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GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

CHRISTMAS
CRACKERS

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1 Warm up

Crackers are an important part of Christmas celebrations in the UK. Look at the pictures and then
answer the questions.

1. When do you think people pull crackers?

2. What’s inside them?
3. What else do you know about this tradition?
4. How old do you think it is?
5. Have you ever pulled a cracker with someone?

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2 Vocabulary

Work in A/B pairs. Complete your A or B vocabulary exercises by choosing the correct word from
the box to complete each sentence. Use the sentence contexts to explain the meanings of the words
you used. One item in each group is extra. Share your answers with your partner. Make a note of the
correct answers.

bows (b@Uz) / crackle / confectioner / parcel / prestigious / warehouses

Student A

1. I need to buy some stick-on for the presents I am going to put under the tree.

2. It’s always a treat to look in the window of a at Christmas to see all the beautiful
chocolates and sweets for sale.

3. Liberty of London is one of the most shops in the city, but the prices are very high.

4. Months in advance, shops are filling their with items to sell at Christmas.

5. One of my favourite Christmas sounds is the of wood burning in the fireplace.

Student B

bonbon / client / gift wrap/ perforated / snap / trim

1. After the meal, everyone was given a delicious wrapped up in beautiful paper.

2. Do you want to come over one evening this week and help us our Christmas tree?

3. I’ve bought three rolls of Christmas this year, with pictures of winter scenes.

4. Stamps are printed on paper to allow them to tear easily.

5. The forest was so quiet that you could hear the wood on the ground as you walked
over it.

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3 Watch the video

Work again in A/B pairs. Watch the video, "Inside a Christmas cracker making factory" (00:00-02:58)
and answer your A or B questions. Then share your answers with your partner.

Student A

1. What’s the relationship between Kim and Sam, the owners of Celebration Crackers?

2. Who was Tom Smith?

3. What are two ways that Celebration Crackers gets the paper they use to make crackers?

4. How does Kim sometimes use pieces of jewellery in the crackers?

5. Where does Kim get her ideas for jokes from?

Student B

1. How many crackers does the Celebration Crackers factory make every year?

2. How popular are Christmas crackers in Britain today?

3. Where do they store the snaps before they use them in the crackers?

4. What type of present is inside a cracker for pet lovers?

5. How many jokes are included in the video?

1. What’s the most interesting or surprising thing you learned from the video?
2. What else would you like to know about Christmas crackers?

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4 Language in context

Read these sentences from the recording and use the context to explain the meaning of the words in
bold.

1. The first part is a snap. Shall we see if this works, Kim? / Let’s have a go.

2. And after the gifts, of course, there’s the all-important hat which everybody has to wear at the
Christmas dinner table ...

3. They’re (the jokes are) cheesy but it’s just what you want at Christmas.

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5 Reading
Part A: Read the article and add eight missing words or phrases from the lesson to complete the text.
You may need to change the form of the word to fit the sentence.

Christmas Crackers
Still going strong after more than 180 years

A. Growing up in America, I was a bookworm, and for some reason, I was particularly addicted to 19th century English
literature, although it was often a bit baffling. While I could handle the fact that Victorian Christmas trees were
decorated with flaming candles and that Father Christmas was the same guy as Santa Claus, I just couldn’t work
out why everyone got so excited about having crackers at Christmas. To me, crackers were dry crunchy biscuits
that you snacked on when there was nothing better available - not exactly festive or a thrill. Of course, I could
have checked the dictionary, but I just wanted to carry on reading...

B. Fast forward a few decades and now that I live in the UK, I am a huge cracker fan. They’ve been part of our family
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Christmas celebrations for years, and I’ve even at making them myself. However, I’ve also
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made a shocking discovery: crackers are French! It was French who took sweets wrapped in
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decorative paper and added the snap. They called these "cosaques" after the noisy guns of
East Slavic Cossack soldiers. Londoner Tom Smith, often credited with inventing the cracker, actually just spotted
a great opportunity and introduced crackers to the country.
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C. The contents of crackers were established early on: a paper hat, a joke or motto, and small toys
or prizes. Themed boxed sets quickly became popular. Some were intended for lovers - a romantic poem could
set off an evening of flirting and courtship. Those for children contained a small doll in the box and each cracker
held an item of clothing for it. When all the crackers were pulled, the doll could be fully dressed. Designs often
referred to current events - an 1897 collection had a North Pole exploration theme with polar bear masks and
tiny thermometers among the prizes.

D. Crackers are still a big part of Christmas celebrations in the UK but there are growing concerns about their
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environmental impact. People are starting to question whether the plastic and the
used on the outside can be recycled, and, more importantly, whether anyone really needs a dozen tiny plastic toys
which only hold a child’s interest for a minute or two. In addition, a renewed interest in home crafts has seen
people taking on holiday projects like cracker-making in the run-up to Christmas, creating custom sets of crackers
to reflect their family’s interests.

E. If you want to make your own crackers at home, here’s how. You will need: Christmas paper, a ruler, scissors, the
inside cardboard part of some toilet rolls (3 per cracker), tape, 30 cm snaps (you can buy these from special shops
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or online), string or wool, and whatever contents and decorative ribbons and you want to use.

F. Step 1: measure and cut a 30 x 20 cm rectangle of Christmas paper. Step 2: take three toilet rolls and place them
along the long side of the paper and roll it up. Tape the paper in place with the rolls inside. Step 3: place your snap
inside the rolled paper and toilet rolls. Step 4: pull out one of the outer toilet rolls slightly to create a gap between
it and the middle roll. Then tie the gap with string or wool and remove the outer toilet roll. Step 5: add whatever
contents you like. Step 6: repeat step 4 at the other end of the cracker. Step 7: glue the snap to the inside of the
paper on both sides - this makes it easier to pull the cracker. Step 8: decorate the outside of the cracker however
you like. You can even add a name if the cracker is meant for someone special.
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There’s no reason why your homemade crackers can’t look as good as those from brands - but
they won’t cost as much!

Sources: Victoriana Magazine, YouTube

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Find words or phrases in the article with these meanings.

1. someone who enjoys reading and does it at every opportunity:

2. very confusing:

3. related to a holiday season:

4. something that makes you feel excited:

5. romantic activities:

6. the period before a big event occurs:

Answer these questions in pairs.

1. How easy do you think it will be to make your own crackers?

2. Have you answered the questions you had after watching the video?
3. What other questions about crackers do you have? Where could you find the answers?

6 Design challenge

Work in pairs or small groups. Choose one of the options in the box and design a set of six different
themed crackers for them.

pet owners / people who are concerned about the environment / children aged 5-12 /
crackers from a prestigious shop or brand in your town or country / couples /
crackers that reflect current events / foodies - people who love good food and drink /
bookworms / your own idea

You should say how the crackers will look and what will go inside them. Note that each cracker should
contain a different prize. However, you don’t need to plan the jokes and the hats are always the same,
although you might want to say what colour they are. How much do you think this box of crackers
will cost?

Explain your ideas to the class. The class will choose the design that best suits the groups they are
designed for.

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7 Optional extension

Christmas crackers are famous for containing really cheesy jokes. The worse the jokes are, the more
people enjoy them. Match the questions to the answers to make Christmas jokes.

1. How did Santa meet his wife? a. The elf-abet.

2. What do Santa’s helpers learn at school? b. Mince-spies.

3. What falls at the North Pole but never gets c. Snow

hurt?
4. What time is it when the clock strikes 13? d. Santa Paws.

5. Who brings presents to pets? e. It flu over his head!

6. Who did Santa find hiding in the bakery at f. Because it’s so much easier to write a book
Christmas? on paper.
7. Why didn’t the sick guy get the joke about g. At the snowball, it was love at frost sight!
Covid?
8. Why is it a bad idea to write a book on h. Time to go shopping for a new clock.
reindeer?

Match each joke with one of the themes you could design crackers for in the last activity.

Which joke do you think is the cheesiest?

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Transcripts

3. Watch the video

Sarah Rainey (reporter):
I’m here at Celebration Crackers in Dorset which is the UK’s most
prestigious cracker making factory. Here, they hand-make their crackers,
tying each bow and cutting the paper by hand, and clients include
Selfridges, Claridge’s Hotel, Liberty of London - even the Queen is said
to be a fan. The factory’s run by Kim and Sam Lam, husband-and-wife
team, who’ve been here since 2006 and have 30 years of cracker-making
experience in between these walls. In the UK we pull 300 million crackers
every Christmas and here they make 200 million of them every year. I’m
here to find out what cracker making is all about.

Sarah Rainey (reporter):
On the back of every box, Celebration print a little message about the
history of the cracker. Crackers date back to the Victorian era. In 1840
a confectioner in Britain called Tom Smith got the idea of giving bonbons
wrapped up in little parcels at Christmastime. One day he was sitting by
the fire, and he heard it crackle and that gave him the idea for the snap. By
1900 the Smith family were selling 13 million crackers a year. Today nearly
every family in Britain celebrates Christmas with a cracker.

Kim Lam (factory All our handmade crackers, made here down in Dorset, are made from gift
owner): wrap paper which we’ve printed or are given to us by our customers. Many
different sizes and different patterns, so these all have to be cut down to
the correct size according to the cracker that’s being made. They’re then
perforated so that the cracker can actually pull and will snap. We then have
to line them with the snaps that are all carefully stored in the warehouse,
and we actually roll them. Rolled, glued and then the necks are pulled. We
can then fill with all our different fillings that we have that are available,
again, supplied either by ourselves or by our customers. And then they’ll
be trimmed - we have many different trims: we have traditional berry trims,
something very different, something like a piece of jewellery or we have
different bows as well that go on.

SR: The perfect cracker has several important elements. The first part is a snap.
Shall we see if this works, Kim?

KL: Let’s have a go.

SR: One two three. (snap sound)

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KL: Some of the gifts that we have this year in the crackers, especially for
Selfridges, we have a nice range of little teas and shot glasses. We’ve had
some fun pet crackers as well which I’ve got - lovely little dog biscuits in
there. And we’ve also had some fun with some little moustaches.

SR: And after the gifts, of course, there’s the all-important hat which everybody
has to wear at the Christmas dinner table, and finally there’s the jokes which
Kim gets, a lot of them, from her 9-year-old nephew, Thomas. So, here’s
some of the crackers that Thomas has come up with this year. Why was
the broom late?

KL: I can’t remember that one.

SR: He over swept. What did the cheese say to itself in the mirror?

KL: Halloumi!

SR: That’s the best one. And finally, why did the oyster leave the party early?

KL: He pulled a mussel.

SR: Brilliant. They’re cheesy but it’s just what you want at Christmas.

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Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
This brief warm-up uses photos to introduce the topic of the lesson, which is likely to be unfamiliar to students.
Call attention to the pictures and pose questions to the whole class. Don’t confirm or deny any ideas - tell students
they will find out more during the lesson. Note the collocation: pull a cracker.

2. Vocabulary

10 mins.
Students will encounter these items in the video. Set up A/B roles to complete the gap-fill exercises and encourage
students to use the sentence context to guess the meanings of the target language. After students explain
their words to their partners, check answers with the whole class and drill pronunciation - stressed syllables are
underlined. Note the long o pronunciation of bows and also that the English pronunciation of the word bonbon is
different to the original French. You could also point out that trim/trimming can be a noun, and crackle can be a
verb. Students will recycle this vocabulary in the listening and reading stages.

Answers:
Student A - bows are beautiful ribbons that are tied and used to decorate gifts; aconfectioner is a person who
makes sweets; prestigious means famous and of high quality; a warehouse is a big building where goods are kept
before being sold in a shop or online; crackle is a sound that a fire makes as the wood burns; parcel is the extra
word - it means a package. \
Student B - a bonbon is a small candy with a soft centre; trim means to decorate; gift wrap is the special coloured
or decorated paper that is used to cover birthday and Christmas presents; perforated means that small holes have
been made in something; snap means to break quickly and suddenly with a sound; client is the extra word - it
means a customer or service-user.

Student A

1. bows 2. confectioner 3. prestigious 4. warehouses 5. crackle

Student B

1. bonbon 2. trim 3. gift wrap 4. perforated 5. snap

3. Watch the video

10 mins.
In this stage students will watch a short video (00:00 -02:58) to activate vocabulary and recover information.
Assign A/B roles and give students a minute to look through their own questions before they watch. They won’t
have time to make extensive notes as they watch the video so they will need to rely on memory. Play the video
and set up pairs to share answers, asking students to explain their responses. Check answers with the whole class
- if students need to watch the video a second time, that’s fine. Pose the follow-up questions to round off this
stage and make a note of some questions that students still have or ask them to. Tell them that they are going to

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read more about crackers, and they might find the answer to their questions in the article. Note that cracker jokes
are the subject of the Optional extension activity.

Student A

1. They are husband and wife.

2. A British confectioner who, in 1840, developed the Christmas crackers with a snap that we have today.
3. They print it themselves or their customers give it to them.
4. As trim for the front of the cracker.
5. Her 9-year-old nephew, Thomas.

Student B

1. 200 million
2. Nearly every family has them at Christmas.
3. In the warehouse (note that this is because they might catch fire).
4. Dog biscuits.
5. Three.

4. Language in context

5 mins.
This is a quick practice in deducing meaning from context, an important skill for students at this level. Go over the
sentences with the whole class and elicit definitions similar to those given. Drill pronunciation as well.

1. This informal British English expression is a suggestion to try doing something.

2. This is a way to express that something is extremely important, often used for an item which everyone is already
familiar with.
3. Cheesy jokes are silly and not very sophisticated - they might make you groan, rather than laugh.

5. Reading

15 mins.
Part A
This article offers more information for students about the topic, reviews some vocabulary and phrases from the
lesson, and introduces a few more items. Explain the instructions and set the first task. Check answers and then
set up the second task - students might want to work in pairs. Again, check answers, and pose the follow-up
questions.

1. had a go 2. confectioners 3. all-important 4. cheesy

5. trims 6. gift wrap 7. bows 8. prestigious
Sources:
www.victoriana.com/christmas_crackers/victorian_christmas_crackers.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fijWj0a-Qk

Part B

1. bookworm 2. baffling
3. festive 4. thrill

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5. flirting and courtship 6. run-up

6. Design challenge

15+ mins.
Go over the instructions for this design challenge, and, after setting up pairs or small groups, lead students through
the options in the box and the information below. Set a time limit for students to discuss their ideas, which should
be their own - they should not use their phones for research. After a few minutes, they can take turns to present
their ideas to the class. The class can then ask questions and give feedback. This activity can also be extended
into a poster or more formal presentation activity. The optional extension activity is about jokes and makes a good
follow-on for this stage.

7. Optional extension

10 mins.
This activity is intended as a filler or cooler if you have time in your lesson. Explain the instructions. Students
should be able to handle the wordplay in these jokes. They could complete the matching activity in pairs before
you check answers. Pose the follow-up questions to the class. You could also drill pronunciation to promote the
falling intonation of question word questions and general fluency.

1. → g. 2. → a. 3. → c. 4. → h. 5. → d. 6. → b. 7. → e. 8. → f.

Themes:
1 couples; 2 children; 3 people who are concerned about the environment; 4 a prestigious shop; 5 pet owners; 6
foodies; 7 current events; 8 bookworms.

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