Ceremonial Clothing

Topic: Clothing

Mode: Interpretive 

Level: Novice

Students will describe what clothes people wear after they watch a video.

Components of this activity: Video, worksheet, speaking activity

Instruction to the teacher

  1.  Prepare a video (or find a video from youtube) about people celebrating a traditional festival in the target-language culture. The video clip should not be too long (5 minutes maximum). 
  2. Teach students the necessary vocabulary and expressions that will help them comprehend the video. 
  3. Ask students the following questions before they watch the video to prepare them.
    1. What types of clothes do men in their culture wear for a special occasion?
    2. What types of clothes do women in their culture wear for a special occasion?
  4. Give students brief contextual information about the festival being celebrated in the video you are about to play.
  5. Distribute the following worksheet to them. Ask students to fill in the blank spaces independently after watching this video.

Instructions to students

Watch the video and complete the worksheet below on what clothes people wear.

The Worksheet

In this video, women often wear_____ (tops), ______(bottom),________(shoes), and _________(accessories).  

Men often wear _____ (tops), ______(bottom),________(shoes), and _________(accessories). 

Children (if present) wear  _____ (tops), ______(bottom),________(shoes), and _________(accessories). 

(Add other relevant categories of people in the festival).

Speaking Activity

Have students rewatch the video, then ask them to discuss with their peers about: 

  • How differently do people dress in this video?
  • What does the clothing say about the people in this video?
  • What colors are most people in the video wearing?
  • Which person’s outfit do you like most in this video? Why?