New SBI unit 14 Festivals

ather. In the spring of the next year, 1621, a friendly Indian named Squants, who had been captured and released by other English men, came to help them in planting the corn and fertilizing the soil. Then Squants brought the Indian chief called Massasoit who also treated them in a friendly way. With the help of the Indians, the pilgrims had a bumper harvest that year. They thought the harvest was a kind of deliverance by God, so they decided to have a day of celebration after their harvest to express their thanks to God. And they also invited the Indian chief Massasoit in gratitude and prepared a grand dinner out-doors. The celebration lasted for 3 days. On October 3rd, 1863, Lincoln issued the first National Thanksgiving Proclamation. Since then it has been the custom for the President of the United States to Proclaim annually the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. The Thanksgiving dinner is mainly stuffed with roast turkey, squash and corn, pumpkin pie and Indian pudding a custard made from corn), etc. Today, American people have four days for this holiday, although the first Thanksgiving lasted three days. One is probably surprised to find the uniformity in the holiday scene of every family, wherever one goes in the United States. People go back home to enjoy the reunion of their family at the arrival of Thanksgiving Day.
Christmas Christmas Day, which is the greatest of the Christian festivals, falls on December 25th on which Christian people believe Jesus Christ was born, although no one can tell the exact date of his birth. This is the biggest and best-loved holiday in the United States, which is full of joy and gaiety, love and laughter, hospitality and good will. People usually have two weeks for this holiday. They begin to prepare Christmas long before the holiday comes. Small families and large business firms prepare the holiday differently. Stores are decorated with the traditional Christmas colors of green and red. Goods associated with Christmas become best sellers at this time. People like to decorate their stores and homes with Christmas tree, which is usually covered with strings of colored lights and a star fixed on top representing the star in the East which guided the three Wise Men to where Jesus was born. And Christmas food is special: peppermint-flavored red and white striped canes of sugar, bright colored hard sweets, chocolate bonbons, creamy homemade fudge and clusters of chocolate-covered raisins, walnuts or pecans, etc. On Christmas Eve families have a big dinner. Children hang their stockings by the fireplace, hoping that Santa Claus will fill them with sweets and toys.

Part 3: While-unit Activities: Five Separate Periods
Period 1: Warming up & Listening
Before having this period, the Students (Ss) are asked to collect information about the three festivals: Halloween, Bon Odori Festival, Day of the Dead.
Step 1 Lead-in
1. First, greet Ss with the questions “How are you feeling today?” “ Do you feel happy today?”
Then, Teacher (T) can lead in the topic festival/ holiday by asking some questions such as:
When do you usually feel happy? (Ss can give different answers)
Do you feel happy when there is a festival and you have holidays?
Then which festival or holiday do you like best? And why?
2. Chinese have many festivals. How many Chinese festivals do you know? And what are they?
( the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao), Tomb Sweeping Festival (Qingming), Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu), Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival (Chongyang), National Day, New Year’s Day, Chinese Youth Day, Party’s Day, Army’s Day, Teachers’ Day, Tree-planting Day…)
Which is the greatest and the most important festival to our Chinese people? When do Chinese celebrate the Spring Festival? How long does the Spring Festival last? Why do Chinese people celebrate it? What is the theme of the Spring Festival? How is it celebrated?
3.Different cultures have different kinds of customs and festivals. How many foreign festivals do you know? And what are they?
( Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving Day, Easter, Valentine’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Ramadan, Day of the Dead (from Mexico), Bon Odori Festival/ Ghost Festival (from Japan) (盂兰盆节), Mardi Gras, Kwanzaa…)

Step 2 Warming up
1. Show the Ss three pictures and ask them to discuss in pairs according to the following guiding questions:
Q1: Do you know the names of the festivals? (Halloween, Bon Odori, Day of the Dead)
Q2: Do you know which countries the festivals come from?
Q3: What are the people in the pictures doing? Why are they doing this?
2. Ask individual students to talk about the three festivals. The information of the festivals should include the name of the festival, when, where and how to celebrate it.
3. Which Chinese festival is similar to the three festivals? (Tomb Sweeping Festival)
Then get Ss to comp

《New SBI unit 14 Festivals(第3页)》