Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is a special holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada to give thanks for the blessings of the past year. It’s a time for families and friends to come together, enjoy a big meal, and share what they are grateful for.

Key things about Thanksgiving:

History:

In the United States, Thanksgiving started hundreds of years ago, in 1621, when Pilgrims and Native Americans shared a harvest feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They came together to celebrate the harvest and the help the Native Americans gave to the Pilgrims during their first difficult year in the New World.

When It Happens:

In the U.S., Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. In Canada, it’s celebrated earlier, on the second Monday of October.

Traditions:

Food: Thanksgiving meals often include turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.

Giving Thanks: Families share what they’re thankful for, such as good health, loved ones, or fun memories.

Parades and Sports: There are big parades, like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and football games that people watch on TV or in person.

Helping Others: Many people volunteer or donate food to those in need. 

Thanksgiving is about kindness, gratitude, and spending time with loved ones. It’s a moment to pause and appreciate the good things in life.

Thanksgiving Day at IES Azorín

 

The Great Thanksgiving Listen

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States (4th Thursday in November), Canada, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia. 

The Great Thanksgiving Listen is a national movement that empowers young people and people of all ages to create an oral history of the contemporary United States by recording an interview with an elder, mentor, friend, or someone they admire using the free StoryCorps App. (Source: The Great Thanksgiving Listen)

If you want to know about it visit: 

https://storycorps.org/participate/the-great-thanksgiving-listen/

Thanksgiving

Gracias al increíblemente útil blog Free Technology for Teachers, una vez pasados los miedos de Halloween, hemos tenido noticia de un recurso que aborda otra celebración importante en América del Norte (Estados Unidos y Canadá): el Día de Acción de Gracias (Thanksgiving Day).

The First Thanksgiving es un material audiovisual muy atractivo para conocer a través del inglés el origen de la celebración y sus raíces. Descubrir las tradiciones y la cultura nos ayuda a conocer también la lengua de las comunidades que las consideran parte de ellas mismas y de su historia y a comprender mejor a estas comunidades en su contexto. 

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/daily_life/ 

Thanksgiving Day

Language is more than just the code. There is a fundamental relationship between language and culture. Maybe the best way to learn English is to be in frequent contact with English speakers' culture and learn to understand not only the code but the cultural significance.

Let me just take an example. We have seen in movies and on television how Thanksgiving Day is celebrated but, what do you know about this? How can we get the most out of it when teaching English?

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. It is a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Although several other places around the world observe similar celebrations, it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November (by the way, it is TODAY!!!) in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Its historical roots are religious but it is nowadays celebrated in a secular manner as well. (Source Wikipedia: Thanksgiving)

Here you have some Pinterest boards on Thanksgiving Day:

https://www.pinterest.com/virginiababy/3thanksgiving-decormore/

https://es.pinterest.com/lyndawhite/thanksgiving-ideas-i-love/

The Story of Thanksgiving (video on YouTube): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faUYJ9fMiGg