7
A short prayer and poem from the Sarum Missal, for the night before Christmas.
8
JS Bach: Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Stimme
This is the Chorale from the Cantata Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Stimme BWV 140. The hymn was written by Philipp Nicolai, and published in 1599, and is a traditional hymn in Advent and at Christmas.
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Awake! the voice of the watchman
Calleth us from high upon the walls;
Awake, O City of Jerusalem!
This is the hour named midnight:
She calleth us with a clear voice.
Where are ye, O wise virgins?
Arise, the Bridegroom cometh;
Stand, and take your lamps in hand!
Alleluia! [Praise ye the Lord!]
Make ready for the marriage,
Ye must go out to meet him!
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Sir Roger explains why he makes Christmas such a special time for all his neighbours.
Join each group of ideas together to make a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
Winter is cold. Food is scarce in winter. Winter is hard on poor people. [Cruel. Lack. Year.]
Sir Roger invited in his neighbours every Christmas. They played parlour games. He liked to watch. [Custom. Guest. Spectator.]
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10
Make as many words as you can using the letters of one nine-letter word. Can you beat our score?
11
Create sentences in which a particular consonant features prominently and frequently.
In Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation (1936), Bruce Rogers (1870-1967) opened with this:
Peter Piper, without Pretension to Precocity or Profoundness, Puts Pen to Paper to Produce these Puzzling Pages, Purposely to Please the Palates of Pretty Prattling Playfellows, Proudly Presuming that with Proper Penetration it will Probably, and Perhaps Positively, Prove a Peculiarly Pleasant and Profitable Path to Proper, Plain and Precise Pronunciation. He Prays Parents to Purchase this Playful Performance, Partly to Pay him for his Patience and Pains; Partly to Provide for the Printers and Publishers; but Principally to Prevent the Pernicious Prevalence of Perverse Pronunciation.
This repetition of a consonant is called alliteration.
In Think and Speak (1929) NL Clay encouraged his pupils to create their own alliterative sentences. The consonants he recommended were: n, p, r, s, b, d, f, g, j, k and l. You could use this model:
Barry bought a bag of broken biscuits.
If Barry bought a bag of broken biscuits,
Where is the bag of broken biscuits Barry bought?
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12
Richard Addinsell: Scrooge Suite
Music from the 1951 film Scrooge, starring Alastair Sim. Among the many lovely tunes are the Christmas carols ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ and ‘Silent Night’, and the haunting folksong ‘Barbara Allen’.
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