THE ENGLISH HOLLY

Photo by Davideño, taken from panoramio.com

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”


Welcome to the English Holly (el acebo), the English department blog in Siles, welcome to your blog.


martes, 21 de noviembre de 2017

THANKSGIVING DAY

 To know more about Thanksgiving, here you have a rap and a text with some questions you have to answer in your notebooks.



THANKSGIVING
Macy's Parade in New York

Americans of all religions celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. Children do not go to school,, and most businesses close for four days. People in Canada also celebrate thanksgiving, but they celebrate it on the second Monday in October.

WHY IS THANKSGIVING AN IMPORTANT DAY?
The tradition started with the “Pilgrim Fathers”. They were the founders of a colony in North America. These people were Puritans. They were against the Church of England, and suffered persecution in England. They wanted to start a new life in a new country.
Eventually, on 6 September 1620, 102 men, women and children left Plymouth in south-west England on a ship called the Mayflower. The voyage was difficult: two Pilgrims died, but two were born. On 11 December 1620 they landed on the north-east coast of North America. They called this area Plymouth. It was almost winter and there wasn´t much food. They immediately built small houses, but it was too late to grow crops. The winter was very long and cold and half of the Pilgrims died.
In the spring a native American called Squanto helped the Pilgrims. He taught them how to grow corn and how to hunt and fish. Soon the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag native Americans became friends. The Pilgrims grew crops and the summer harvest was excellent. By November 1621 everyone had food and a home.
There was hope for the future.
William Bradford was the governor of the Pilgrim´s colony. He decided to celebrate with a dinner for the Pilgrims and about ninety native Americans. He wanted to thank God. This was the first Thanksgiving dinner, and it continued for three days.

A TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING
Today the traditional Thanksgiving meal is similar to the first. People eat roast turkey with cranberry sauce, potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie. Vegetarians don´t eat meat, but they still celebrate Thanksgiving with other foods, such as soya products, rice, fruit, vegetables and big salads.
New York City celebrates with Macy´s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Macy´s department store organised its first parade in 1924. This parade is very famous, and more than two million people go to see it every year.

Are the following sentences true (T) or false (F)?
  1. Canadians do not celebrate Thanksgiving.
  2. Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Tuesday of November.
  3. The tradition of Thanksgiving started with the Pilgrims.
  4. There were only fifty people on the Mayflower.
  5. Their first winter in Plymouth was very difficult.
  6. The native Americans did not help the Pilgrims.
  7. The first Thanksgiving dinner continued for three days.
  8. The famous Macy´s Thanksgiving Parade is Los Angeles.

    Adapted from British and American Traditions  Gina D. B. Clemen