School says Hello Kitty Christmas tree can stay

School says Hello Kitty Christmas tree can stay (25th December, 2015)

The Reading / Listening - Level 4

A teacher in the USA has been allowed to keep her pink Hello Kitty Christmas tree in her classroom. Maths teacher Catherine Gordon was told to remove it from her classroom last week. The school head said it was an "inappropriate" Christmas decoration that did not fit with the way the school celebrated the holiday season. The head said there was a "concern" over "our balanced approach to holiday observances".

Ms Gordon said her tree had no religious symbols such as crosses or angels on it. She wrote on Facebook that she thought society was now too worried about upsetting people. She said her experience with her tree showed that in today's society, "everything offends everyone all the time". She added that: "It just sucks the joy out of everything." She told a newspaper that: "We've become intolerant to everything."

Try the same news story at these levels:

Level 5 or Level 6

Sources

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hs-teacher-told-remove-kitty-christmas-tree-classroom/story?id=35908832
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/teacher-asked-to-remove-hello-kitty-christmas-tree-from-clas#.lmqaZqqK6
http://fox4kc.com/2015/12/22/after-forcing-teacher-to-remove-christmas-tree-school-backs-down/

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The Activities

MATCHING

PARAGRAPH ONE:

1.	A teacher in the USA has been	a.	decoration
2.	Maths	b.	approach
3.	remove it from her	c.	teacher
4.	Christmas	d.	observances
5.	did not	e.	fit
6.	celebrated the holiday	f.	classroom
7.	balanced	g.	season
8.	holiday	h.	allowed

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

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PARAGRAPH TWO:

1.	religious	a.	all the time
2.	crosses	b.	people
3.	she thought society was now	c.	society
4.	upsetting	d.	too worried
5.	in today's	e.	symbols
6.	everything offends everyone	f.	to everything
7.	It just sucks the joy	g.	or angels
8.	We've become intolerant	h.	out of everything

LISTEN AND FILL IN THE GAPS

A teacher in the USA (1) ___________________ to keep her pink Hello Kitty Christmas tree in her classroom. Maths teacher Catherine Gordon was told (2) ___________________ her classroom last week. The school head said it (3) ___________________ Christmas decoration that (4) ___________________ the way the school celebrated the holiday season. The head (5) ___________________ a "concern" over "our balanced approach to (6) ___________________ ".

Ms Gordon (7) ___________________ no religious symbols such as crosses or angels on it. She wrote on Facebook that (8) ___________________ was now too worried (9) ___________________ people. She said her experience with her tree showed that in today's society, "(10) ___________________ everyone all the time". She added that: "It (11) ___________________ out of everything." She told a newspaper that: "We've (12) ___________________ everything."

CHRISTMAS TREES SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about Christmas trees in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.

Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

WRITE QUESTIONS & ASK YOUR PARTNER(S)

Student A: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________
g)	________________________________________________________
h)	________________________________________________________

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Student B: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________
g)	________________________________________________________
h)	________________________________________________________

FREE WRITING

Write about Christmas trees for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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