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hello everybody good morning good afternoon good evening my name is teacher Rich for Oxford online English and today we are talking about the Christian in Christmas often you get lessons around about this time of year which focus on Christmas around the world or the Pagan traditions of Christmas or stuff like that my camera is really not that good today is it and I decided you know let's go back to root Source kind of and talk about Christian Christmas so what are the Christian elements of Christmas I think last year I did the Pagan and the old English elements of Christmas there's plent plenty of those like that stuff and that there they are from Pagan Traditions but let's talk about the Christian Traditions the Christian in
Christmas so hello to everybody in the chat today and let me show you a picture so have a look at these two pictures which of these is your idea of Christmas so which of these is more your idea of Christmas we have two different Christmases there and we're going to say they're both let's say fairly modern day a picture on the left and the picture on the right so which of those is more your idea of Christmas and can you tell me in the chat can you tell me in the chat what can you see in the two pictures what can hello and merry Christmas hello to corvax Aries hi hello Julia hello Mina hello dreamer hello Manuel honey so says hello I'm honey hello honey par daa Venus Krishna
hello par says I don't have any idea fantastic well you should find this interesting then we got old traditional and modern Christmas decorations yeah there's a little bit of a difference there in the decorations mhm and L AA says I like your jumper because I'm British so we call it a jumper but you're right the Americans call it a Jersey Lin ABA the first pictures with family yeah that's right so the picture on the left we can see family the picture on the left we can see family Ashley Chen says what I see in picture one is all the family members Gathering Together chatting and praying H yeah on the left side people are doing their work I don't know about doing their work but in the other one they are
posing that's right so in the right picture they are posing in the left picture they are looking at the nativity scene what's a nativity scene can you see that we have a nativity scene the first picture looks more ancient style ancient is not the correct word here traditional that and no political messages in the chat please Christmas is to pray and celebrate the spiritual Manuel says nativity scene on the table is a joke tell us Manuel tell us about your nativity scenes in Spain the right pictures with friends yes we have a Christmas tree in both pictures the picture on the left has some Christian photos Christian paintings on the wall the
picture on the right has modern art on Mali so I'm going to show you some phrases that relate to Christian Christmas five phrases here they are look at those phrases what do they mean how do they relate to Christmas do you know about these things we have Midnight Mass Christmas carols a nativity scene Advent candles and a christingle service so what indeed are these things
number one is a congregation what is a congregation Julia what does that mean praying just before Christmas question mark says corx Anna says number two is sing Christmas songs like all I want for Christmas is I can't imagine is all I want for Christmas is you actually A Christmas Carol I'm not sure if that's a Christmas carol Christmas carols do not have to be religious but I think all I want for Christmas is you I want to say that's not a Christmas carol you can have we wish you a Merry Christmas that is a Christmas Carol We Wish You a Merry Christmas should we have live Rich learns to play We Wish You a Merry Christmas on stream on guitar is my guitar in tune no is on just the bottom string the higher strings maybe we'll have a bonus
might sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas live on stream I should practice for that but hey it's the second to last ever stream on Oxford online English second to last I think Carrie has finished she's done she did a last stream this is the second to last from me and my final stream will be next week I don't know anything about Christmas because I'm Muslim interesting please sing says Patu okay we'll see what's the purpose okay so let me show you some pictures to help with this so take a look at the pictures picture 1 2 3 4 5 can you tell me what are the names of these pictures what can we see in the pictures number one is midnight others what else can you see in the pictures what can you see in the other pictures it's kind of difficult
to okay more or less is it um number one midnight mass number two Christmas carols that's I just don't think it's a good idea without having it tuned and without practicing number three Advent candles no number three is not Advent Santos of course if you're annoyed then it will be memorable yes number five add event candles so one midnight mass two Christmas carols three no one has three anyone have three
number three no so number three is a christingle and we'll talk about that Chris dingles have become more popular over the years the last 100 years or so Chris singles have become more popular number five is a nativity scene and number six is advent candles okay so I'm going to I'm going to tell you I'm going to tell you some things about these I want you to listen and type the keywords listen and type keywords so get ready in chat listen and type keywords if you're ready type ready and press enter if you're ready type ready in the chats let's go ready go how quick ready Santos he's on it oh look at this okay we've got it Casia Lima there's always one could you please spell number three I typed it in the chat it's c h r i s t i n g l e
christingle okay listen and type the keywords that you the Chris Dingle service a relatively recent tradition begun by the morovian church in the 18th century is a unique and symbolic celebration the word christingle means Christ Light and represents Jesus as the light of the world the service involves creating a christingle an orange representing the world a red ribbon symbolizing the blood of Christ fruits and sweets on sticks signifying God's creations and a lit candle at the center of the orange embodying Jesus's light participating in this service is a profound experience a tactile reminder of God's love for the world and the hope that Jesus's birth brings to let's see what you've got in the chat
then so the morovian church Santos how did you hear that and how did you spell it correctly how did you do that are you using like caption software recent tradition very good well done Sonia unique and symbolic that's a good one the symbolic celebration the light of the world a lit candle the blood of Christ M very good orange represents God and creation a lit Candle on the body profound experience very good and I'll just show you the script here so there's the script for you if you wish if you wish to see that it's right there and that will be in the notes for today so that's the christingle quite a recent tradition actually the christingle started by the morovian church I have no idea what the morovian church is what is the morovian church
does anyone know the morovian church uh is one of the oldest Protestant denominations dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century 60 years before Lutheran Reformation wow that is an old Reformation our lamb has conquered let us follow him the morovian church everybody okay so that was a christingle let's do it again I'm going to read some information and I want you to type the key wordss read some information and I will type the keywords the nativity scene is a vivid tbla depicting the birth of Jesus Christ originating from St Francis of aisi in 1223 this tradition brings the story of Christmas to life crafted with care each figure from Mary to Joseph to the three wise men plays a crucial role in this
Divine narrative creating a nativity scene is a tactile way to connect with the story of Christmas offering a moment of contemplation about the humble beginnings of Jesus it is a poignant reminder of the Miracle of Life and the universal message of hope and love poignant exactly poignant I like that word and Manuel says LOL three wise men who are they yo Manuel is a bit of a Zuma he doesn't believe in old traditions he prefers the new ones like Santa Claus actually I think it's the opposite yeah all right so I'll give you the text
next here there were some complaints about the size so let's see if I can give you a bigger one bigger how is that's about that's as big as I can do really without problems I could do that there you go I don't understand anything from this video says Melle uh mashel can you read the text there are some difficult words like Vivid table and bring the store to life crafted with care there's lots of difficult words a cruci play a crucial role Divine narrative attack D way the story of Christmas a moment of contemplation the humble beginnings a poignant reminder the Miracle of Life and the universal message of hope and love lots of excellent phrases there okay everybody let's move on I'm going to read the next one you can type your keywords in the
three lighting Advent candles is a practice steeped in symbolism and anticipation the tradition originating in Germany in the 19th century marks the countdown to Christmas each candle lit on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas represents themes of Hope peace love and joy core tenants of the Christian faith this ritual is a reflective Journey Illuminating the path to Christmas day as each candle flickers it's a reminder of the light that Christ brings into the world guiding us through the darkness towards a future filled with hope and Christmas
so in the chat we have Rich ritual Illuminating the path reminder with hope and Grace Hope and Grace yes Hope and Grace g r a c Grace Hope and Grace what is Grace can anyone tell me without using Google what is Irene says Grace is a kind of forgiveness I think there's part of yeah Grace is a gift from Jesus yes that's right gra Grace is a gift from God which Christians believe we earn because of Jesus's sacrifice ice and when we ask for grace in the name of Jesus then we receive it so Grace is the love and favor of God it is the presence of God and God's love within you uh yes forgiveness is a part of it but I suppose there's many parts it's a complex thing and I am no expert in theology I am no expert in
theology but my understanding is Grace is like God's and I think we'll do one more of these so you have the choice you have a choice here uh your choices are midnight mass or Christmas carols let's have a vote midnight mass or Christmas carols you know what I'll do a proper vote hang on okay there's a poll now in the chat what do you want to hear about midnight mass or Christmas carols I receive God's grace when I lose hope that is one of the times when people receive God's grace at least it's one of the times when people seek God's grace I think all right you've got 20 seconds to vote 20 19 18 the vote is in the yeah I think it has actually Manuel and there's a few reasons for that it's quite interesting you can see in the
picture that there's not that many people at midnight mass but there's quite a few reasons why midnight mass doesn't bring people in anymore and apparently one is that if you have a midnight mass service then you get lots of drunk people who come out the pub and go to midnight mass and it's quite difficult for the church to manage so a lot of churches don't do midnight mass anymore right so Christmas carols it is okay let's hear about Christmas carols so once again listen and type the keywords carols are The Melodies of Christmas echoing Through the Ages the tradition of singing Christmas carols dates back to the Middle Ages evolving from Pagan songs sung during winter solstice celebrations these joyful hymns gained
Christian significance telling the story of Jesus's birth spreading cheer and the message of Christmas singing carols is more than spreading festive Joy it's a way to connect with our past to participate in a practice that has brought people together for Generations perhaps one of the reasons why Christmas carols were adopted by Christians so much is that seeing in is mentioned as an act of worship and an act of celebrating God several times in the Bible Christians like singing and the Bible talks about so there we are there's your Christmas carols and there is the script on the screen right now does anyone have any questions about the vocabulary that we've seen today lots of really interesting vocabulary there Pagan uh Pagan means pre Christian or even
pre prej judeo monotheism uh so prej judeo polytheistic Pagan religions would be uh Nordic gods uh the Roman Pantheon is Pantheon the right word the Roman Pantheon right no it's not Pantheon is it what do you call it the Roman panon what you call like the collection of Gods Pantheon yes it is it's Pantheon the Roman Pantheon Greek pantheon uh Hinduism Hindu Hinduism is basically Pagan so Pagan is um everything every polytheistic religion really uh in this context Pagan means the ancient English so the Kelts and uh Anglo-Saxons pre- Christianity uh before um conversion they were Pagan and the Danish the Danes the but of course it makes sense for Christians to adopt Christmas carols because Christians love
singing this is for all of you non-christians out there who haven't been to church Christians love singing If you go to church you will see yeah Christians love right so that was our little dive into Christian Christmas and you can download the notes for today just put those in the chat and I think it is appropriate to say that this is the countdown to the end not to the end of the year but to the end of classes of live classes on Oxford online English we are ending live classes um so I have one more that's the final one on the 30th that's the final one and if you want to see more of me you can go to my channel my personal Channel where I will continue but on Oxford online English the classes will
stop why is Oxford online stopping that's a good question Patu um I think that's for olle to answer really but basically I suppose O's plan for streaming didn't go as he expected so he was hoping for a bit more from streaming and I think YouTube doesn't promote streaming as much as other videos perhaps so hey so we got one more and if you want to continue learning with me then you can youtube.com/ Professor rich I stream twice a week uh do you want to review your first OE stream I would like to do that actually that'd be interesting yeah it'd be interesting to compare wouldn't it maybe I should do that next week that could be fun that's a really good idea actually really good idea all right so question time
folks uh got a little bit of time for questions and then I will be continuing on my own channel so please do join me there get the dumb headphones off that kind of helps a bit doesn't so it's definitely wrong here maybe that was
it are you ready folks um I think actually it might be better if I just sing without playing guitar I need a accompany I need accompaniment one two hang on hug the herald is that right hug the Herald Angels Sing glory to the newborn king peace on Earth and mercy my old God and sin is reconcile joyful all ye nations rise join the Triumph of the Skies with Angelic host Proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem H the heral Angels Sing glory to the newborn king I don't know if I did the tune right I can't remember but that's probably all you're going to get so you enjoy that there you go Christmas Carol for you folks so there is a tradition of singing in Christianity and something that's
returned a little bit is singing carols on the street and people still do that so and it's actually it's becoming more popular now that churches are getting together and they will go on the street at about 6:00 p.m. so it's dark and they go around the neighborhood and sing the songs under a lamp post and it's they normally sing about four songs and then move on and it's very nice and um actually I joined one this year I did one uh joined the Christmas carol Service uh no it's called the Christmas carol walk actually I joined one and we sung the songs and it was um it was good fun and we also went to a care home so a care home you know a home where normally old people require
some sort of care and attention and we went there and sung for them and that was nice as well we didn't get much response from them I guess in a care home people normally have lots of medication so there wasn't a great deal of wasn't a great deal of response going on but it was nice to do it's the first time I've ever done it in my life and I think I will do it again actually because I really I enjoyed it more than I expect I thought it was like an obligation oh I'll do it okay and then when I did it I was like oh this was good I want to do that again so um so that was kind of fun actually and uh yeah I probably will do that again that I think is what carols are all about so do we have any questions
if not then I'm going to take a little break and I will resume on youtube.com/ Professor reach and join me next week for the final stream the last one and hey uh I look forward to it I'm I'm I think actually next week I'm probably not going to organize a lesson but I'm just going to come on stream and just talk about teaching English teaching online working with olle and Oxford online English doing the streams and a bit about the future as well so we won't have much in the way of M material next week it's more of a hey this is the end of that it's been fun and let's see where we go from here that kind of thing so Santos says can you tell us how to connect with native speakers what I
would say Santos is find a genuine reason to connect with people that is not about learning English so for example are you religious if you are then you could connect with a an English-speaking religious community so if you're a Hindu then you can find English-speaking Hindus if you are Buddhist you can find English-speaking Buddhist communities that's a good way to do it if you're not religious then think about special interests like online cooking groups public speaking groups like there's lots of free groups online uh like one if any of you out there have problems with drugs or alcohol there are several groups which help people with addiction and they often have support groups well almost always the support
groups are in English and they're online you can join them for free so if you have that kind of issue and you want to be free from that then joining one of those groups would be absolutely fantastic uh I'll see if I can find the one that I recommend I know there's everyone knows Alcoholics Anonymous but there's there's another one that's kind of famous now that's that people really like just give me one moment here and I'll post about it in the smart recovery they're the ones yeah so the these guys have got loads of like free online meetings so if that's your thing if you want to quit an addiction uh there's lots of English-speaking meetings on that website um so it's a great way to connect with English speakers and improve your
English all right everybody Merry Christmas and I will see you in 10 minutes on my channel thank you very much for joining me today smash that like button go to YouTube go to www. oxfordonlineenglish.com and I'll see you next week for the last ever live stream all right catch you later folks I'll see you in 10 minutes Merry Christmas have a very Merry Christmas yes I should say that have a wonderful very Merry Christmas and I'll see you in 10 minutes sense okay I'm having oh God yes should have ended the stream now I'm having a coughing
