep her Christmas tree?	6.	For how long has the tree been in the classroom?
	a) in the school yard b) in her classroom c) in her garden d) at home		a) years b) months c) weeks d) days
2.	What kind or ornaments was the tree adorned with?	7.	What kind of symbols are not on the tree?
	a) expensive ones b) angels c) Hello Kitty ones d) handmade ones		a) Christmas ones b) maths ones c) beautiful ones d) religious ones
3.	What kind of Christmas decoration did the principal call the tree?	8.	What kind of point in society did the teacher talk about?
	a) unacceptable b) ugly c) beautiful d) inappropriate		a) point blank b) a point of view c) a turning point d) a focal point
4.	Which news agency did the principal talk to?	9.	What did the teacher say is sucked out of everything?
	a) BBC b) ABC c) CNN d) CBC		a) education b) passion c) money d) joy
5.	What approach does the school have towards holiday observances?	10.	What did the teacher say we've become intolerant to?
	a) a balanced one b) a considered c) two d) major ones		a) tolerance b) everything c) society d) Christmas

ROLE PLAY

Role A – Hello Kitty

You think Hello Kitty is the best cartoon character. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their characters aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): Mickey Mouse, Snoopy or Elsa from Frozen.

Role B – Mickey Mouse

You think Mickey Mouse is the best cartoon character. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their characters aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): Hello Kitty, Snoopy or Elsa from Frozen.

Role C – Snoopy

You think Snoopy is the best cartoon character. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their characters aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty or Elsa from Frozen.

Role D – Elsa from Frozen

You think Elsa from Frozen is the best cartoon character. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their characters aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): Mickey Mouse, Snoopy or Hello Kitty.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'Christmas' and 'tree'.

Christmas

tree

Share your findings with your partners.

Make questions using the words you found.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

keep
plastic
ordered
explained
events
balanced

offensive
story
symbols
enjoyed
joy
local

CHRISTMAS TREES SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about Christmas trees in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.

Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

CHRISTMAS TREES DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1)	What did you think when you read the headline?
2)	What springs to mind when you hear the word 'Christmas tree'?
3)	What do you think about what you read?
4)	Was the school principal right to have initially banned the tree?
5)	What do you think of Hello Kitty being tied in with Christmas?
6)	What do you think of Christmas trees?
7)	Why might the tree have been thought of as inappropriate?
8)	Should teachers be allowed to decorate their classrooms as they wish?
9)	What is a 'balanced approach' to holiday observances?
10)	What advice do you have for the school principal?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

11)	Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
12)	What do you think of Hello Kitty?
13)	Are we becoming a society that is too worried about upsetting people?
14)	Why might some people find a pink Hello Kitty tree to be offensive?
15)	What do you think of Christmas?
16)	Why do we have Christmas trees at Christmas?
17)	Do rules suck the joy out of everything?
18)	Is society becoming more intolerant?
19)	How do you observe your major religious holidays?
20)	What questions would you like to ask Ms Gordon?

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

LANGUAGE - CLOZE

A maths teacher at a high school in Maine, USA has been (1) ____ to keep her pink Hello Kitty Christmas tree in her classroom. The tree was made from pink plastic and was (2) ____ with Hello Kitty ornaments. The teacher, Catherine Gordon, had earlier been ordered by the school principal Paul Butler to remove it (3) ____ he decided it was an "inappropriate" Christmas decoration. Mr Butler explained to ABC News that he (4) ____ believed the tree did not fit with the way the school celebrated the different religious events (5) ____ at this time of the year. He said: "A concern was shared with me (6) ____ an inconsistency with our balanced approach to holiday observances."

Ms Gordon said: "I didn’t think a pink Hello Kitty tree was (7) ____ ….It's a tree that's been up in my classroom for years." She posted her story on Facebook and it quickly went (8) ____. She wrote: "The tree had no religious symbols on it (9) ____. No crosses or angels, just pink Hello Kitties and my students really enjoyed it." She added that society was becoming too worried about upsetting different people. She said: "I feel that this is definitely a (10) ____ point in our society when everything offends everyone all the time. It just sucks the (11) ____ out of everything." She told the local newspaper that: "It just seems that in our (12) ____ to be tolerant of everything, we've become intolerant to everything."

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	allowable	(b)	allowance	(c)	allows	(d)	allowed
2.	(a)	admonished	(b)	adored	(c)	addressed	(d)	adorned
3.	(a)	then	(b)	after	(c)	that	(d)	this
4.	(a)	initialled	(b)	initialised	(c)	initially	(d)	initials
5.	(a)	happening	(b)	happens	(c)	happened	(d)	happen
6.	(a)	regarding	(b)	regaling	(c)	regaining	(d)	reclaiming
7.	(a)	preventative	(b)	defensive	(c)	fencing	(d)	offensive
8.	(a)	viral	(b)	vital	(c)	virus	(d)	vitally
9.	(a)	whichever	(b)	whatsoever	(c)	whereabouts	(d)	whomsoever
10.	(a)	timing	(b)	trading	(c)	turning	(d)	toning
11.	(a)	toy	(b)	boy	(c)	joy	(d)	coy
12.	(a)	answer	(b)	quest	(c)	trip	(d)	interrogate

SPELLING

Paragraph 1
1.	adorned with Hello Kitty rmsnntaoe
2.	Christmas tcoieoradn
3.	he ainiytlil believed the tree did not fit
4.	A noeccnr was shared
5.	our lbncaaed approach
6.	holiday brenavsesoc
Paragraph 2
7.	a pink Hello Kitty tree was fneesfovi
8.	no ruigsiole symbols on it whatsoever
9.	styocie was becoming too worried
10.	ltdfneiiey a turning point
11.	everything offdens everyone all the time
12.	we've become nonertlait to everything

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	ornaments. The teacher, Catherine Gordon, had earlier been ordered by the school principal Paul Butler to remove
( )	up in my classroom for years." She posted her story on Facebook and it quickly went viral. She wrote: "The tree had no
( 1 )	A maths teacher at a high school in Maine, USA has been allowed to keep her pink Hello Kitty Christmas
( )	religious symbols on it whatsoever. No crosses or angels, just pink Hello Kitties and my students really
( )	to ABC News that he initially believed the tree did not fit with the way the school celebrated the different religious
( )	inconsistency with our balanced approach to holiday observances."
( )	quest to be tolerant of everything, we've become intolerant to everything."
( )	tree in her classroom. The tree was made from pink plastic and was adorned with Hello Kitty
( )	events happening at this time of the year. He said: "A concern was shared with me regarding an
( )	enjoyed it." She added that society was becoming too worried about upsetting different people. She said: "I feel
( )	it after he decided it was an "inappropriate" Christmas decoration. Mr Butler explained
( )	Ms Gordon said: "I didn’t think a pink Hello Kitty tree was offensive….It's a tree that's been
( )	the joy out of everything." She told the local newspaper that: "It just seems that in our
( )	that this is definitely a turning point in our society when everything offends everyone all the time. It just sucks

PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

1.	teacher high Maine maths a in A at school .
2.	He inappropriate decided Christmas it decoration was an .
3.	did tree The celebrated school the way the with fit not .
4.	happening time year events this the religious at of Different .
5.	with balanced inconsistency our approach An .
6.	pink Hello Kitty tree was offensive I didn’t think a .
7.	tree religious it The no on had symbols whatsoever .
8.	turning our This a in definitely point society is .
9.	just of sucks everything the joy It out .
10.	of quest everything to be In tolerant our .

CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS)

A maths teacher at a high school in Maine, USA has been allowing / allowed to keep her pink Hello Kitty Christmas tree in her classroom. The tree was made / making from pink plastic and was adorned / adorns with Hello Kitty ornaments. The teacher, Catherine Gordon, had earlier been ordered by the school principal Paul Butler to remove it then / after he decided it was an "inappropriate" Christmas decoration / decorative. Mr Butler explained to ABC News that he initialed / initially believed the tree did not fitting / fit with the way the school celebrated the difference / different religious events happening at this time of / for the year. He said: "A concern was shared with me regarding an inconsistency with our balanced / balance approach to holiday observances."

Ms Gordon said: "I didn’t think a pink Hello Kitty tree was defensive / offensive….It's a tree that's been down / up in my classroom for years." She posted her story on Facebook and it quickly went vital / viral. She wrote: "The tree had no religious symbolic / symbols on it whatsoever. No crosses or angels, just pink Hello Kitties and my students really enjoyed / enjoying it." She added that society was becoming too worries / worried about upsetting different people. She said: "I feel that this is definitely / definite a turning point in our society when everything offensive / offends everyone all the time. It just sucks the joy / joyous out of everything." She told the local newspaper that: "It just seems that in our quest to be tolerant of everything, we've become intolerant / intolerance to everything."

Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

INSERT THE VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u)

_ m_ths t__ch_r _t _ h_gh sch__l _n M__n_, _S_ h_s b__n _ll_w_d t_ k__p h_r p_nk H_ll_ K_tty Chr_stm_s tr__ _n h_r cl_ssr__m. Th_ tr__ w_s m_d_ fr_m p_nk pl_st_c _nd w_s _d_rn_d w_th H_ll_ K_tty _rn_m_nts. Th_ t__ch_r, C_th_r_n_ G_rd_n, h_d __rl__r b__n _rd_r_d by th_ sch__l pr_nc_p_l P__l B_tl_r t_ r_m_v_ _t _ft_r h_ d_c_d_d _t w_s _n "_n_ppr_pr__t_" Chr_stm_s d_c_r_t__n. Mr B_tl_r _xpl__n_d t_ _BC N_ws th_t h_ _n_t__lly b_l__v_d th_ tr__ d_d n_t f_t w_th th_ w_y th_ sch__l c_l_br_t_d th_ d_ff_r_nt r_l_g___s _v_nts h_pp_n_ng _t th_s t_m_ _f th_ y__r. H_ s__d: "_ c_nc_rn w_s sh_r_d w_th m_ r_g_rd_ng _n _nc_ns_st_ncy w_th __r b_l_nc_d _ppr__ch t_ h_l_d_y _bs_rv_nc_s."

Ms G_rd_n s__d: "_ d_dn’t th_nk _ p_nk H_ll_ K_tty tr__ w_s _ff_ns_v_…._t's _ tr__ th_t's b__n _p _n my cl_ssr__m f_r y__rs." Sh_ p_st_d h_r st_ry _n F_c_b__k _nd _t q__ckly w_nt v_r_l. Sh_ wr_t_: "Th_ tr__ h_d n_ r_l_g___s symb_ls _n _t wh_ts__v_r. N_ cr_ss_s _r _ng_ls, j_st p_nk H_ll_ K_tt__s _nd my st_d_nts r__lly _nj_y_d _t." Sh_ _dd_d th_t s_c__ty w_s b_c_m_ng t__ w_rr__d _b__t _ps_tt_ng d_ff_r_nt p__pl_. Sh_ s__d: "_ f__l th_t th_s _s d_f_n_t_ly _ t_rn_ng p__nt _n __r s_c__ty wh_n _v_ryth_ng _ff_nds _v_ry_n_ _ll th_ t_m_. _t j_st s_cks th_ j_y __t _f _v_ryth_ng." Sh_ t_ld th_ l_c_l n_wsp_p_r th_t: "_t j_st s__ms th_t _n __r q__st t_ b_ t_l_r_nt _f _v_ryth_ng, w_'v_ b_c_m_ _nt_l_r_nt t_ _v_ryth_ng."

PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS

a maths teacher at a high school in maine usa has been allowed to keep her pink hello kitty christmas tree in her classroom the tree was made from pink plastic and was adorned with hello kitty ornaments the teacher catherine gordon had earlier been ordered by the school principal paul butler to remove it after he decided it was an "inappropriate" christmas decoration mr butler explained to abc news that he initially believed the tree did not fit with the way the school celebrated the different religious events happening at this time of the year he said "a concern was shared with me regarding an inconsistency with our balanced approach to holiday observances"

ms gordon said "i didn’t think a pink hello kitty tree was offensive…it's a tree that's been up in my classroom for years" she posted her story on facebook and it quickly went viral she wrote "the tree had no religious symbols on it whatsoever no crosses or angels just pink hello kitties and my students really enjoyed it" she added that society was becoming too worried about upsetting different people she said "i feel that this is definitely a turning point in our society when everything offends everyone all the time it just sucks the joy out of everything" she told the local newspaper that "it just seems that in our quest to be tolerant of everything we've become intolerant to everything"

PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE

AmathsteacheratahighschoolinMaine,USAhasbeenallowedtokeeph
erpinkHelloKittyChristmastreeinherclassroom.Thetreewasmadefro
mpinkplasticandwasadornedwithHelloKittyornaments.Theteacher,
CatherineGordon,hadearlierbeenorderedbytheschoolprincipalPaulB
utlertoremoveitafterhedecideditwasan"inappropriate"Christmasde
coration.MrButlerexplainedtoABCNewsthatheinitiallybelievedthetre
edidnotfitwiththewaytheschoolcelebratedthedifferentreligiouseven
tshappeningatthistimeoftheyear.Hesaid:"Aconcernwassharedwith
meregardinganinconsistencywithourbalancedapproachtoholidayob
servances."MsGordonsaid:"Ididn’tthinkapinkHelloKittytreewasoffe
nsive….It'satreethat'sbeenupinmyclassroomforyears."Shepostedh
erstoryonFacebookanditquicklywentviral.Shewrote:"Thetreehadno
religioussymbolsonitwhatsoever.Nocrossesorangels,justpinkHelloK
ittiesandmystudentsreallyenjoyedit."Sheaddedthatsocietywasbeco
mingtooworriedaboutupsettingdifferentpeople.Shesaid:"Ifeelthatt
hisisdefinitelyaturningpointinoursocietywheneverythingoffendseve
ryoneallthetime.Itjustsucksthejoyoutofeverything."Shetoldthelocal
newspaperthat:"Itjustseemsthatinourquesttobetolerantofeverythi
ng,we'vebecomeintoleranttoeverything."

FREE WRITING

Write about Christmas trees for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

ACADEMIC WRITING

Christmas has lots its true meaning in today's society. Discuss.

_____________________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about Christmas trees. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. CHRISTMAS TREES: Make a poster about Christmas trees. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. TOLERANCE: Write a magazine article about tolerance in society. Include imaginary interviews with people who believe we are becoming more tolerant, and with those who believe we are becoming less tolerant.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on Christmas. Ask him/her three questions about it. Give him/her three ideas on how we can celebrate it better. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also...

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

News
Warm ups
Pre-reading / Post-reading
Using headlines
Working with words
While-reading / While-listening
Moving from text to speech
Post-reading / Post-listening
Discussions
Using opinions
Plans
Language
Using lists
Using quotes
Task-based activities
Role plays
Using the central characters in the article
Using themes from the news
Homework

Buy my book

$US 9.99

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE (p.4)

a

T

b

T

c

T

d

F

e

F

f

F

g

T

h

F

SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)

1.	adorned	a.	decorated
2	ordered	b.	instructed
3.	inappropriate	c.	unsuitable
4.	initially	d.	at first
5.	concern	e.	worry
6.	offensive	f.	troubling
7.	whatsoever	g.	at all
8.	upsetting	h.	insulting
9.	joy	i.	pleasure
10.	tolerant	j.	accepting

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)

1.	In her classroom
2.	Hello Kitty ones
3.	Inappropriate
4.	ABC News
5.	A balanced one
6.	For years
7.	Religious symbols
8.	A turning point
9.	Joy
10.	Everything

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ (p.9)

1.

b

2.

c

3.

d

4.

b

5.

a

6.

a

7.

d

8.

c

9.

d

10.

b

ALL OTHER EXERCISES

Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2.
(It's good for your English ;-)

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School says Hello Kitty Christmas tree can stay (25th December, 2015)

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