Christmas Around the World Webquest

Christmas Around The World

Introduction:

Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, Buon Natale, Merry Christmas ...whatever language you choose to say it in, it still means Merry Christmas!

Christmas is a holiday that is celebrated in many ways around the world. This is called a tradition. In the United States, a Christmas tradition that many of us are familiar with is when Santa Claus comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and leaves presents under the Christmas tree for all the good boys and girls.

How do traditions in other countries differ?

· A popular Christmas tradition in Italy involves music played by zampognari.

· In Germany, the three Thursdays before Christmas are known as Knocking Nights.

· In Ireland, candles are placed in the windows on Christmas Eve.

· Christmas trees are not commonly used in Greece.

· Children in Spain do something special with their shoes on January 5th.

· How about Australia, France, England, and Poland? Does Santa Claus even visit these countries, or do they have another Christmas tradition that we would like to know more about?

In this project you will research Christmas traditions in an African country of your choice. You will create a Power Point presentation about the Christmas traditions you found in that country. You will also come up with 3 important question & answers that you feel the rest of the class should know about.
The Task:

In order to discover the different Christmas traditions from other countries, you will:

1. Compile a list of Christmas traditions in the United States.

2. Choose a country and research it's Christmas traditions.

3. Use the Internet site provided on the Resource page to search for all your information.

4. Create a PowerPoint featuring your findings.

The Process:

1. You will create a PowerPoint entitled Christmas Traditions In Africa.

2. Select a country, other than the United States, and research it's Christmas traditions. There should be no two people with the same country.

3. Gather information about Christmas traditions in the country that you chose.

4. Prepare a Power Point presentation using 8 or more slides. The following information should be a part of your slide show:

· Introduction slide-title of your presentation.

· List of Christmas traditions in your country.

· Map of the country you chose.

· Similarities between Christmas traditions in the United States and your chosen country.

· Differences between Christmas traditions in the United States and your chosen country.

· Pictures or graphics on each slide.

· A Reference slide indicating which websites you used to find your information.

· On a concluding slide ask the class three questions about your presentation.

4.. Background Christmas music will need to be implemented.

Christmas (MIDI & WAV) Music:

· MIDI are background songs for your PowerPoint

· WAV are sound effects for your PowerPoint

To DOWNLOAD a sound to your

shared or hard drive...

· In Microsoft Explorer:

· RIGHT click on it, then "Save Target as".

5. Each group will present their Power Point presentation to the rest of the class.

Resources:

See http://www.tim-jansen.com/solehi-pages/~webquests-and-more/christmas-around-the-world/index.htm#Resources for all the hyperlinked resources online.

Evaluation:

You PowerPoint project will be evaluated based on a rubric that your teacher will hand out.

Conclusion:

In researching Christmas traditions in other countries, you have seen that not every country celebrates Christmas like the United States. Now that you have seen how other countries celebrate Christmas, think about how you might be able use some of your new knowledge to start your own Christmas tradition in your family.