I. Click here to watch Donald Trump pardoning his first turkey.
II. Click here to learn some vocabulary and read a text about this holiday. The key is included.
III. Watch the first part of this video (55" to 7'08") and answer the questions. First there's some history about the holiday and then three people explain what Thanksgiving means for them. Find the answers in "comments".
1. What kind of celebration was Thanksgiving in colonial times?
2. How did they offer thanks?
3. What did the Pilgrims of Plymouth celebrate (the most famous celebration)? When? Who with?
4. When did Abraham Lincoln proclaim the Day of National Thanksgiving?
5. What happened in 1941 by an Act of Congress?
6. Diana
a. What two elements did the celebration have in her family when she was young?
b. What did they use to do?
c. How is it different now?
d. What element is missing according to her?
7. Chris
a. Why does he describe it as "a secular national Sabbath"?
b. What do people usually do?
c. Why is it different to other family meals?
8. Amy
a. Why do her granddaughters like the holiday?
b. What is the heart of the celebration?
1. It was a harvest holiday.
ReplyDelete2. Sometimes by feasting, sometimes by fasting.
3. Their first successful harvest. With Native American tribesmen. In 1621.
4. In 1863.
5. The celebration was fixed to the fourth Thursday in November.
6. Diana
a. The holiday had the harvest element and the family togetherness element.
b. They used to travel and had two Thanksgiving dinners.
c. Now she’s hosting it herself and appreciates her grandmothers, aunts and mother did all those years.
d. It lacks the national component.
7. Chris
a. Because he thinks it’s a time of pause from our daily cares.
b. People gather in a home, have a set meal and to some extent give thanks.
c. It’s different because millions of people are doing the same at the same time.
8. Amy
a. Her granddaughters like Thanksgiving because it means food, friends and family.
b. The communal meal; not only the sitting down together but also the preparation of it.