Looking for help from my international friends
 

I teach special education and want to do a unit on Christmas around the world. Do you have any traditions, stories, crafts, food items, or other things you think might be interesting to 10, 11, 12 y/o boys? Any help, ideas appreciated.
Thanks,

Jeannette

OH, my! I used to do that with my second graders. I had books and books about it. Loved teaching that...but all are gone as we moved 3200 miles after retiring. Ask some of the other teachers, do an internet search, and someone else on here may still have names of some resources. Have fun with it.

Check out these sites:
http://www.polishcenter.org/Christmas/TRADITIONS.htm
http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/poland.shtml

Here is something that I did for some of my Polish and Italian friends involved cream / light beige felt, poly fiberfill, ribbon and if you want ... needle and thread. Using pinking scissors I cut out an approx. 4 " circle and folded it in half. Put in a little fiberfill and sewed it shut about 1/2 inch in. I added a piece of ribbon to one end and created a pierogi Christmas ornament. I did the same with 2 approx. 2 1/2 inch squares. Cut them out using pinking shears, added some fiber fill and sewed them shut...then added the ribbon. Friends got a kick out of their ethnic ornaments and had me show their grandchildren how to make them.

Christmas is in the middle of summer here in Australia, and a lot of families have a cold Christmas lunch with seafood, ham cold chicken or turkey and salads. My parents are from Europe so we still have the traditional roast with hot vegies, but sometimes a cold lunch sounds great especially if the temperature is over 100 F

When I was a little girl fruit was limited to what was in season - so it was a big treat to get an orange in our stocking. Now living in Southern California my daughters thought it was a very odd custom, but it was normal for my friends and I living in the Pacific Northwest. It is my understanding it was something my parents received too.

We also kept a bowl of mixed nuts to crack from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

My parents are gone now and so I cannot ask them why - it was just something we did and everyone i knew did it too.

We always got an orange in our Christmas stocking too. Big treat because we rarely had oranges otherwise.

In old Germany where the original Christmas trees are found, it is traditionally only boys and men who went to cut the Christmas tree, and bring it home. The reason is not that girls and women couldn't, they were just busy making the Christmas feast since both were done on Christmas Eve. Germany also has a tradition of a Christmas pickle on the tree, and whoever found it first, got good luck in the new year, or got a special little gift for their cleverness.

When my daughter taught public school music, she did a musical called "Christmas Around the World" with her students. It covered many more traditions than Christmas but also provided lots of information about Christmas practices in other places.

Look for German Christmas pickles/ Dutch wooden shoes/ etc. If you Google the subject, you will find so much you can't get it all in. froggyintexas

Hi Jeannette,

Found this tea towel yesterday for my new English DIL (2 weeks), sorry cant show pictures, but words are

THE AUSTRALIAN TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

On the first day of Christmas
My true love gave to me

A cockie in a bottlebrush tree. (Cockatoo)

2 flying doctors

3 drovers watching

4 working dogs

5 golden ducks (cricket)

6 boomers hopping (Kangaroos)

7 silos filling

8 ladies baking

9 nippers racing (jnr lifeguards)

10 sheep a-leaping

11 birds a-calling (galahs)

12 yachts a-sailing

I hope she likes it.