Holidays

Purpose: To provide learners with an opportunity for cross-cultural sharing related to holidays by having students from different backgrounds interview each other.

Prep time: 10 minutes to prepare four or more questions about holidays.

Materials: Copies of questions, either in a list or placed on a conversation grid (questions are written across the top above each column); pencils for recording answers.

Prep: Decide on questions that will help learners talk about their favorite holidays. Here are some examples:

• What is your favorite holiday?
• Why do you like it?
• When is it?
• Is it on the same day every year?
• Is it a religious holiday, a civic holiday or just a special event?
• How do you celebrate this holiday?
• Who celebrates it?
• Do other cultures or countries also celebrate this holiday?
• Is there special food, music, or dress for this holiday?
• What other traditions are there?

Procedure:

1) Elicit a definition of the word “holiday” from students. Find out what students know about holidays in the U.S. Make a list of holidays on the board. 

2) Do a sorting activity and divide holidays into groups by seasons. Talk about which ones are religious, which ones are civic (Independence Day, Martin Luther King, Jr Day), and which ones are just special events (Earth Day). 

3) Introduce and model the interview activity with a student by asking one or two questions and recording the student’s name and answer. Clarify any unfamiliar vocabulary.

4) Ask students to circulate and interview 3-4 other students. If you are tutoring one student, ask the student to interview you first, giving him or her a chance to become familiar with the questions.

5) As follow-up, have students report what they learned to the class or write about it.

For more activities related to seasons, visit: http://bogglesworldesl.com.