Teacher’s Support

Material
Lesson ideas for using the
“World Festival” stickers
 World Festivals – Stickers and Map ideas
Festivals are times of celebration and feasting. All over the world, people have their own
days or seasons for celebration. Some festivals are religious while others celebrate events in a
country’s past; but they often include special traditions, songs, dances, food and greetings.

Festivals offer a great opportunity to broaden students’ knowledge of the world and
encourage thinking on both a local and global level. The stickers provided aim to cover a
wide range of activities – all very much important to the local participants – and many are
visited by people from far and wide. This lesson outline aims to offer an ‘anytime of year’
approach to using the map and stickers in class.

Introduction:
Choose a Global festival that’s occurring in the near future, a few examples are listed;
Christmas
Easter
Halloween
Eid
April Fool’s Day
Mother’s Day
Father’s Day
Valentine’s Day
New Year

Title: New Year’s Eve Wordsearch Title: New Year’s Eve Wordsearch Answer Key

c l o c k i i u n b s s b c l o c k i i u n b s s b
e r r i l e f r i e n d s e r r i l e f r i e n d s
l e t r a d i t i o n s b l e t r a d i t i o n s b
e s t p m i d n i g h t a e s t p m i d n i g h t a
b o e s t o d l e n t r l b o e s t o d l e n t r l
r l a b i g b e n d g e l r l a b i g b e n d g e l
a u l d l a n g s y n e o a u l d l a n g s y n e o
t t f i r e w o r k s t o t t f i r e w o r k s t o
i i d r i n k o n d i p n i i d r i n k o n d i p n
o o t o a s t u f u n a s o o t o a s t u f u n a s
n n s d t o n n i s g r a n n s d t o n n i s g r a
i s f e h n s i p a r t y i s f e h n s i p a r t y
d r c e p h o l i d a y y d r c e p h o l i d a y y
fireworks Big Ben midnight fireworks Big Ben midnight
celebration party street party celebration party street party
clock resolutions friends clock resolutions friends
balloons holiday traditions balloons holiday traditions
fun drink toast fun drink toast
end sing Auld Lang Syne end sing Auld Lang Syne

© Pearson Education 2008 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Pearson Education 2008 PHOTOCOPIABLE

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The above example wordsearch is taken from www.pearsonlongman.com

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 Class outline
For this example we are using New Year, but any current festival works just as well.

Warmer
• Brainstorm festivals with the group and write them on the board.
• Ask the students for the approximate dates/month of each festival and write them next to
each of them on the board. You could draw a timeline from January to December and
place them in order if students are not sure of the months.
• Using the festival that is closest ask the students to think about what happens in their
country, if celebrated, or for anything they know about it. (Put students in groups/pairs to
make this easier)
• Ask for feedback and write the information on the board – explain any difficult
vocabulary.
• Use a word search from www.pearsonlongman.com for consolidation.

Introducing the stickers

• Ask students what local festivals they celebrate.
• Ask students if they know any ‘famous’ local festivals from around the world. (you may
want to give an example that you think they will already know)
• Give a photocopy of the stickers to each student and have them guess which country they
are in.
* for weaker classes or lower levels you may only wish to use a selection of the stickers.
• Using the teacher’s notes read out the information about each festival in turn and ask
the students to shout out/raise hands when they think they know which festival is being
described.
• The student(s) who guess(es) correctly can then place the sticker on the map – with the
help of the whole class if required.
• Continue until all stickers have been placed on the map.

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Guided writing
• Tell the students to select one of the festivals and to write a paragraph describing what
happens when and where.

Name of festival: 
  festival is celebrated in  ,
in the month of  .
The local people    and  .
The tradition is    years old.
The festival is very   .

I think it is    because 

Question writing
• Tell the students to write a few questions about festivals.
For example:
Where does it take place?
What do the people do?
What do the people wear?
How old is the tradition?
How many days does it last?
• Ask students to mingle and ask each other the questions.
• When they have the answers they have to guess the festival.

Project work (could be done for homework)

• Tell the students to choose a local festival and to create a poster with information and
pictures or photographs.
• Display the posters around the map.
• During the next few weeks you can ask different students to give a short presentation
on the festival that they made the poster for – this only really will be effective if your
students have created posters around different themes, you don’t want 25 presentations
on the same theme day after day.

Follow up
• For more ideas on how to use the stickers please refer to the ‘Teacher’s Support Material’
on ‘Wonders of the World’ – If you do not have this handbook you can download the
ideas from www.pearsonlongman.com/teenspace

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 Teen Space Stickers Festivals
• Dubai Shopping
Festival, United Arab
Emirates
• January and February
2011
• Started in 1996
• 3 million visitors.
Dubai Shopping Festival
• Clean Monday, Greece
(Katheri deftera)
• Kite flying
• March 8th (beginning
of Lent)
• Picnics, shellfish and
special bread.
Clean Monday
• La Tomatina - ‘Tomato
fight’
• Buñol near Valencia,
Spain
• Every year on the last
Wednesday in August.
• The ‘tomato fight’ lasts
2 hours.
La Tomatina
• Monkey Buffet,
Lopburi, Thailand
• Local people say ‘thank
you’ to the monkeys
for the tourism they
generate
• 2000 guests – all monkeys
• 20 chefs from best
hotels prepare the best
Monkey Buffet ingredients.
• International Mariachi
Festival, Mexico
• September
• 500 Mariachis
• Traditional music,
religious services and
parades.
4 Mariachi
• Chinese New Year -
Year of the Rabbit
• Jan/Feb each year
(depends on Lunar
calendar)
• Last year the Tiger,
next is the Dragon
• What’s your sign?
Chinese New Year
• Carnival 2011, Brazil
March 4th until March
8th, 2011
• Worldwide - Rio
Carnival is the most
famous
• Competition between
Samba dancing schools
• Floats, parades, street
Carnival, Brazil
and beach parties
• Cannes Film Festival,
France
• 11-22 May 2011
• Established 1946
• 200,000 visitors and
4000 journalists.
Festival De Cannes
• Bonfire Night, UK
• 5th of November
• Fireworks and
bonfires
• Celebrates the capture
of Guy Fawkes –
wanted to blow up
parliament (1605).
Bonfire Night
• Bon Om Tuk (water
festival), Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
• Celebrates the end of
the Rainy Season
• Usually October/
November
• Celebrates the food
from the river.
Dragon Boat Festival
 Teen Space Stickers Festivals

• Snow festival Japan – • Mardi Gras, New

28th Feb Orleans
• City of Sapporo • 8h March (beginning
• Over 2 million visitors of Lent)
• Hundreds of snow • ‘Fat Tuesday’
statues and ice • Began over 250 years
sculptures. ago.

Snow Festival Mardi Gras

• St Patricks Day March • Songkran festival

17th (Ireland and • Thai New Year April
Chicago) 13th
• Chicago River turns • Water Festival –
green throwing water on
• Celebrated worldwide people
with many parades • Visiting family, praying
• St Patrick visited and cleansing Buddha
Ireland in the 5th images.
Century.
St Patrick’s Day New Year Water Festival

• Duanwu Festival, • Diwali Oct 26th (South

China Asia)
• June 2011 • The festival of lights
• Eat rice dumplings and • The most popular of
drink rice wine. all the festivals from
• Tradition to throw South Asia.
food into a local river • It is an occasion
or lake. for celebrations by
Hindus, Jains and
Sikhs.
Duanwu Diwali

• Holi festival, India • La Giostra del

• March 20th 2011 Saracino, Arezzo, Italy
• Bonfires, paints and • Established in the 13th
perfumed water Century
• Over 1300 years old. • Jousting competition
• Held twice a year –
(usually) June and
September.

Holi La Giostra del Saracino

• Gisborne, New • Pacific Rim Whale
Zealand (East Coast) festival, Canada
• 3 day music festival • March each year
• 20,000 visitors • Grey Whales on
• Gilbert islands (300 migration
miles east of New • Celebration of coastal
Zealand is actually life.
first ‘land’ to see new
year).

First Sunrise of the New Year Whale Festival 5

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