Saint Valentine is sneaking back up on us and we're ready to spread the love! This month we are celebrating love! Eva has prepared a number of activities for the ELT classroom, including a text about the origin of Valentine’s Day, a fun speaking activity and a popular love song!

1. 1
February - Valentine’s Day
This month we are celebrating love! February 14th
, as you know, is Valentine’s Day, and Eva has
prepared a number of activities for the ELT classroom, including a text about the origin of Valentine’s
Day, a fun speaking activity and a popular love song! Check the activities out now and try them out
in your ELT classroom!
1. Reading – B1+ → B2............................................................................................................................2
2. Speaking – A2 → B1 ............................................................................................................................3
3. Idioms of love – B1..............................................................................................................................5
4. Song – Listening – A2 ..........................................................................................................................6

2. 2
1. Reading – B1+ → B2
Read the text below. Use the word in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits
in the gap in the same line. Here is an example:
(0) AFFECTION
Valentine's Day1
It's the day when people show their (0) …………… for another person or people by AFFECT
sending cards, flowers or chocolates with messages of love. And (1) …………………. TRADITION
on Valentine's Day in a leap year - every four years - women can propose
marriage to their partner!
The day gets its name from a (2) ………. saint, but there are several stories about FAME
who he was. The popular belief about St. Valentine is that he was a priest
from Rome in the third century AD. Emperor Claudius II had (3) ………… marriage BAN
because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was
(4) ……………………., so he broke the rules and arranged marriages in secret. When FAIR
Claudius found out, Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. There,
he (5)……in love with the jailer's daughter and when he was taken to be killed on FALL
14th
February he sent her a love letter signed "from your Valentine”.
Valentine's Day is a very old tradition, thought to have originated from a Roman
festival. The Romans had a festival called Lupercalia in the middle of February,
(6) ………… the start of their springtime. It's thought that as part of the ceremony, OFFICIAL
boys (7)……. names of girls from a box. They'd be boyfriend and girlfriend during DRAW
the festival and sometimes they'd get married. Later on, the church wanted to
turn this festival into a Christian (8) …………….. and decided to use it to remember CELEBRATE
St. Valentine too. (9)…………., St. Valentine's name started to be used by people GRADUAL
to express their (10)…………… towards those they loved. FEEL
1
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16945378

3. 3
In your own words, answer the following questions as a speaking or a writing activity to the text
above:
1. What is Valentine’s Day?
2. Who was St. Valentine?
3. How did Valentine’s Day start?

4. 4
2. Speaking – A2 → B1
This Valentine’s Day, you want to let someone special know you care about them. Talk to a partner
and brainstorm different ways there are of expressing affection for another person. Then, look at the
suggestions below:
 Which gift would you like to give to your Valentine?
 What would you like to receive from your Valentine?
Compare the various options and give reasons for your choices.
Valentine’s Day card Tickets to the cinema
Dinner at a restaurant A letter
A bouquet of roses
Chocolate cake
An excursion

5. 5
3. Idioms of love – B1
Ask your students to brainstorm different ways of saying “I love you” in English. How many
expressions can they come up with?
Then, ask them to do the following activity:
Match the beginning of each idiom with its correct ending!
1 To have a soft A of someone’s eye
2 To fall head over B by someone
3 To have eyes only for C soulmate
4 To be the apple D on someone
5 To be a match E spot for someone
6 To be smitten F someone
7 To be someone’s G for someone
8 To have a crush H heels for someone
9 To fancy I made in heaven

6. 6
4. Song – Listening – A2
Listen to the song and choose the correct word from the box to fill in the gaps:
ordinary day month Christmas joy
chocolate the bottom of my heart care
three words night sing
July leaves celebrate
rain
“I just called to say I love you” by Stevie Wonder
No New Year's Day to
No covered candy hearts to give away
No first of spring
No song to
In fact here's just another
No April
No flowers bloom
No wedding Saturday within the of June
But what it is, is something true
Made up of these that I must say to you
I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the
No summer's high
No warm
No harvest moon to light one tender August
No autumn breeze
No falling
Not even time for birds to fly to southern skies

7. 7
No Libra sun
No Halloween
No giving thanks to all the you bring
But what it is, though old so new
To fill your heart like no three words could ever do
I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I , I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the
I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I , I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the , of my heart,
of my heart
In the box below, create your own glossary with the words you didn’t understand from the lyrics
translated into Spanish:
English Spanish English Spanish