After doing some research for our Boxing Day lesson, I was deeply saddened. Boxing Day isn't what it used to be, at least not here in Canada where ESL Library celebrates the holiday season. While there are conflicting opinions about exactly how the December 26 tradition began, one thing is for certain. Boxing Day was not intended as a day to punch out a guy in a line up at an electronics store. It also wasn't meant as a day to make good on I.O.Us handed out to loved ones on Christmas Day.

How many of you hold off giving a gift to a special someone on Christmas Day so that he or she can wake up at the crack of dawn and get a better deal the following day? Cash gifts and gift cards are easy and people get to buy what they want instead of what you'd like to give them.

On the other hand, our need to save a buck and get one more gadget for our collection means that thousands of workers around the world have to go back to work before digesting their turkey. And what about all of those who didn't even get a turkey or a gift card? Surely, they are in more need of a gift on December 26 than our kids are for another pony or video game.

This Christmas season I would like to invite you to try ESL Library's Boxing Day lesson in class. In the lesson, you will find a charity challenge to help bring back the true tradition of Boxing Day in your small corner of the world.

Here's how you can take part:

1. Try ESL Library's Boxing Day lesson with your class.
2. Take the charity challenge.
3. Share your story with ESL-Library (hello@ellii.com). Please include a picture of your Christmas Box and tell us where it's going and what your students have put in it.
4. Watch for your story to be published on our blog. (Or publish your story and photo on your own class blog and share a link so we can help promote it. If you don't have a class blog, maybe this is the year to start one!)