How the Grinch Stole Christmas ESL Listening Speaking Activities

One of the most loved North American Christmas stories of all time  is the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  

Although Dr. Seuss, a well-known children's writer, originally wrote the story for children, it has messages for young and old. 

The story and the animated video ,now shown on television every year  at Christmas time, continues to delight millions of of people whether they are watching it for the first time, or the 30th time. 

Now that we have officially entered the Christmas season, this is a wonderful opportunity for you to watch an important  piece of North American culture.  

It doesn't matter if you live in Australia, Europe, Asia or  the Middle East, you will still enjoy learning a little about a series of Christmas messages that apply to every culture or religion. 

If you plan to live in North America, or if you already live here, it is even more important  that you know about this  story by Dr. Seuss. If you can mention any aspect of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or of Who ville  in casual conversation, people will think you are  a true American or Canada, and really "get us." 

This is also a way you can get your children involved. 

Activity 1#
Pre-listening: 
Read and go through the following power point on your own, or with your children

Power Point Explaining the Basic Story and characters in the Grinch Who Stole Christmas

Listening: 
Watch the video as many times as you need to know and answer the comprehension questions below. 

 
How the Grinch Stole Christmas www.pisothshow.com by Yous_Pisoth  

Read the Complete Script for the animated version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

  Activity #2 : SONG

1.  Listen to the song without  looking at the gap fill. Try to write down all the negative

     words that describe Mr. Grinch. 

2.  Listen as many times as you need and fill in the gaps. 

3.  Sing-along . This is a great song to practice enunciating. Make sure you open your 
     mouth as wide as you can in order to let your tongue get to the right place. Sing as 
     slowly as the singer. 

  How the Grinch Stole Christmas

   Discussion and Writing Questions

1.         Why do you think the Grinch hated Christmas so much? 

2.         What role does Cindy Lou play in the story. What does she do to change the Grinch? 

3.         Why do you think the Who's reacted the way they did when they found out that all their things              had  been  stolen? 

4.         Do you know anyone who is like the Grinch? What might some be some reasons  why                          that person acts that way?

5.         What did the people of Whoville learn from the Grinch's behaviour in the story?  

6.         If you were the Grinch's defense attorney, what kind of arguments could you make in

            his favour?  

7.         What is the message of the story?  Is there more than one message?  Explain.

8.          If you had to spend an afternoon with Grinch for the afternoon what would you do to

            get the Grinch in the holiday spirit?

9.         If you could give the Grinch one gift, what would it be? 

10.       List some differences between the Grinch and Cindy's Lou's personalities. Give examples. 

11.       The Grinch has a serious character flaw. He experiences a crisis and then changes for the

            better. Describe the Grinch's character flaw at the beginning of the story. What  crisis changes

            him?  How did he change? 

12.       Dr. Seuss wrote How the Grinch Stole Christmas to point out how the media and  marketing 

            have created a holiday focused on spending money to buy things.  

            Discuss how has the media changed holidays such as Christmas, New Years, Chinese 

            New Year, Valentine's Day, Mother;s Day etc. and how they are celebrated. 

13.       Would you write a different ending to the story? Explain why or why not. If yes, how would

             you end  it? 

14.       Do you know anyone who had some bad personality characteristics, but who became  a better              person after something happened to him or her. This could be you, or anyone you know. Tell 

             what happened, and why this person changed. 

15.       Write a letter to persuade the Grinch why he should change his mind.   

How the Grinch Stole Christmas Discussion and Writing Questions   Word Document 

Acting out the Story  

Readers Theatre How the Grinch Stole Christmas
This is an easier version of the story written like a small play. It is perfect for students to use as a play in the classroom. The roles are broken down so that everyone can have  one , two or even three parts.

1. Assign roles to different students and have the practice in groups. ( If you have a large class, you could divide them into two or three groups) 
2. Start with having them read their lines normally, but fluently, without hesitating or stumbling. 
3. Go over the pronunciation of different words.
4. Now, have the students put the maximum amount of expression in their voice. Practice as often as they need. 
5.  Have them memorize their lines and be able to repeat them in the correct order. 
6. Perform the mini play in class

English Spelling: Does It Make Sense?

Many of you have problems spelling English words. This often prevents you from reading or writing as well as you would like to.

Don't get discouraged!  Even though  English spelling often doesn't make seem to make sense, if you dig a little deeper, there  are often very good reasons that explain  the way many English words are spelled. 

Watch this great  video called Making Sense of English Spelling   from TED ED to learn more about  English spelling. It might help you understand it a little better. It might even make you want to learn more about  prefixes , suffixes, roots and even the history of English word.




LISTENING QUIZ: 
 
Go to Making Sense of English Spelling  and click on "THINK "to check your listening comprehension and how well you understood this video. Click on 'DIG DEEPER"  for some links to other resources on the web about English spelling.

For even more resources and practice with English spelling, go to my Editing and Error Correction  Page  and scroll down to the the SPELLING section. 

Is Spelling Important?

 I'll  never forget the night my son's seventh grade teacher told  30 parents sitting in her classroom that she did not consider spelling to be important. She had already proved that by misspelling three out of the five words she had written on the blackboard.  

As soon as s soon as she uttered those words, all 30  of us drew in a collective breath of shock. Surely we had not heard this woman say that it did not matter whether or not our children spelled words correctly.  Was she crazy? . How could this woman be a certified teacher . No teacher was going to actively allow our children to b reak rules.  Meeting over, off we marched to the Principal's  office filled with outrage. Luckily, the principal was an expert at dealing with irate parents who cared about their children's education. "Don't worry. I'll have a talk with the teacher," she soothed us. " She's new here. She doesn't quite understand how much we value every aspect of a good education here." 

Needless to say, for the rest of the year our sons and daughters turned in correctly spelled assignments. Today, the majority of them are out there in the world knowing how to communicate exceptionally well, with nary a spelling error.

Spelling in the ESL World 

Here Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey and other cities in the Lower Mainland where thousands of immigrants re learning English as a Second Language, things are a little different. Many students from dozens of countries have major problems with spelling English words, even some of the most basic. A large part of their spelling problems are due to lack of phonics, inability to distinguish between English vowel sounds and syllables in longer words. 

Listening Pronunciation Problem

For many students poor spelling is actually a listening and pronunciation problem. If your language only has five vowel sounds, and English has more than 20, it is quite easy to have problems distinguishing between than  and then.  If you come from the Middle East, where not only do you not have an English alphabet, but you barely have any vowel sounds at all. How then, are you going to spell words that require at least some understanding of phonics.

Spelling Affects Your Reputation

Unfortunately, correct spelling is important for everyone: native speakers, and second language speakers.  Spelling affects your reputation. People judge you by your spelling; your misspelled words will give others reason to doubt that you know what you’re talking about.  No matter what you say, if the spelling is poor, the reader will notice this before anything else. Punctuation errors often go unnoticed, but everyone notices spelling errors. 

Spelling affects your communication – misspelling a word may change the meaning of the entire sentence, depending on which word you’ve misspelled.The importance you put on your spelling depends on how seriously you want to be taken.  

Bad Spelling Can Affect Your Future  

Spell-check doesn’t work all the time, because some misspellings are words themselves, but your readers will notice. If you’re in school, spelling mistakes will lower your grade. Being unable to spell properly can prevent you from getting an important job. If you’re in a business, spelling mistakes may lower your revenue. In either case, spelling mistakes will lower other people’s opinions of your intelligence and abilities.

You cannot place your entire future on the line by not being able to spell. Not only is the ability to spell necessary in most occupations, but a person also needs to be able to spell well in order to be able to communicate and take notes and directions. You could be trying to write someone a note that could possibly save his life, but if the person only sees a note filled with misspelled words, then that person may not be able to comprehend what you’re saying. It’s a stretch, but the message is clear. Spelling is so very important.

 So....what should you do if you are an ESL student with spelling problems?

• Decide that you are going to do something about it rather than complain about it.
• Develop a spelling plan. You can do this on your own, or with your teacher. 
• If you are in an English class, go over everything paragraph or essay you have written  
• Make a list of every single word you have spelled wrong. If you have misspelled it often, add it to your list each time.  
• Check to see if there is a pattern. 
• Do many of your mistakes involve reversing letters? 
• Do other errors involve final endings?
• Do you have a problem with double consonants? 
• Are you skipping a syllable, or a letter in the middle of words? 
• Are you getting the vowels wrong, even in short words? 

Only You Can Do Something About it.

Knowledge is power.Once you and your instructor know what kind of spelling errors you make, you can actively begin to work on them. Learn the basic rules for some of your problems. Learn phonics for others.  Actively memorize entire lists of words every week and have your teacher give you regular spelling tests.

There is no magic. The only way you can improve your spelling, and even become a good speller, or at least a careful one is by  working at it, developing a plan and sticking to it. 
It's up to you.

Let me know what you think.  I appreciate all comments!