(5) / Festivals and Special Events – Pelmanism Game
Vocabulary Items / Names of festivals / events:
Mid-Autumn Festival, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Easter, Halloween, Dragon Boat Festival, National Day, Speech Day,birthday, party, concert, show
Verb phrases to describe activities:
eat moon cakes, exchange presents, get lucky money, eat chocolate eggs, play trick or treat, eat rice dumplings, hold the flag-raising ceremony, get the graduation certificates, eat birthday cakes, sing and dance, listen to songs, watch a performance

Activity Description

Pupils take part in a group competition to match the word cards of different festivals / events with the activities. After they have got the matching pair, pupils make sentences on the big coloured sheet given.

Materials for Each Group

Two sets of word cards of names of festivals / events and activities

Big coloured sheet and coloured pens

Procedures

  1. Pupils are divided into groups of four to play the game. Each group is given a big coloured sheet, some coloured pens and two sets of word cards – one on the names of festivals / events and the other on the activities.
  2. Pupils have to put all the cards face down on the desks before they start.
  3. Pupils take turns to turn over the cards. If the two cards match, they can keep the cards.
  4. Pupils who can keep the cards have to make sentences with the words on the cards (e.g. We exchange presents at Christmas.) and write the sentences on the big coloured sheet.
  5. The pupil with the most cards and correct sentences wins.

Answer Keys

  1. We play trick or treat at Halloween.
  2. We eat moon cakes at Mid-Autumn Festival.
  3. We get lucky money at Chinese New Year.
  4. We eat rice dumplings at Dragon Boat Festival.
  5. We exchange presents at Christmas.
  6. We eat chocolate eggs at Easter.
  7. We hold the flag-raising ceremony on National Day.
  8. We get the graduation certificates on Speech Day.
  9. We eat birthday cakes on our birthdays.
  10. We sing and dance at a party.
  11. We listen to songs in a concert.
  12. We watch a performance in a show.

Word Cards

Festivals / Events / Activities
Halloween / play trick or treat
Mid-Autumn Festival / eat moon cakes
Chinese New Year / get lucky money
Dragon Boat Festival / eat rice dumplings
Christmas / exchange presents
Easter / eat chocolate eggs
National Day / hold the flag-raising ceremony
Speech Day / get the graduation certificates
birthday / eat birthday cakes
party / sing and dance
concert / listen to songs
show / watch a performance