A Creepy Christmas Carol

THE ENGLISH NEWS WEEKLY PODCAST JAIME SELWOOD 06/11/2015 The Emotional Robot 1 of 13 FLASHBACK ENW3 2 1 : U N U S U A L C H R I S T M A S T R A D ITIONS! A Creepy Christmas Carol ENW 362 Introduction This week s ENW podcast is the last podcast of 2018! In previous Christmas podcasts we have looked at Christmas music, movies, foods, events, sports and many other connections to the Yuletide season. This year we thought we concentrate on one of the most famous Christmas Carols in the world. Not only does this week mark the 200 th anniversary of its first performance but the post-script also has a rather creepy and macabre twist! But don t worry they won t be too scary we hope! So, Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays or just be Happy! HOMEPAGE http://pod.flare.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/cms/enw.php FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/enw1975 (c) Jaime Selwood ENW Episode 219 TECHNOLOGY TWITTER twitter.com/enwpodcast

Contents Pages Part 1 Warm Ups Odd-One-Out Page 1 Brainstorm Page 1 Christmas Carol Origins Page 1 / 2 Quiz This Week Page 2 Part 2 Before Listening / Reading Jumbled Words Page 3 True or False Page 3 Vocabulary Antonyms Page 3 Part 3 Listening / Reading The News Story 385 Words Page 4 What Do You Think...? Page 4 Part 4 After Listening / Reading Q & A Page 5 A & Q Page 5 Part 5 Extra Stuff Extra English I Page 6 7 to Chinwag Page 6 Writing Activity Page 7 And Finally. Did You Know? Page 7 TV Links Page 8 The Answers Pages 8-10 A1 This symbol = Listening activity in the podcast. A1

1 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 [201812-03] A Christmas Carol... December 21 st 2018 Warm Up 1 Odd 1 Out Look at the four words below, which word is different from the other three? Write your reason in the box underneath. Check your answer later. a) Chile b) Turkey c) Japan d) India My Reason Warm Up 2 Brainstorm How many different words can you connect to the word(s) in the box? Can you think of at least 10 words? Why do you think this? Christmas Warm Up 3 Christmas Carol Origins? Look at the country flags below and then match them with the carol name. All the answer names for the carols are on page 2! 1. 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 10:

2 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 Christmas Carols Which is Which..? 1 1 1 1 1 1 1! 1 A A WAY I N A M ANGER F IT IS NOEL B C HRISTMAS H AS C OME G NATIONS REJOICE C D ING D ONG M ERRILY ON H IGH H SLEEP JESUS SLEEP D E VERY Y EAR A GAIN I SONG OF GOOD TIDINGS E F UM F UM F UM J ZUKUKA Warm Up 4 A1 Quiz Read the questions about this week s news story. Remember if you don t know use the Internet to help or GUESS! 1: The oldest Christmas Carol was written in 129AD, what is it? a: Away in a Manger b: Angel s Hymn c: Christmas Has Come 2: What does the word carol originally mean? a: Dance b: Song c: Light 3: Which century did the singing of Carols start to become widespread? a: 17 th b: 18 th c: 19 th 4: What year was the first Christmas song that referred to Santa Claus written? a: 1764 b: 1864 c: 1964 5: What year was the first Christmas Carol played over the radio? a: 1906 b: 1916 c: 1926 6: Which Christmas song has been declared a UNESCO Cultural Heritage? a: Holly & the Ivy b: Jingle Bells c: Silent Night E1: What religion were the writers of the best selling Christmas song ever? a: E2: What Christmas Song is the best selling song in history of music? a: E3: Which photo below is of American singer Bing Crosby? a: b: c: END OF PART 1

3 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 Pre-Listening / Reading 1 Jumbled Sentences The sentence below is from a paragraph in the news story. Un-jumble the words and put them into the correct order. performed called first the the German town small where Oberndorf. The a had Austrian- town on carol been border is 2 Silent Night: Alas Poor Mohr The town where the Pre-Listening / Reading 2 A2 True or False Read the headline of News Story ~ Silent Night: Alas Poor Mohr Look at the 5 statements. Guess if you think 1 5 are True or False! 1 Silent Night was composed in the Austrian town of Wagrain. [T] [F] 2 The 1 st performance of Silent Night was December 24 th 1818. [T] [F] 3 Joseph Muehlbacher was a sculptor. [T] [F] 4 Silent Night was written in part by a Catholic priest. [T] [F] 5 Silent Night is a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Song. [T] [F] Pre-Listening / Reading 3 Antonyms An antonym is a word with an opposite meaning. Match the 10 words on the left with their antonyms on the right. All the antonyms in black are from the News Stories. 1 Happy 6 Macabre A Erasable F Miserable 2 Prefer 7 Origin B Writer G Deliberately 3 Coincidently 8 Problem C Depart H Bury 4 Indelible 9 Exhume D Solution I Conclusion 5 Crooner 10 Reside E Refuse J Cheerful END OF PART 2

4 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 Listening / Reading Listening Silent Night: Alas Poor Mohr Three Words? Help Listen / Read the news story and then choose the correct word from the choices! Look at what type of word is underlined and what type of word is nearby! 362 Silent Night: Alas Poor Mohr 1 Christmas is considered to be a 1: happy/sad/funny festival where friends and families come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ or if they 2: prefer /desire/pray participate in less religious activities. Decorations, lights, tinsel, presents, trees, mince pies and turkey are some of the Christmas traditions that are still popular as we leave 2018. Another popular Christmas tradition that still happens is the singing of carols. Arguably the most famous Christmas Carol is Silent Night, which 3: crazily/deliberately/coincidently was first performed 200 years ago almost to the day on December 24 th 1818. 2 This popular carol was a combination of music composed by Franz Xaver Gruber and lyrics by a Catholic priest - Joseph Mohr. Called Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht in German it has become such an 4: indelible/maybe/exciting part of Christmas culture that in 2011 UNESCO named it an Intangible Cultural Heritage. OK, so far everything seems quite normal; carol composed, becomes hugely popular, translated into English and a version sung by American 5: star/crooner/legend Bing Crosby is the 3 rd biggest-selling single of all time. However there is a rather dark and 6: lovely/delicious/macabre twist to the story of Silent Night, one that involves body snatching, or to be precise, skull stealing! 3 The town where the carol had been first performed is a small town on the Austrian- German border called Oberndorf. In 1937 a new chapel was built on the spot of the old church where Silent Night had its first performance. The chapel wanted to commemorate the 7: origins/beginnings/endings of the carol and so created a small exhibition about Mohr and Gruber. There was however, one small problem no likeness of Mohr had ever been made. Nobody knew what he looked like! To solve this 8: solution/idea/problem, a sculptor by the name of Josef Muehlbacher decided to do a bit of grave digging. 4 Muehlbacher travelled to Wagrain, 88km south of Oberndorf and the place where Mohr had died in 1848, had his body 9: exhumed/burnt/encased and then took away Mohr s skull. So, all the portraits that exist today of Mohr are actually based on Muehlbacher s imagination of what he thought Mohr might have looked like! There is also one final macabre twist, Mohr s skull has never been reunited with the rest of him, and now 10: is/resides/over behind the children s nativity scene in the Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf. No heavenly sleep for Joseph Mohr it seems. END OF PART 3 [385 Words]

5 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 Post-Listening / Reading 1 A3 Q & A How much can you remember from News Story? Read / Listen to the questions below and choose the correct answer. If you can t remember any answers, guess! Q1 Who is the lyricist of Silent Night? Q2 What year was Silent Night first performed? Q3 What is the name of the town where Silent Night was composed? Q4 Which American crooner sang Silent Night in the 20 th Century? Q5 What year did the song become a UNESCO cultural song? Q6 Who composed the music for Silent Night? E1 What was the name of the town where Joseph Mohr buried in? E2 How many people are mentioned in the news story? Post-Reading 2 A & Q How much can you remember from the news story? Read the answers below and write the correct question. There is more than one possible correct question for each one! A1 88.? A2 1848.? A3 24.? A4 1937? A5 200? END OF PART 4

6 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 English Extra I English Idioms About Christmas The English language has many phrases that use the idiomatic expressions that are about the - Christmas. Example: Stocking Stuffer A small, usually inexpensive gift. Be there with bells on A very happy response to a request! Can you match the phrase with the correct situation? 1 A Stocking Stuffer 2 To trim the tree 3 A White Christmas 4 The holiday spirit 5 Be my guest 6 Don t look a gift horse in the mouth. 7 To beat the holiday blues 8 Good things come in small packages. 9 Christmas comes but once a year. 10 Christmas came early 11 The more the merrier. 12 Be there with bells on. A To receive unexpected good news B Don t be ungrateful for gifts. C To decorate the Christmas Tree. D A very happy response to a request. E Excitement about the holiday period. F The more people the easier to find a solution. G Christmas with snow. H Enjoy the holiday festival period. I A polite way to offer someone something. J A present should be judged on its size. K A small gift usually inexpensive. L Overcome stress and frustration. 7 to Chinwag This Week s ENW Podcast ENW Podcast Topic Silent Night: Alas Poor Mohr Ask / Answer the questions below on this week s ENW Podcast Topic! 1 What did you think when you read this week s ENW topic? 2 What is your opinion about Christmas Carols? Why? 3 What do you think is the most famous Christmas Carol? Why? 4 Which Christmas tradition do you think is the most enjoyable? Why? 5 How is Christmas celebrated in your country? 6 What has been your best memory from 2018? Why? EX FREE QUESTION!

7 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 Writing This Week As it is Christmas, ENW is looking back at events from 2018. What have been the happiest, saddest, funniest, most painful etc events this year? Give as many details as you can! END OF PART 5 And Finally V/W/X/Y/Z A4 Did You Know?

8 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 Visual TV Links Michael Buble (Canada) 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-izgh91-v7y [03:50] Michael Buble Sings Silent Night You Tube (USA) 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aga6djlsdgs [03:27] Silent Night in German You Tube (USA) 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvi-9bnnoiu [04:33] The History of Christmas Carols Podcast Key A1 These activities are audio and can be listened to on the podcast. Answers Part 1 Warm Up 1-4 Warm Up 1 Odd-1-Out A CHILE Warm Up 3 Origins of Christmas Carols A / B / C are countries that don t officially celebrate Christmas 1 E 2 I 3 G 4 A 5 C 6 B 7 F 8 D 9 H 10 J A1 Warm Up 4 Quiz 1 B 2 A 3 C 4 B 5 A 6 C E1 JEWISH E2: WHITE CHRISTMAS E3 A Answers Part 1 Warm Up 1-4 Jumbled Sentences The town where the carol had been first performed is a small town on the Austrian- German border called Oberndorf. A2 True or False 1 F 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 T Antonyms 1 F 2 E 3 G 4 A 5 B 6 J 7 I 8 D 9 H 10 C

Answers Part 3 9 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 Listening 362 Silent Night: Alas Poor Mohr 1 Christmas is considered to be a happy festival where friends and families come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ or if they prefer participate in less religious activities. Decorations, lights, tinsel, presents, trees, mince pies and turkey are some of the Christmas traditions that are still popular as we leave 2018. Another popular Christmas tradition that still happens is the singing of carols. Arguably the most famous Christmas Carol is Silent Night, which coincidently was first performed 200 years ago almost to the day on December 24 th 1818. 2 This popular carol was a combination of music composed by Franz Xaver Gruber and lyrics by a Catholic priest - Joseph Mohr. Called Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht in German it has become such an indelible part of Christmas culture that in 2011 UNESCO named it an Intangible Cultural Heritage. OK, so far everything seems quite normal; carol composed, becomes hugely popular, translated into English and a version sung by American crooner Bing Crosby is the 3 rd biggestselling single of all time. However there is a rather dark and macabre twist to the story of Silent Night, one that involves body snatching, or to be precise, skull stealing! 3 The town where the carol had been first performed is a small town on the Austrian-German border called Oberndorf. In 1937 a new chapel was built on the spot of the old church where Silent Night had its first performance. The chapel wanted to commemorate the origins of the carol and so created a small exhibition about Mohr and Gruber. There was however, one small problem no likeness of Mohr had ever been made. Nobody knew what he looked like! To solve this problem, a sculptor by the name of Josef Muehlbacher decided to do a bit of grave digging. 4 Muehlbacher travelled to Wagrain, 88km south of Oberndorf and the place where Mohr had died in 1848, had his body exhumed and then took away Mohr s skull. So, all the portraits that exist today of Mohr are actually based on Muehlbacher s imagination of what he thought Mohr might have looked like! There is also one final macabre twist, Mohr s skull has never been reunited with the rest of him, and now resides behind the children s nativity scene in the Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf. No heavenly sleep for Joseph Mohr it seems. [376 Words] Answers Part 4 Post-Listening / Reading A3 Q & A 1 Joseph Mohr 5 2011 2 1818 6 Francis Gruber 3 Oberndorf E1 Wagrain 4 Bing Crosby E2 Five (5) A & Q Example Questions A1 How many kilometers is Oberndorf from Wagrain? A2 What year did Joseph Mohr? A3 What day in December was Silent Night first performed? A4 What year was a new chapel built? A5 How many years ago was Silent Night first performed?

English Extra 10 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 1 K 2 C 3 G 4 E 5 I 6 B 7 L 8 J 9 H 10 A 11 F 12 - D And Finally X & Z A4 X / V / Y / Z / W Extra Bit This Week s ENW Images

Episode 362 11 The English News Weekly Podcast Jaime Selwood 2018 MAIN PHOTO http://picmoonco.pw/the-ocr-world-championships-team-race-recap-obstacle.html LINKS: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161220-the-surprising-origins-of-famous-christmas-carols https://www.oddee.com/item_99551.aspx https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/06/entertainment/christmas-songs-history-trnd/index.html https://listverse.com/2015/07/25/10-popular-christmas-songs-with-creepy-origin-stories/ https://www.uselessdaily.com/news/10-fun-facts-about-christmas-carols-list/#.xbmpjc2b2s4 https://www.buzzfeed.com/kelleydunlap/surprising-facts-about-christmas-songs https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/silent-night-salzburg/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/joseph_mohr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/silent_night https://coursefinders.com/blog/en/2398/christmas-related-idioms-phrases https://www.1qct.org/2014/11/ten-fun-facts-about-a-christmas-carol/