Student’s Worksheet 1

Introduction: Bet You Didn’t Know!

Watch a short film: http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/valentines-day-facts

Task 1. Work in pairs (1A and 1B). Read out the facts and the four answer choices. Get your partner to
decide which is correct.

1A
1. More than __________ of Americans celebrate Valentine’s Day.
(a) 50% (b) 60% (c) 70% (d) 80%
2. A heart and flowers are _____ of Valentine’s Day.
(a) messages (b) books (c) cards (d) symbols
3. A red rose is a symbol of _____.
(a) hate (b) friendship (c) love (d) wealth
4. A cupid shoots people in the _____ with a magic arrow.
(a) head (b) arm (c) heart (d) back
5. St Valentine was a Christian _____.
(a) priest (b) shepherd (c) soldier (d) leader
6. St Valentine lived in ancient _____.
(a) Rome (b) China (c) Greece (d) Egypt
7. Emperor Claudius II banned marriage because he _______
(a) had divorced before (b) was jealous (c) didn’t believe in God
(d) thought that single men made better soldiers.

1B
1. St Valentine was killed on _____.
(a) 15 February (b) 14 February (c) 13 February (d) 12 February
2. The Romans held a festival to honour the goddess _____.
(a) Lupercalia (b) Valentine (c) Aphrodite (d) Gaia
3. The Romans celebrated the _____ of Lupercalia.
(a) Festival (b) Celebration (c) Party (d) Treasure
4. The first written Valentine greetings appeared __________ .
(a) 13th century (b) 14th century (c) 15th century (d) 16th century
5. The first mass-produced Valentine’s Cards appeared ________
(a) in the 1800s (b) 1840 (c)1900 (d)1950
6. Nowadays Valentine’s Day is the second most popular holiday in the world after _________.
(a) Easter (b) Independence Day (c) Christmas
(d) Thanksgiving
7. The most popular Valentine’s Day gifts are ______________ .
(a) jewellery (b) flowers and chocolates (c) money
(d) clothes
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 Student’s Worksheet 2

Group A
Task 2A: The parts of the text in bold are jumbled up. Indicate in which order they should appear in the
sentence

(1)Who was St Valentine? The day (1) famous saint name gets from its a, but there are (2) who
of was several he stories. The popular belief about St Valentine (3) was is priest that he
Rome from a in the third century AD. Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage (4) bad
married because he men thought were soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke
the rules (5) secret and marriages arranged in. When Claudius found out, Valentine (6) jail
was sentenced thrown in to and death. There, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and (7)
killed he when was to taken be on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed ‘from your
Valentine’.

(2)How (1) did Valentine’s Day start? Valentine’s Day is a very old tradition, thought to (2) have
originated from a Roman festival. The Romans had a festival (3) called Lupercalia in the
middle of February, officially the start of their springtime. It’s (4) thought that as part of the
celebrations, boys drew names of girls from a box. They’d (5) be boyfriend and girlfriend
during the festival and sometimes they (6) would get married. Later on, the church wanted to
turn this festival (7) into a Christian celebration and decided to use it (8) to remember St
Valentine, too. Gradually, St Valentine’s name started to be used (9) by people to express their
feelings (10) to those they loved.

Group B

(1)Who was St Valentine? The day gets its (1) name from a famous saint, but there are (2)
several stories of who he was. The popular belief about St Valentine is that (3) he was a
priest from Rome in the third century AD. Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage (4)
because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he
broke the rules (5) and arranged marriages in secret. When Claudius found out, Valentine
(6) was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. There, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter
and (7) when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed ‘from
your Valentine’.

Task 2B: Fill in each gap using one word.

(2)How (1) …………. Valentine’s Day start? Valentine’s Day is a very old tradition, thought to (2)
……………originated from a Roman festival. The Romans had a festival (3)…………. Lupercalia
in the middle of February, officially the start of their springtime. It’s (4)………… that as part of
the celebrations, boys drew names of girls from a box. They’d (5)………. boyfriend and girlfriend
during the festival and sometimes they (6)…………… get married. Later on, the church wanted
to turn this festival (7)…………. a Christian celebration and decided to use it (8)……….
remember St Valentine, too. Gradually, St Valentine’s name started to be used (9)……………..
people to express their feelings (10)………... those they loved.

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 Student’s Worksheet 3

Task 3. Write a letter addressed from Saint Valentine to modern teenagers. Use the expressions given in the
box.

be ruled by be expected to fight not be allowed be caught

be sent be beheaded be beaten be imprisoned

Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine and I used to live ..............................................................

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Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was .......................................................
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One night, we heard footsteps. It was ....................................................................................................................................................

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On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note .........................................................................................................

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I believe that note started the custom of ................................................................................................................................................

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Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is ........................................................................................................................................................................

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