Tasks: to speculate about name and location of a festival
to skim and scan a text in order to find relevant information and unnecessary words
to find a false fact about the Tournament of Roses
to explain meaning of new words
Preparation: make copies of the worksheet, one copy per student
make copies of the info cards (one set for 5 students)
Skills: speaking, reading, listening
Language: general vocabulary
collocations & phrases
Sources: WIKIPEDIA (en.wikipedia.org) – the FREE encyclopaedia
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English on CD-ROM
■ Write the phrase WINTER HOLIDAY SEASON on the board and try to elicit its meaning. Establish that in the US this name is used to refer to the period of time in December when members of many distinct cultures and religions celebrate their holidays. Give examples of such holidays (e.g. Hanukkah and Kwanza; for more details see materials for ELEMENTARY students).
■ Explain that during this lesson Ss are going to learn some facts about a traditional American holiday which takes place around that time.
■ Ask Ss to read the quotation on the worksheet and speculate (in pairs) about the name and the location of the festival. Once your pairs are ready, elicit some of their ideas but do not offer any answers.
■ Ask the Ss to read the first paragraph of the text in task in order to confirm their guesses.
Key
This festival is known as the Tournament of Roses.
It takes place in Pasadena, in California.
■ Ask your Ss to read the text quickly and to make 4 true sentences using the figures on the worksheet. Do not give them more time than it is necessary to skim through the text. Do not explain any new words, either.
■ Check the answers with your group. Finally, ask Ss to summarize the text.
· The parade is watched by upwards of one million spectators on the parade route (and seen by hundreds of millions more on television).
· The Tournament of Roses was first staged in 1890.
· The first parade attracted more than 2,000 people.
· In 1895 the Tournament of Roses Association was formed (as the event was too large for the Valley Hunt Club to handle).
The text presents the history / early years of the Tournament of Roses.
■ Now, ask Ss to read the text much more carefully. Explain that they should find 9 words which should not have been printed on the worksheet.
o Stress the fact that these extra words usually form collocations with some other words on the worksheet, but their use in this text is clearly nonsensical. Use the first phrase (United State of South America) as an example.
o Explain that there are 3 extra words in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 (no further mistakes in the introductory paragraph); whereas the words in bold italic are explained in the box on the right.
■ Ask Ss to work in pairs. Give them enough time before you start checking their answers.
Paragraph 1
a. Parliament members à members
b. weather forecast à weather
c. can’t bear à bear
Paragraph 2
a. polo neck matches à polo matches
b. flowers on firework display à flowers on display
c. the maiden name à the name
Paragraph 3
a. leap years à years
b. door handle à to handle
c. political activities à activities
■ Ask Ss to form groups of 5. Explain that each of them is going to read one fact or custom about the festivals. Then, they will have to report (not read!) their facts to their groups. Finally, each group will have to choose one fact that they think is made-up.
■ Give each S one info-card (cf. page 3 of teacher’s notes). Set a clear time limit and monitor the activity.
o Although Ss already have some definitions of the most difficult words, they may have some problems with vocabulary or pronunciation. As this activity promotes learner autonomy, you should restrain yourself from solving the problems Ss may have. Instead of giving immediate solutions, bring a monolingual dictionary, or write the pronunciation of the word on the blackboard (but remain silent).
■ Working with your class as a whole, ask each group of 5 to report their choice and give their reasons. Finally, give out the correct answer.
Wrong Fact: Fireball Swinging.
It is a custom in Stonehaven (in north-east Scotland) on Hogmanay (a Scottish name for a Scottish way of celebrating New Year’s Eve).
■ Ask Ss to work in the same groups of 5. Now, they have to help each other with the meaning of the new words.
■ [Task 5] If the number of students in your group does not enable you to form groups of five, you may form some smaller groups and either:
o give some students two cards,
o or remove one of the cards (but be careful: do not remove the card with the wrong fact, i.e. fireball swinging).
■ [VOCABULARY] Ask Ss to write a set of 9 sentences using the collocations from Task , i.e. Parliament member, weather forecast, can’t bear, polo neck, firework display, maiden name, leap year, door handle and political activities.
■ [SPEAKING] Ask your Ss to watch TV on New Year’s Day and try to spot some interesting customs and traditions. When you meet again in January, ask them to report their observations to the class.
■ [VOCABULARY/SPEAKING] Ask your Ss to make their own list with names of things they ate during the Christmas break. When you meet again in January, ask them to compare their lists. Try to find the most popular Christmas and/or New Year dish.
Task – info-cards
■ Queen and Royal Court: Each year, a pageant is held to find out which Pasadena-area girls have the honour of being crowned Queen of the Tournament, or one of the members of her "Royal Court". The winners then ride on a float in the parade, and carry out duties in promotion of the Tournament.
pageant – (AmE) a public competition for young women in which their appearance, and sometimes other qualities, are compared and judged (≈ beauty contest)
crown – to place a crown on the head of a new king or queen as part of an official ceremony in which they become king or queen
float – a large vehicle that is decorated to drive through the streets as part of a special event
■ Floats: Originally, floats were created solely by volunteers from sponsoring communities. Currently, most are built by professional companies. It takes nearly a year to construct one float. Nevertheless, some communities and organizational sponsors still rely on volunteers.
solely – not involving anything or anyone else (≈ only)
volunteer – someone who does a job willingly without being paid
■ Quantity...
Romaniek