SEQUENCE N°2: FESTIVALS

SEANCE N°3: ST PATRICK’S DAY

I WARM UP (ORAL)

1) Watch the slide show and guess the theme of the lesson.
The theme of the lesson is St Patrick’s Day.

2) Watch again and describe the pictures.

The shamrock is the symbol of Ireland. Beer is the traditional drink in Ireland. St
Patrick’s Day is celebrated on march 17th. Irish people wear traditional costumes and
play bagpipes in a parade. The Chicago river is tinted in green. The traditional dish is
corned beef, carrots and cabbage. Irish people have Celtic origins. Saint Patrick’s Day
is also celebrated in the UK because Northern Ireland is part of the UK. The
leprechaun legend is an Irish tradition: there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

II ACTIVITY 1 : SAINT PATRICK’S DAY VOCABULARY

1) CROSSWORDS : Find the words corresponding to the definitions.

ACROSS : DOWN :
3. parade 1. bagpipes
5. pot 2. St Patrick
6. luck 4. gold
9. Ireland 7. coin
10. March 8. green
11. Leprechaun
12. shamrock

2) MATCHING : Match the words on the right with the correct sentence on
the left.
A. orange
B. Leprechaun
C. shamrock
D. Ireland
E. green
F. parades
G. corned beef
H. pot of gold
 I. Chicago river
J. Lucky Charms
K. Blarney stone
L. Patrick
M. March 17th
N. four leaf clover
O. Emerald Isle
P. pinch
Q. Ireland forever
R. Dublin

III ACTIVITY 2 : BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW

1) Saint Patrick’s life : Watch the first part of the video and find if the
following statements are right or wrong ; justify your answers when it is
wrong.
A) St Patrick was Irish Wrong : St Patrick was British

B) St Patrick was born in the 5th century Right

C) St Patrick was kidnapped by Romans at the age of 6 Wrong : St Patrick

was kidnapped by Irish at the age of 16

D) St Patrick spent 16 years in captivity Wrong : St Patrick spent 6 years

in captivity

E) He converted to christianity Right

F) He returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary Right

G) He died on March 17th 416 Wrong : he died on March 17th 461

H) He became patron saint of Ireland centuries after his death Right

2) Saint Patrick’s legend: Watch the second part of the video and choose the
right answer.
A) Patrick drove all :
a) the snails from Ireland b) the snakes from Ireland
 B) It symbolises Patrick cleansing the island of :
a) paganism b) fanaticism

C) But Ireland never had any snakes because :

a) the weather is too cold b) the weather is too hot

D) St Patrick used the three leaves of the shamrock to explain :

a) the whole Trinity b) the Holy Trinity

E) The 18th century Irish people were wearing shamrocks on March

17th :
a) to show their Christian pride b) to show their Irish pride

F) Today, the popular St Patrick’s day custom is to :

a) wear gray clothing b) wear green clothing

G) Shamrocks :
a) really exist b) don’t really exist

3) Saint Patrick’s Parades : Watch the third part of the video and answer
the following questions.

A) Where did St Patrick’s parades start?

St Patrick’s parades started in America.

B) Why did thousands of Irish people immigrate to the USA in the

1840s ?
Thousands of Irish people immigrated to the USA in the 1840s because of the
Great Potato Famine in Ireland.

C) Where and when did the first St Patrick’s parade take place?
The first St Patrick’s parade took place in New York in 1762.

D) How did it happen ?

A group of Irish soldiers serving the British Army marched to a tavern in Lower
Manhattan to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
E) How many people participate to the New York St Patrick’s Parade
today?
200,000 people participate to the NY St Patrick’s parade today.
 F) And how many spectators are there?
There are 3 millions spectators.

IV ACTIVITY 3 : ST PATRICK’S GAMES

Look at the pictures and play the games !

GAME 1 : Saint Patrick’s word search

Find the listed words in the grid.

GAME 2 : Saint Patrick’s code

Decode the words using the grid.

GAME 3 : Saint Patrick’s maze

Help the leprechaun to find his way to the pot of gold.

HOMEWORK
TACHE INTERMEDIAIRE : Vous êtes un lycéen américain vivant à Chicago.
Vous rédigez une lettre à votre correspondant britannique pour lui expliquer
pourquoi et comment la Saint Patrick est aussi l’occasion d’une grande fête aux
Etats-Unis. Vous utiliserez les informations du cours (10 informations minimum)
et respecterez l’orthographe américaine.