ESL WORKSHEET - The Story of Santa Claus

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

THE SCIENCE OF SANTA

LinguaHouse
Dec. 8, 2020

Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)
Type of English: General English
Tags: Beliefs, Religion and Superstition; Celebrations and Special Events; Science and Technology; Mixed Conditionals; Video Talk
Publication date: 12/08/2020

In this video-based lesson, students consider how the story of Santa Claus would be scientifically possible. The lesson includes listening comprehension (including work with high numbers) and vocabulary development (including some useful informal phrases) and concludes with a discussion about childhood beliefs. There is also a more challenging optional extension task related to language for presenting unreal situations and their results (by Stephanie Hirschman).

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Every Christmas Eve, certain traditions say that Santa has just one night to deliver presents to millions of children around the globe. Now, this might seem unreasonable from a scientific perspective. But we wondered, exactly how unreasonable is it?
Overall, it’s difficult to determine how many people around the world celebrate a Santacentric Christmas on December 25th. But if we consider certain religious and cultural traditions, we get a rough estimate of about 600 million people. Now, let’s say each household has, on average, two and a half kids. So Santa only needs to visit 240 million homes.
Even better? He has more time to get the job done than you might think. Legend has it that he drops by when the kids are asleep. So that gives him eight hours, right? Well, hold up. We mustn’t forget about time zones. There are 24 broad time zones worldwide, each one hour apart. So factor in the different Christmas Eve start times across the planet, and Kringle’s got a luxurious 31 hours to make his deliveries. Unfortunately, this is where his luck runs out.
Because just to reach every house, he’ll have to fly 1,200 times faster than the world’s fastest jet fighter. That’s a lot to ask of nine reindeer, which can only gallop up to 80 kilometers per hour on average. Way too slow. But to be fair, that’s the best they can do on the ground. Since we don’t know exactly how fast a reindeer can fly, let’s assume they can manage those incredible speeds.
Even then, the load they have to lug is much too heavy for them. If every kid receives a single mid-sized Lego set, the bag alone would weigh a whopping 600,000 tons or about 20 Statue of Liberties. Meanwhile, the average reindeer can pull up to twice their weight, or about 225 kilograms. So those deer aren’t going anywhere. And even if they could, well, it wouldn’t be pretty.
For starters, the team would create a massive sonic boom as they hurtle through the air at 3,000 times faster than the speed of sound, deafening any bystanders on the ground below.
Merry Christmas folks! But it gets worse. Once Rudolph and Co. take off, they vaporize before they reach their first house. Just like how a rocket heats up when it re-enters the atmosphere at tremendous speeds, the reindeer would heat to blistering temperatures that would turn them into venison jerky. And Santa wouldn’t fare much better because he’s sitting on what amounts to the worst roller-coaster ride on Earth.
When a typical coaster accelerates, you get pushed back against your seat. But in Santa’s case, to accelerate to those extreme speeds makes for a much stronger push. A force tens of thousands of times stronger than gravity would pin him to the sleigh, smashing his bones and internal organs to jelly. But it’s not all doom and gloom.
Let’s assume Santa and friends miraculously survive this ordeal. He slips his conveniently boneless body through chimney after chimney, drops off the gifts, and now gets to munch on his well-deserved treats.
A lot of treats. If every household offers him three sugar cookies and one 8-ounce glass of whole milk, that’s 720 million cookies and enough milk to fill 23 Olympic swimming pools total. Now, that adds up to 396 billion calories. Plenty to see him through his hibernation until Christmas comes round again.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/the-science-of-santa. Accessed on December 7, 2023. © 2008–2023 LinguaHouse.com. All rights reserved.