Best of NTC: St George’s Day

23rd April is an important day in the English calendar: it’s St George’s Day …

St George is the patron saint of England (and he’s also the patron saint of twelve other countries, including Canada, Georgia and Lithuania). There is very little evidence to show he ever even visited England. So there isn’t much going for poor St George – the English have to share him and it looks like he wasn’t even interested in England.

Just as St George most probably never visited England, St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, never visited Scotland in his lifetime either. Yet the patron saints of England and of Scotland are seen as closely connected to their respective countries, despite their physical absence. But it’s a very different story in Wales with St David, who was born and bred in Wales, and in Northern Ireland with St Patrick, who lived there for over 30 years and died there.

You will often see the flags flying on the saint’s day – 1st March for St David, 17th March for St Patrick, 23rd April for St George and 30th November for St Andrew. If you would like to find out more about St George and do a pairwork activity at A2 level with your students, then click on the left button below.

And if you would like to do a short quiz about 23rd April, then click on the right button below.

23rd April – not just St George’s Day (level A2+, 10+mins)

• Print out one copy of 23rd April – not just St George’s Day, one for each student.
• Remind students that 23rd April is St George’s Day, and St George is England’s patron saint.
• Tell students that other important things happened on 23rd April.
• Give a copy of the 23rd April – not just St George’s Day to each student and ask them to choose the correct word in each sentence.
• Check answers together in class.
  (Key: 1 died, 2 was, 3 was, 4 called, 5 in)
• Then ask students to complete the sentences with the correct year.
• Check answers together in class, saying the years together as extra practice.
  (Key: 1 2007, 2 1564, 3 1516, 4 2005, 5 1858)