The History of Santa

Warm Up Questions History of Santa

1. How is the weather in winter in your country?
2. What are some fun things to do in the summer? In the winter?
3. Is there any place in the world you would like to visit? Where?
4. What other traditional foods are popular in your country?

ESL Video on the History of Santa

Watch the YouTube video and answer the following questions.

Listening Questions on the History of Santa

Matching

Match the words on the left with words or expressions on the right that are closest in meaning.

Words in Context – Fill-in-the-blanks

Use the words from the vocabulary box to complete the following sentences. You may need to modify the tense or word form.

1. Most of my classmates like hamburgers but by far the most ___________ food is pizza. Everybody loves pizza!
2. My soccer team won the championship game so we are going to __________ by having a school dance this Saturday.
3. You can tell that Bob went to Hawaii on vacation. He has a beautiful  _______ because he spent a lot of time at the beach!
4. At Christmas, Santa travels around the world in a sleigh pulled by eight ___________.
5. When we were in Hawaii my mom and sister learned how to _______ dance.  Now they practice at home every day!
6. Juan likes to have big _____________ when he goes on vacation.  Last summer, he went mountain climbing in Nepal!
7. Chen listens to a ___________ of music. Today he is listening to K-Pop but yesterday he was listening to opera and rock and roll.
8. I can’t believe the ________ my grandmother made. We had turkey, roast beef, ham, and roast duck for Christmas dinner!
9. Julia has been working twelve hours a day for the last three months to get the project done.  She really needs a _____________!
10. We enjoyed watching the singing and dancing while we ate a lot of food at the big ________ on the beach.  It was fantastic!

ESL Listening Practice on the History of Santa

Fill-in-the-blanks – Watch the video and complete the sentences.

When you think of Santa Clause, what does he look like? 

Today, almost everyone would say they think of a happy man in a red suit who gives ________________ to children.

The ________________ image of Santa that we have today was first made popular in the poem ‘The Night Before Christmas’, which was published almost 200 years ago!. In this poem, Santa Claus was a fat, jolly man dressed in a bright red suit with fur and a hat. He drove a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and entered people’s houses through their ________________ to give presents to children. 

However, not very long ago, people would have given many different answers to the question, “What does Santa look like?”

To people in Italy, Santa Claus was an old woman named Befana, who cleaned people’s houses and left ________________. 

To people in the Netherlands, Santa Claus was actually called Saint Nicholas, a ________________ but kind old man, who gave presents to good children and punished bad ones. 

To the Germans, Santa Clause was sometimes a beautiful goddess, and other times was a cute baby angel. 

The Dutch brought their idea of Santa Claus to America when they built the city that became New York city.  Later, when the English took over that city, they changed the ________________ name Sinterklass, to Santa Claus. 

All of these stories came together over time. People would write about and share their ________________ with each other, and soon most people started to agree that Santa is a kind old man, flying in the sky in December to give gifts to good children.

Funny how things change isn’t it? See you next time!

ESL Conversation on the History of Santa

When you think of Santa Clause, what does he look like? 

Today, almost everyone would say they think of a happy man in a red suit who gives presents to children.

The modern image of Santa that we have today was first made popular in the poem ‘The Night Before Christmas’, which was published almost 200 years ago!.

In this poem, Santa Claus was a fat, jolly man dressed in a bright red suit with fur and a hat.

He drove a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and entered people’s houses through their chimneys to give presents to children. 

However, not very long ago, people would have given many different answers to the question, “What does Santa look like?”

To people in Italy, Santa Claus was an old woman named Befana, who cleaned people’s houses and left cookies. 

To people in the Netherlands, Santa Claus was actually called Saint Nicholas, a grumpy but kind old man, who gave presents to good children and punished bad ones. 

To the Germans, Santa Clause was sometimes a beautiful goddess, and other times was a cute baby angel. 

The Dutch brought their idea of Santa Claus to America when they built the city that became New York.  Later, when the English took over that city, they changed the Dutch name Sinterklass, to Santa Claus. 

All of these stories came together over time. People would write about and share their traditions with each other, and soon most people started to agree that Santa is a kind old man, flying in the sky in December to give gifts to good children.

Funny how things change isn’t it? See you next time!

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Reference: WE2