Thursday, December 20, 2007

13 Ways to Say Merry Christmas!

As units wind down to a close and final exams are taken for the nine weeks it becomes necessary to fill the time remaining---usually a day or two---with activities that matter. Children are focused on the vacation looming ahead of them and beginning brand new material is just a waste of time. I like to use the few extra class periods before the holidays practicing skills.

One activity has to do with languages across the world and a web search where students attempt to find how many different ways the words Merry Christmas can be said. Other celebrations during this time of the year can also be included such as Hannukah.

We end up making a huge collage of the different greetings and individual students map their county in two ways---individually and in relation to the rest of the world. A few facts are gathered as well regarding holiday traditions and presented to the class.

A twist on this activity involves a review of crucial material students will need to remember during Spring testing. Nowadays there are many sites that also provide ‘Merry Christmas’ translations in various Native American languages. It’s a great way to review the Native American regions we studied back in August and September.

1. Chinese (Cantonese): Gun Tso Sun Tan’Gung Haw Sun

2. Brazil: Feliz Natal

3. Arabic: Milad Majid

4. Croation: Sretan Bozic

5. Egyptian: Colo sana wimtom tiebeen

6. French: Joyeux Noel

7. Icelandic: Gledileg Jol

8. Greek: Kala Christouyenna

9. Japanese: Shinnen omedeto Kurisumasu Omedeto

10. Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu

11. Papua New Guinea: Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia I go long yu

12. Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun

13. Vietnamese: Chuc Mung Giang Sinh

See other 13s here

15 comments:

Unknown said...

This is the second TT I've read with Merry Christmas in different languages! Fun TT!

Sandee said...

Very clever way to do Thursday Thirteen. I got a kick out of #11. That's a very, very long way to say Merry Christmas. Have a great TT. :)

EHT said...

Yes, Sandee. Some of these I would hate to have to write over and over and over on a card. :)

Natalie said...

I don't know how to pronounce most of those, but it's fun to see how others say Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas in their own way! :)

Possibly my worst, most unimaginative TT is up if you want to check it out. I was at a loss this week for what to write.

DrillerAA said...

Thank you for the language lesson. I still prefer the mother tongue...Merry Christmas.

storyteller said...

Interesting list - I think they say Meli Kalikimaka in Hawaii, but that's the only other one I know off hand. 'Tis always good to learn something new. Thanks for sharing
Hugs and blessings,

Nicholas said...

Very interesting list.

CaliforniaTeacherGuy said...

Thursday was our last day. I wish I had thought to do something like this to fill those seemingly endless hours before the final bell!

Anonymous said...

In Hebrew :

Chag Molad Same'ach (Merry Christmas)

and

Chanuka Same'ach (Happy Hanukka)

Happy holidays!

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

The Tour Marm said...

Have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Melanie said...

Very Creative! Merry Christmas!

Shannon said...

Bahasa Indonesia:
Selamat Hari Natal Dan Tahun Baru (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)

EHT said...

Thanks for visiting everyone and a big thank you to those who added more greetings. I love the collaboration!

Anonymous said...

Sung Tan Chuk Ha! Merry Christmas!

HAPPY NEW YEAR saw your site/blog following through from Larry Ferlazzo

James