Lesson Plan: Country celebrations
What celebrations are there in your country? What about others you have experienced in other countries?
Watch the following video: Which celebrations sound interesting? Which not so much?
Match the things below with these countries:
Chile, Mexico, Australia, Poland, Iran, Nigeria, Brazil
entertainment industry, straw hats, death, controversial national day, waking up with water, sweet alcoholic drink
Combine the following halves of the sentences:
| Very very sweet, so that you don’t know that you are actually drinking alcohol | to display or showcase what their tribe is all about. |
| It’s a custom of drenching | people with water when you are asleep |
| We have remembrance day, | until it hits you. but it’s delicious. |
| They have different tribes, and they tend | to blow up parliament. |
| When I was a kid, they would sell these eggs, that instead of | having yolk inside they would have confetti. |
| Guy Fawkes night, celebrating Guy Fawkes’s attempt | which is a day to commemorate the soldiers who died in World War I. |
What is your favourite celebration out of all of the ones you have attended? Take notes about the following aspects:
- Where and when was it?
- Who did you go with?
- What happened?
- Why do people celebrate it?
- Is it changing in any way?
Tell your classmates, and ask questions about other people’s experiences.
Part 2: Changing customs
Are any of your country’s celebrations controversial? Why are they controversial?
Watch this story. Why is Australia Day controversial?
Answer these questions:
- What does the day commomerate?
- How did it become a national holiday?
- What does the day mean for Aboriginal people?
- What protests were held?
- What has been proposed about the day?
- What are different opinions about the issue?
Grammar: Put the following in order to make opinion statements:
- I it reckon be good to would it move idea.
- I it’s choice good think a
- It be a day can having everyone equal about rights
- If move , it it lose of might a bit charm its we
- We all to unite together and come need
Speaking
What is a controversial celebration in your country? Create 3 opinions about it, using the expressions above. Discuss with your classmates. Do you think you should keep, modify, or eliminate the celebration?