Contents
=> “Holiday Guessing Cards” - speaking activity
=> “The Mouse Who Meowed” - an unfinished story
=> In the Next Issues

———————————————————————–
“Holiday Guessing Cards” - speaking activity
———————————————————————–

The holiday season is upon us. So here’s a speaking activity…

Just quickly make little cards (on small squares of paper) of the items listed below. Each has is a topic or theme written on the top. The first, for instance. is “Holiday Food.”

One student takes a card and reads the topic. That’s important–read the TOPIC. He/she then describes the things listed below without saying them.

Example: let’s say that the first holiday food is champagne.” The describer says, “This is something you drink. It has bubbles, and the bottle is usually green. It makes a noise when you pop the cork…” Etc. When others in the group guess “champagne” the describer moves on to the next word, until the group guesses all five.

This works best in groups of 4 people or so. (There’s much more speaking than if the whole class plays together). It’s a good idea to translate each word into the native language on the card. Otherwise students may not be able to describe the word.

Thanks to www.vocabulary.com for giving me a list of holiday words. You can find lots of vocabulary lists and activities there.

Holiday Food Words
champagne
turkey
candy
cakes
milk

Holiday Verbs
pray
cook
wrap
celebrate
worship

Holiday Things
bells
candles
gifts
feast
wrapping paper

Holiday Food Words II
cookies
eat
goose
mashed potatoes
nuts

Holiday Things II
faith
family
miracle
toys
sleigh

Christmas People
Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer
Santa Claus
elf / elves
snowman
Scrooge

Holiday Things III
angel
decorations
peace
light
kisses

———————————————————————–
“The Mouse Who Meowed” - an unfinished story
by I.M. Poosheesty
———————————————————————–

Once upon a time there was a misanthrope and his daughter, Zarina. The misanthrope brought up his a faraway forest so that she would have no contact with the world.

“The world is an awful place,” he told her. “Believe me, Zarina, you are better off alone with me.”

But they were not totally alone, for recently a skinny little mouse had snuck into their home. He lived in a hole in the kitchen floor and tried to survive on scraps of food.

The mouse listened to them at dinner. He heard the father say, “Soon the holidays are coming. What gift can I give you to make you happy?”

“I would like a little cat,” Zarina said, for she had no friends at all.

“What do you know of cats?” said her father. “Have you ever seen one?”

“I know from books that they are soft and they have tails and say meow.”

“Cats are like people, my dear. They are dirty; they have claws, they think only of themselves. They will deceive you.”

So the father presented his daughter with a dictionary for the holidays.

Life was not easy for the mouse. He had so little to eat, so he came up with a plan. In the evening, the little mouse crawled out of his hole and into Zarina’s room. In a puddle of moonlight he sat. He made his voice as big as possible, and he said, “Meow.”

Zarina lifted her head and looked down. She got out of bed and looked at the little thing.

“Meow,” it said.

“Oh,” She said. She scooped him up, and the mouse felt warm in her hands. “Oh, you are soft. You have fur and ears and a tail.”

“Meow,” said the mouse.

“You are a little cat!” Zarina said. And she hugged the mouse so tightly he nearly cried out. “I bet you are hungry!” she said.

“Meow,” said the mouse.

So Zarina quietly took him into the kitchen put a saucer of milk in front of him. The mouse was very hungry, and he drank the milk and then ate some pecan pie and a tidbits of meat.

“You’ll be my friend, won’t you? You will love me, and you would never deceive me, isn’t that so?” asked Zarina.

“Meow,” said the mouse.

“Oh, but I simply have to go and thank father for the gift.”

The girl rose from her chair, he pigtailed hair bouncing.

And the mouse jumped down from the table and ran for his hole.

“Where are you going, kitty?” asked Zarina.

The mouse stopped.

“You mean Papa doesn’t know there is a cat in his house?”

“Meow,” said the mouse.

So the mouse lived hidden in a drawer next to Zarina’s bed, and she fed him well, and the mouse began to think, “How clever I am! She thinks I’m a cat.”

Until one day…

Students’ Task

Yes, we warned you that this is an unfinished story. It’s your task to finish it. Remember that holiday stories are about giving and sacrifice. Can you think of a fitting ending? Once you do, compare…

———————————————————————–
In the Next Issues
———————————————————————–

Time Machine in California
Three-letter verbs
Movie Language
To cheat or not to cheat?

Copyright 2005 by Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty