Thursday 27 December 2012

Christmas around the world!

Indonesian children dressed in Santa Claus costumes sing along to Christmas carols in Jakarta, Indonesia
Actors recreate the Nativity scene at a church of Mother Mary Queen of Peace in Lodz, Poland
Malaysians admire light decorations ahead of Christmas in Shah Alam outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Children play around a statue depicting baby Jesus after a Christmas Eve Mass to reenact his birth at the Cathedral in Havana, Cuba
Kosovo Catholic children take part in a play during a Christmas mass at St. Anthony church in Pristina
Ruben Torres, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit, and fishermen wave to people from a boat on Christmas Eve along the coast of Valparaiso in Chile
In Zurich, Santa visits in a special fairytale tram and gives the children a ride through the city, singing songs with them and sharing a basket full of sweets
Chinese children dressed as angels attend mass held on Christmas eve at the Southern Cathedral, the oldest Catholic church in Beijing, China
A diver in Santa's costume plays with a white whale at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, Tokyo

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2008/12/017708.html#storylink=cpy
Christmas trees on the beach are a common sight on Christmas day in Australia.
South Korean children wearing Santa Claus outfits wait to participate in a ceremony to prepare charity pots for a year-end fund-raising campaign for the underprivileged at the Salvation Army office in Seoul, South Korea

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2008/12/017708.html#storylink=cpy
A homeless child holds a candle during a street Christmas celebration at Dom Pedro Park in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sand sculptures on the beach in India
Children celebrate Christmas in their school in India
Volunteers make a Christmas tree with milk tin cans donated to the "Medecins Du Monde" non-governmental organisation, which will distribute them to the poor in Athens, Greece
A worker checks a 8m (26 feet) tall Christmas tree built with 3,500 Tetra Pak carton packages installed in a park in Lima, Peru. The tree is promoting the recycling of Tetra Pak packages into poly aluminium plates that are used to make furniture
A window cleaner dressed as Santa Claus cleans a window during an event to celebrate the upcoming Christmas holiday season at a shopping mall in Tokyo, Japan
Security guards in Santa Claus costumes perform martial arts as they pose for photographers during a promotional event for the upcoming Christmas holiday season at Coex shopping mall in Seoul, South Korea
The annual "Santacon" is a Christmas parade that traditionally takes place in London, UK every December, inviting hundreds of revellers dressed in Santa outfits to Trafalgar Square
A member of Berlin's ice swimming club "Berliner Seehunde" (Berlin seals) makes his way to take a dip in the Orankesee lake during their traditional Christmas ice swimming session in Berlin, Germany




Sources: boston.com / keeppy.com / ibnlive.in.com / aljazeera.com

Wednesday 26 December 2012

What's on your Santa Claus list?


The Digital Story of Nativity!

How social media, web and mobile tell the story of the Nativity. The Christmas story is told through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, Google Maps, Gmail, Foursquare, Amazon etc.






N.B. Children should not browse sites unsupervised 

Monday 24 December 2012

'Merry Christmas' in different languages!

How to say 'Merry Christmas' in various languages!

1. Arabic - I'd Miilad said oua sana saida

2. Chinese - (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan

3. Croatian - Sretan Bozic

4. Danish - Glædelig Jul

5. Dutch - Vrolijk Kerstfeest

6. Filipino - Maligayang Pasko

7. Finnish - Hyvaa joulua

8. French - Joyeux Noël

9. German - Fröhliche Weihnachten

10. Greek - Καλά Χριστούγεννα (Kala Christouyenna)

11. Indonesian - Selamat Hari Natal

12. Irish - Nollaig Shona Dhuit

13. Italian - Buon Natale

14. Japanese - Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

15. Korean - Sung Tan Chuk Ha

16. Latin - Natale hilare et Annum Faustum

17. Maltese - IL-Milied It-tajjeb

18. Portuguese - Feliz Natal

19. Russian - Pozdravlyenie s Rozjdyestvom i s Novym Godom

20. Swedish - God Jul 

21. Samoan La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou

22. Spanish - Feliz Navidad

23. Urdu - Naya Saal Mubarak Ho

24. Vietnamese - Chuc Mung Giang Sinh

25. Welsh - Nadolig Llawen

 

Seasons Greetings in many languages



N.B. Children should not browse sites unsupervised 

Saturday 22 December 2012

Father Christmas vs Santa Claus


Father Christmas is the British version of Santa Claus. He is an old jolly man with white hair, a beard and a moustache. He is dressed in a red suit outlined in white. Father Christmas and his elves make all the toys for Christmas in his home in the North Pole.

Google image

The red coat is 'new'. Images of Father Christmas prior to about 1880 showed him with a green coat. The red became the most popular colour after the US introduction by Coca Cola during the 1930s.



History of Father Christmas in England

Father Christmas was originally part of an old English midwinter festival, normally dressed in green, a sign of the returning spring. He was known as 'Sir Christmas', 'Old Father Christmas' or Old Winter'.

In this earliest form, Father Christmas was not the bringer of gifts for small children, nor did he come down the chimney. He simply wandered around from home to home, knocking on doors and feasting with families before moving on to the next house.

Google image
The Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843) is based on Father Christmas. He is described as a large man with a red beard and fur-lined green robe. Images of Father Christmas (Santa Claus) dressed in red started appearing on Christmas cards in the late Victorian times.


Who is Santa Claus?

Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nicholas.
St. Nicholas, or Sinter Klaas in Dutch, was a very shy man and wanted to give money to poor people without them knowing about it. It is said that one day, he climbed the roof of a house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney. It landed in the stocking which a girl had put to dry by the fire! This may explain the belief that Father Christmas comes down the chimney and places gifts in children's stockings.

When the Dutch introduced Sinter Klaas to the Americans they called him Santa Claus.

What are the different names of Father Christmas/Santa Claus?

Father Christmas is called different names around the world. The most popular name now-a-days is Santa Claus.

Austria: Christkind ("Christ child")
Belgium: Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) and De Kerstman ("Father Christmas")
Canada: Santa Claus; Père Noël ("Father Christmas")
Denmark: Julemanden
Estonia: Jõuluvana
Finland: Joulupukki
France: Père Noël ("Father Christmas");
Germany: Weihnachtsmann ("Christmas Man"); Christkind in southern Germany
Hungary: Mikulás ("Nicholas"); Jézuska or Kis Jézus ("child Jesus")
Italy: Babbo Natale ("Father Christmas"); La Befana
Netherlands & Flanders: Sinterklaas
Norway: Julenissen
Poland: Swiety Mikolaj
Portugal: Pai Natal ("Father Christmas")
Russia: Ded Moroz, "Grandfather Frost
Spain: Papa Noel
Sweden: Jultomten
Switzerland: Samichlaus
United Kingdom: Father Christmas; Santa Claus
United States: Santa Claus

Source: www.projectbritain.com

Monday 17 December 2012

Class 5 - What do you want for Christmas?

 
After reading 'Jingle's Christmas Adventure', the students of 5th grade were asked to give their own answer to the above question

 Click the book below to see their answers!

Our artwork
 

Class 6 - What do you want for Christmas?


After reading 'Jingle's Christmas Adventure', the students of 6th grade were asked to give their own answer to the above question

Click the book below to see their answers!


Our artwork