STAGE 4Unit focus: ChristmasText focus: Information Text
Christmas TreesAsatradition,celebratingthewinterperiodwithanevergreentreedatesbackthousandsofyears.PagansusedbranchestodecoratetheirhomeswhilstRomansusedfirtreestodecoratetheirtemples.Itwasn’tuntilthe16thcenturythatpeoplestartedtobringtreesintothehouse.ItisbelievedthatthefirstpersontodothismayhavebeenaGermanpreachernamedMartinLuther.Thetruthis,wejustdon’tknowwhohadthewonderfulideafirst.
At Home InEngland,thetraditionisevenmorerecent.ChristmastreesbecamepopularinEnglandduringthe1850s.Thiswasa�erQueenCharlotte(thewifeofKingGeorgeIII)erectedatreeinsideWindsorCastle.Atfirst,theyweremainlypopularwiththewealthiermembersofsociety.
DecorationsOriginally,treesweredecoratedwithcandlestorepresentstars.TherearestillplacesacrossEuropewherethistraditioncontinues.Nowadays,somepeopleusea“skirt”aroundthebottomoftheirtree.Thefirstoneswouldhavebeenmorelikeasmallcarpetorrugunderneaththetree.Theywereusedtocatchlooseneedlesandwaxfromthecandles.Thiswasimportantasmanyofthefirsttreesweresmallerandsatontables.
Ifatreewascutdown(ratherthandugup),itwouldhavebeenattachedtoalargerpieceofwood.Thiswaso�enunsightly,andsoasmallnativityscenemayhavebeenplacedunderthetreetohidethis.
Did You Know?Thefirsttinselwasmadearound1610outofrealsilver.Unfortunately,silvertarnishesquickly.Soon,othermetalshadtobeusedinstead.Itwasn’tevenusedtodecoratetreesuntilthe1800s;beforethenitwasusedtohangonsculptures!
WorldwideAroundtheworld,differentcultureshavedifferenttraditionsaboutwhattoplaceonatree.InNorthAmerica,theyo�enusegarlandsofpopcorn.OverinEasternEurope,theyhangglassspidersandspider’swebsbasedonatraditionaltale.TheSwedesarefondofusingtheirnationalflagtodecoratetheirbrancheswhilstfolks
fromIcelandcelebratethetraditionoftheYuleLads.IfyouchoosetodecorateaChristmastreethisyear,whynot
lookfurtherafieldtostartsomenewtraditionsofyourown?
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http://www.literacyshedplus.com
RETRIEVAL FOCUS1.Whenwasthefirsttinselmade?
2.WhatcanyoulearnfromtheWorldwide section?
3.Whatisthepurposeofthistext?
4.WhoerectedthefirstChristmastreeinEngland?
5.Whousedbranchestodecoratetheirhomes?
VIPERS QUESTIONS
I Findandcopyaphrasethatshowssilvertinselhadproblems.
E Whyhasthetextbeendividedusingsub-headings?
V Explainwhythewordskirthasbeenwritteninsidespeechmarks.
S WriteaparagraphsummarisingthekeypointsoftheDecorationssection.
Answers:
1.1610
2.AboutChristmasdecorationsaroundtheworld
3.ToeducatereadersaboutthehistoryofChristmastrees
4.QueenCharlotte
5.Pagans
I:Unfortunately,silvertarnishesquickly
E:Tomakeinformationeasiertofind
R:Thousands
I:Anysuitablesummaryincludingthemainpointsabouttreesoriginallylookinguntidyandneedingtobedecorated/decorationsrepresentingstars.
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http://www.literacyshedplus.com