Beyond the

Books 1
ST. PATRICK’S DAY Fact Sheet
Ages 12-14 years old

Background:
St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day falls on 17th March, the
anniversary of his death in the fifth century. Although originally a Catholic celebration, it has
become more and more secular with parades, music and songs both in Ireland and in countries
to which the Irish have emigrated. People wear green, the colour that represents the ‘Emerald Isle’
and shamrocks as a badge on the lapel.

This activity helps children learn more about Ireland and the traditions related to the St. Patrick’s
Day celebrations. They read information and match the text with its title. They then match both to
the corresponding image. Before beginning this activity, you might like to brainstorm the class to
find out what they already know about Ireland. Has anyone been there?

You will need:

• One copy of Worksheet 1 for each child

• One copy of Worksheet 2 for each child
• Pens or pencils

Instructions:

1. Distribute Worksheet 1 to your students.

2. Read the texts with them to make sure they understand them.
3. Ask the children to match each text with the corresponding title.
4. Distribute Worksheet 2 to your students and ask them to match the corresponding number
and letter to each image (see example).

Key: 1,g 2,d 3,a 4,f 5,h 6,e 7,i 8,c 9,b 10,j

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 Beyond the
Books 1
ST. PATRICK’S DAY Fact Sheet
Ages 12-14 years old

Optional extension activity:

Divide the class into nine teams. Ask each group to choose one of the ten topics (shamrock,
leprechauns…). Give each group a rectangle of card (three groups should have green card,
three white and three orange) and ask them to transfer the information about their topic onto
the card. They can add more information, pictures… string the information cards up so that the
display represents three Irish flags.

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 Beyond the
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a._____________ is the national colour
of Ireland. National sports teams wear
it. People wear it on St. Patrick’s Day
and some people dye their drinks
that colour! In America, they dye the
Chicago River green.
i. When leprechauns sell the shoes they
make, they put the gold coins in a pot
which they
keep at the end of the ______________ .
d. ____________________ are magical
characters. They are old men, the size
of a child, dressed in green who make
shoes and who like mischief. If you
can catch one, he will grant you three
wishes to let him.
h. The ___________________ is a
stringed instrument which is also the
national emblem of Ireland.
1
Worksheet 1
c ______________ is the capital city
of the Republic of Ireland (Eire).
The River Liffey divides the city into
Northside and Southside.
f. The ______________ is built into the
It was European Capital of Science
walls of Blarney Castle. If you kiss it
in 2012.
(which you have to do upside down),
The population is 527,612.
you get the ‘gift of the gab’, which
means you are good at flattery.
e. The __________________ is a plant
1. shamrock that brings good luck to the finder.
2. Leprechauns Each leaf represents something: hope,
3. Green faith, love and luck.
4. Blarney Stone
5. harp
6. four-leaf clover
7. rainbow
8. Dublin
g. The __________________ is the
9. national Flag
plant that St. Patrick used to explain
10. Giant’s Causeway
the Trinity. It brings good luck.
b. The ____________________ has
three vertical rectangles. The colour
on the left is green. It represents the
Catholics. On the other end, the
j. The ____________________ is an rectangle is orange. It represents the
area of about 40,000 basalt columns, Protestants. The white in the centre
the result of volcanic eruptions 60 of the flag represents peace between
million years ago. The tops of the these two groups of people.
columns form stepping stones between
the cliffs and the sea.
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Beyond the
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Worksheet 2

1 Green

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 Beyond the
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ST. PATRICK’S DAY VIDEO Teacher’s notes
Before you watch ask your students what they know about Saint Patrick’s Day. Which country
pioneered the celebration? Where is most widely commemorated? Who was Saint Patrick?

Watch the video Top 5 Facts about St Patrick’s Day with your students and ask them to complete
the questions from the Worksheet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfrwReAi-3k

ANSWER KEY

a: 17 March

b: Irish people, they celebrate the life of St. Patrick and Irish culture

c: he was a Christian Irish missionary and bishop that brought Christianity to Ireland.

1: c, 2: a, 3: c, 4: c, 5: a.

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 Beyond the
Books 1
ST. PATRICK’S DAY VIDEO Worksheet
1. Before watching the video, talk with your partner about what you know about
this celebration. Discuss where it is celebrated and why. Do you know who
St. Patrick was? After talking, watch the video to check if you were right.

2. Watch the video and answer the following questions:

a. When is St. Patrick’s Day celebrated?

b. Who celebrates this day and why?

c. Who was St. Patrick?

3. Watch the video again and choose the right answers:

1. St. Patrick was from:

NORTHERN
a) Ireland b) Scotland c) Britannia IRELAND

2. He was born in the _______ century:

a) 4th b) 7th c) 5th

IRELAND
3. St. Patrick signed his works as:

a) PADDY b) PATRONUS c) PATRICIUS

4. St. Patrick’s symbol to represent the Holy Trinity was:

a) A thistle b) A lily c) A shamrock

5. The first St. Patrick’s Day Parade was celebrated in:

a) 1762 b) 1976 c) 1998

4. Are there any similar festivities where you live? Choose one and write a brief
summary about it, indicating when, where, why and how it is celebrated.

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16 The Great Hunger 17

Some rich Protestants were happy when the poor

6 The Great Hunger farmers started to leave. They wanted to keep cows on
their land, so they asked the ships to take the poor people
away from Ireland to America. But hundreds of people
died on the ships too.
In 179� and 1798 rhe [ti h with ch help f French hip When the Irish people carne to America, they lived in
and ld.i r fought the Briti h. Bue the Briti h won, and big cities, like New York. Every year on St Patrick's Day
many Iri hmen - 1110 tly acholic - were kili d. Thre thousands of Americans march through New York, and
y· a.r larcr in 1801, th et f Union made Jreland and remember how lrish people died, because there was no
Britain one e untry, w.ith one Parliam nt, in London. food. lt is the biggest St Patrick's Day parade in the world,
For a hundred year a&er thi , atholi Jri hmen (called because so many Irish people live in America.
Nationalists) wanted to change the Act of When these poor Irish people died, the Irish language
Union, and Protestants (called Unionists) nearly died with them. Most Catholic churchmen spoke
English, and the government told Irish teachers to use
At this time, m the west of English in school. Only poor people spoke Irish. 'Irish is
Ireland, many poor Catholics lived
on very small farms. They had very
little money, and often they had
only potatoes to eat. The poor,
stony land was not good for many
things, but it was good for potatoes.
• But in the 1840s something killed
rhe potatoes. One day they were
fine, and then suddenly they were
black and dead. The poor Irish
farmers and their families had
nothing to eat. Thousands of
them died, and many more went
Looking on ships to America, to find a new
for potatoes and better life. Leaving lreland
18 Ireland 19

7 Fighting to be free

By 1900, life was a little better for Catholics in Ireland.

They could have land, they could vote and speak in
Parliament, they had Catholic schools and churches. But
most Catholics were very poor, and every year, thousands
of them went to America or Britain to look for work.
Catholic Irish Nationalists wanted to end the Act of
Union. They wanted an lrish Parliament to decide about
things in Ireland. But the Protestants <lid not want to give
it to them - and, not for the first time, they were ready to
fight for the things that they wanted.
not important,' the teachers and churchmen said. They
thought that speaking English was more modern.
But sorne people thought that this was wrong. In 1893
a group of Irish writers tried to help the Irish language.
'Irish is the language of the Irish people,' they said. 'Many
countries have a language, games, music, and stories that
belong to them. We must have those things too.'
A lot of people agreed with them. These people called
themselves Sinn Fein, which is lrish for 'We Ourselves.'
At first, the people in Sinn Fein were only interested in
Irish language, music, and games. But later, they began
to think about other things too.
'We don't want to belong to Britain,' they said. 'We
want Ireland to be a free country.'

S r Edward Carson
with the Protestant army
 Beyond the
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AFTER READING Activity
Read Chapter 6 from Oxford Bookworms Factiles level 2: Ireland and answer
the questions:

a) What big change happened in Ireland in 1801?

b) What was the main food poor Catholics ate in Ireland during the 1800s?

c) What happened to many Irish people in the 1840s?

d) Why do people march in New York on St Patrick’s Day?

e) Why did the Irish language almost disappear?

f) Why did the group called Sinn Fein begin?

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