NYInt.doc

–Do you know the name of this festival? Guess where it takes place.

“In New York, people are buried in the snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let’s hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise.”

–Read just the first paragraph of the text in task  to confirm your guess. Were you right?

–Read the whole text quickly in order to find out what these figures stand for.

       1,000,000       1890       2,000       1895

Designed by Bartosz Michałowski for Pearson Longman              PHOTOCOPIABLE 2

Definitions from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

Don’t look for grammatical mistakes. You must find words which make the text nonsensical or untrue.

Start with the SECOND paragraph.

–Now, read the text more carefully and find 9 unnecessary words.

Perhaps one of the United States of South America’s most important annual festivities, The Tournament of Roses Parade is the traditional parade held on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California. Rooted in tradition, this parade is watched by upwards of one million spectators on the parade route, and seen by hundreds of millions more on television.

Ä      showcase – to show the good qualities of a person, organization, product etc

Ä      tug-of-war – a test of strength in which two teams pull opposite ends of a rope against each other

Ä      reviewing stands – special places for journalists and reporters

Ä      seaboard cities – cities which are near the sea

The Tournament of Roses was first staged in 1890 by Parliament members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club. As many of them were former residents of the American east and midwest, they wished to showcase their new California home's mild winter weather forecast. At a club meeting, Professor Charles F. Holder announced, "In New York, people are buried in the snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to can’t bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."

And so the Club decided to organize their first New Year's Day parade. Horse-drawn carriages covered in flowers, followed by foot races, polo neck matches, and a game of tug-of-war attracted more than 2,000 people. Upon seeing the scores of flowers on firework display, the Professor decided to suggest the maiden name "Tournament of Roses".

Over the next few leap years, marching bands and motorized floats were added. By 1895, the event was too large for the Valley Hunt Club to door handle, thus the Tournament of Roses Association was formed. By the eleventh annual Tournament in 1900, the town lot on which the political activities were held was re-named Tournament Part. Activities soon included some oddities, such as ostrich races, and a race between a camel and an elephant. (The elephant won the race.) Soon, reviewing stands were built along the parade route, and newspapers in eastern seaboard cities started to take notice of the event.

–You are going to talk about five facts about the Tournament of Roses. One of the facts is wrong. Talk about them with your partners and put a cross (x) next to the fact you think is wrong.

–Do you know these words? If not, ask your partner(s) to explain them.

a.       pageant – ……………………………………

b.      (to) crown – …………………………………

c.       float – ………………………………………

d.      solely – ………………………………………

e.       volunteer – …………………………………

f.       
flammable – ………………………………

g.       cast (into) – …………………………………

h.      bowl – ………………………………………

i.        approximately – ……………………………

j.        current – ……………………………………