The e-Book

1,000 IDEAS & ACTIVITIES FOR
LANGUAGE
TEACHERS

News English Lessons
FREE Handout, Listening & Quizzes on Christmas
(11 Pages of Materials & 8 Online Activities)

Home
Donate

E-mail this lesson to
a student /colleague

COPYRIGHT:
Please write to
me for permission.

Brits Angry at Xmas Reindeer Steaks (16th November, 2010)

British people are angry at a discount supermarket for selling reindeer meat. The store, Lidl, is offering “Rudolph steaks” as an alternative to the traditional turkey. The German chain is selling the frozen steaks along with other "luxury meats" such as pheasant, venison and springbok. The vegetarian campaign group Viva! say that "Lidl is destroying the magic of Christmas". Animal rights group PETA said: "The idea of ‘Rudolph’ being slaughtered and sliced into steaks for a novelty Christmas dinner is revolting."

Advertisements

Viva! spokesman Justin Kerswell is worried the reindeer suffer a horrible death. He claimed the Siberian reindeer are chased by snowmobiles and helicopters and may be killed in a cruel way. He added that transporting the meat from Siberia to Britain increased the supermarket’s carbon footprint. A PETA spokesperson agreed, saying: "Christmas is supposed to remind us of peace and goodwill - and the rest of the animal kingdom could do with a taste of it, rather than being tasted."

Advertisements

PHRASE MATCH

Match the following phrases from the article.

Paragraph 1

1.	people are angry	a.	the traditional turkey
2	an alternative to	b.	with other "luxury meats"
3.	along	c.	the magic of Christmas
4.	destroying	d.	at a discount supermarket
5.	Animal rights	e.	steaks
6.	sliced into	f.	group

Paragraph 2

1.	the reindeer suffer	a.	and goodwill
2	chased	b.	a cruel way
3.	killed in	c.	footprint
4.	the supermarket’s carbon	d.	a horrible death
5.	remind us of peace	e.	of the animal kingdom
6.	the rest	f.	by snowmobiles

LISTENING GAP FILL

British people __________________ discount supermarket for selling reindeer meat. The store, Lidl, is offering “Rudolph steaks” as an __________________ traditional turkey. The German chain is selling the frozen steaks __________________ "luxury meats" such as pheasant, venison and springbok. The vegetarian campaign group Viva! say that "Lidl is __________________ of Christmas". __________________ PETA said: "The idea of ‘Rudolph’ being slaughtered and __________________ for a novelty Christmas dinner is revolting."

Viva! spokesman Justin Kerswell is worried the reindeer __________________ death. He claimed the Siberian reindeer are chased by snowmobiles and helicopters _________________ in a cruel way. He added __________________ meat from Siberia to Britain increased the supermarket’s _______________. A PETA spokesperson agreed, saying: "Christmas is supposed to ____________________ and goodwill - and the rest of the animal kingdom could do with a taste of it, _______________ tasted."

MULTIPLE CHOICE

British people are angry (1) ____ a discount supermarket for selling reindeer meat. The store, Lidl, is offering “Rudolph steaks” (2) ____ an alternative to the traditional turkey. The German (3) ____ is selling the frozen steaks along with other "luxury meats" such as pheasant, venison and springbok. The (4) ____ campaign group Viva! say that "Lidl is destroying the (5) ____ of Christmas". Animal rights group PETA said: "The idea of ‘Rudolph’ being slaughtered and (6) ____ into steaks for a novelty Christmas dinner is revolting."

Viva! spokesman Justin Kerswell is worried the reindeer (7) ____ a horrible death. He (8) ____ the Siberian reindeer are chased by snowmobiles and helicopters and may be killed in a (9) ____ way. He added that transporting the meat from Siberia to Britain increased the supermarket’s carbon (10) ____. A PETA spokesperson agreed, saying: "Christmas is supposed to remind us of (11) ____ and goodwill - and the rest of the animal kingdom could do with a taste of it, (12) ____ than being tasted."

Put the correct words from this table into the article.

1.	(a)	on	(b)	to	(c)	at
2.	(a)	as	(b)	was	(c)	has
3.	(a)	lock	(b)	chain	(c)	key
4.	(a)	vegetable	(b)	vegetarian	(c)	vegetate
5.	(a)	magician	(b)	magically	(c)	magic
6.	(a)	sliced	(b)	diced	(c)	iced
7.	(a)	suffering	(b)	suffer	(c)	sufferable
8.	(a)	claiming	(b)	claim	(c)	claimed
9.	(a)	cruel	(b)	cruelty	(c)	cruelly
10.	(a)	fingerprint	(b)	footprint	(c)	hoof print
11.	(a)	piece	(b)	peas	(c)	peace
12	(a)	rather	(b)	instead	(c)	prefer

SPELLING

Spell the jumbled words (from the text) correctly.

Paragraph 1
1.	a nuoidcts supermarket
2.	as an etarinevtal
3.	onferz steaks
4.	other "ylurxu meats"
5.	the giacm of Christmas
6.	eslicd into steaks
Paragraph 2
7.	suffer a horrible daeht
8.	aechds by snowmobiles
9.	killed in a reucl way
10.	norcab footprint
11.	peace and oidlglwo
12.	hrreat than being tasted

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	goodwill - and the rest of the animal kingdom could do with a taste of it, rather than being tasted."
( )	“Rudolph steaks” as an alternative to the traditional turkey. The German chain is selling the frozen
( 1 )	British people are angry at a discount supermarket for selling reindeer meat. The store, Lidl, is offering
( )	Siberian reindeer are chased by snowmobiles and helicopters and may be killed in a cruel way. He
( )	added that transporting the meat from Siberia to Britain increased the supermarket’s carbon
( )	"The idea of ‘Rudolph’ being slaughtered and sliced into steaks for a novelty Christmas dinner is revolting."
( )	footprint. A PETA spokesperson agreed, saying: "Christmas is supposed to remind us of peace and
( )	Viva! spokesman Justin Kerswell is worried the reindeer suffer a horrible death. He claimed the
( )	steaks along with other "luxury meats" such as pheasant, venison and springbok. The vegetarian
( )	campaign group Viva! say that "Lidl is destroying the magic of Christmas". Animal rights group PETA said:

THE READING / TAPESCRIPT

With a partner, put the words back into the correct order.

1.	are supermarket angry at British a people discount.
2.	alternative the turkey An to traditional.
3.	steaks is selling The the German frozen chain.
4.	of magic the destroying is Lidl Christmas.
5.	slaughtered sliced steaks Being and into.
6.	a suffer reindeer the Worried death horrible.
7.	Siberian The snowmobiles by chased are reindeer.
8.	Increased footprint carbon supermarket’s the.
9.	of supposed peace to remind Christmas us is.
10.	do The with animal a kingdom taste could.

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

WRITING

Write about Christmas for 10 minutes. Show your partner your paper. Correct each other’s work.

______________________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. REINDEER STEAKS: Search the Internet and find more information about reindeer steaks. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about the Christmas reindeer steaks. Include imaginary interviews with some reindeer. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

4. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

5. LETTER: Write a letter to the boss of the Lidl supermarket. Ask him/her three questions about the reindeer steaks. Give him/her three of your opinions on them. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Your partner will answer the questions you asked.

Back to the top

News English Lessons FREE Handout, Listening & Quizzes on Christmas (11 Pages of Materials & 8 Online Activities)