Saint Valentine's day

Worksheet A

Valentine’s Day 1. What do you know about the origin of Valentine’s Day? Read the text and find out how it all started.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in honour of a 3rd century Roman priest named Valentine. The Emperor at that time, Claudius II, banned marriages because he believed unmarried men made better soldiers. Valentine didn’t accept this law and married couples in secret. When the Emperor found out, Valentine was sentenced to death. While he was in prison, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and just before he was put to death, on 14th February, he wrote a final message to her and signed it ‘From your Valentine’. Not long after his death, Valentine was made a saint.

The story of Valentine spread and it soon became tradition to send a card to the person you secretly admired. The cards were always signed ‘From your Valentine’. The first commercial, mass-produced cards appeared in the mid 1800s.

Today, we send over a billion Valentine cards each year.

Seventy percent of them are sent by women.

2. Read about these Valentine traditions from around the world.

Are any similar in your country?

Are there any more Valentine traditions in your country?

On 14th February it’s a tradition that the first person you speak to will be your Valentine. You have to be careful who you talk to!

(Karen, England)

British newspapers have pages and pages of Valentine messages that people have sent in.

It’s fun to read them. (Fiona, Scotland)

As well as Valentine’s Day on 14th February, we have another special day called ‘Black Day’ on 14th April. This is for people without boyfriends or girlfriends. On this day, people have noodles with their friends. The noodles are black, so that is why it is called Black Day. (Suk, Korea)

When we were children at school, it was always a competition to see who got the most cards on Valentine’s Day. (Lee, USA)

In Taiwan, men give flowers to their loved ones. A single red rose means I like you, 11 roses means you are my favourite, 99 means forever and 108 red roses means marry me.

(Mai, Taiwan)

Artwork © Nova Development Corporation

This page has been downloaded from www.reward-english.net. It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2003

elem–pre-int

Worksheet B

3. Are you the perfect Valentine? Complete the questionnaire to find out.

1. Your partner suggests doing something special one evening.

Which do you prefer? a. Staying at home and cooking your favourite meal together b. A candle-lit dinner in a restaurant c. McDonalds and then a film 2. Which is the most romantic to you? a. A moonlit walk on a beach b. Going to the movies c. Watching your favourite soap opera on TV together 3. What’s the perfect Valentine’s gift for your partner? a. Me, of course b. A box of chocolates and flowers c. A surprise weekend by the sea 4. Do you believe in love at first sight? a. Yes b. I used to c. No 5. When you send flowers, do you ... a. order a dozen red roses? b. have a bouquet made up in your partner’s favourite colours? c. buy a bunch at the supermarket checkout counter?

6. Your partner is coming to dinner.

What music do you put on in the background? a. Classical b. Romantic movie theme tunes c. Drum ‘n’ bass

7. Where would you like to go on your honeymoon? a. The Football World Cup Finals b. Disneyland c. Paris 8. What have you done with your old Valentine cards? a. Kept them all b. Kept a few special ones c. Thrown them all away

Score as follows: 1. a.1, b.2, c.0 2. a.2, b.0, c.0 3. a.0, b.1, c.2 4. a.2, b.1, c.0 5. a.1, b.2, c.0 6. a.2, b.0, c.0 7. a.0, b.0, c.2 8. a.1, b.2, c.0 12–16 You are hopelessly romantic. Will you be my Valentine?

8–12 You know what romance is, but you’re not very good at it. You need to try a bit harder. Go and watch a few more weepy movies.

0–8 Oh dear! You’ve got a lot to learn about romance. Go and do the questionnaire again.

Seriously though, you are more likely to have a long-lasting relationship than those who scored higher than you!

Artwork © Nova Development Corporation

This page has been downloaded from www.reward-english.net. It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2003

elem–pre-int

Teacher’s notes Task To find out about the history of Valentine’s Day and some of its contemporary traditions around the world.

To complete a light-hearted Valentine’s questionnaire.

Preparation One copy of worksheets A and B for each student.

Procedure 1. Ask the students what they know about the origin and history of Valentine’s Day. You could ask them to discuss this in pairs or small groups. Give the students a copy of worksheet A and ask them to read the text. Ask some students to report to the class what they have read. You could ask questions about the text to elicit the information and to check comprehension.

2. Ask the students to read the extracts about the Valentine traditions. You could ask questions about the extracts to elicit the information and to check comprehension. Ask the students to discuss the Valentine traditions of their country. Then ask them to report anything interesting from these discussions to the class.

3. If you feel it is appropriate for your students, ask them to do the questionnaire on worksheet B. They could exchange their completed questionnaires for scoring and for the analysis to be given.

Websites For more information about Valentine’s Day, visit the following websites: www.stvalentines.net www.holidays.net/amore/ www.howstuffworks.com/valentine.htm valentinenet.com/traditions.htm

This page has been downloaded from www.reward-english.net. It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2003

elem–pre-int