QUICK RESOURCE SHEET #55

Holidays

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Holidays are very important for us: they "glue" us to people around us by being a common experience, a socially meaningful historical event or a cultural/religious celebration. It is our common territory, the ground we all stand on. When we see people around us celebrating the same event, by shopping for their holiday dinner or for gifts, we feel secure and connected.

---from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Lvovich-Cultural_Insider.html

From familiar celebrations such as Halloween and Christmas to the less familiar, such as Diwali, Shavuot, and National Aboriginal Day, there is no shortage of materials for English teachers who want to share information about holidays with their students. There are activities, quizzes, exercises, recipes, and much much more – enough to teach about a different holiday every day of the school year. The links below should help to get you started. Each of the three sites is comprehensive – containing material on hundreds of holidays; the quotes displayed are merely brief excerpts.

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/holidays.htm

“Kwanzaa is an African-American harvest and community festival that was founded in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, as a way of reaffirming African-American identity, instilling knowledge and pride in African roots, and reinforcing bonds among members of the community. Kwanzaa is now celebrated by an estimated 18 million people in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Britain, India and some African nations.”

http://www.caslt.org/research/holidays.htm

“The legend of Groundhog Day is based on an old Scottish couplet: If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year. Every February 2, people gather at Gobbler's Knob, a wooded knoll just outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Residents contend that the groundhog has never been wrong. The ceremony in Punxsutawney was held in secret until 1966, and only Phil's prediction was revealed to the public. Since then, Phil's fearless forecast has been a national media event.”

http://www.education-world.com/holidays/

"I learned that Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May," said Elvis.

"I learned that Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day," added Ramon.

Elvis and Ramon, two students in Cheryl J. Cox's second-grade class at Hatch (New Mexico) Elementary School, learned about Cinco de Mayo when Cox created a special WebQuest to help her students learn about and celebrate the Mexican holiday. "I feel that students need to develop an awareness and tolerance of other cultures at an early age," she told Education World.

Previous editions of the QUICK RESOURCE SHEET

#1 – Creating quizzes (and more) online                                                         

#2 – Vocabulary builders

#3 – Online discussion groups for English teachers                                    

#4 – Grammar headaches – and how to cure them

#5 – Resources for new teachers                                                     

#6 – International Education Week

#7 – Mentoring programs                                                                    

#8 – Education publications online

#9 – Applied Linguistics                                                                   

#10 – English for Young Learners

#11 – World AIDS Day                                                                      

#12 – Online writing guides

#13 – E-mail exchanges                                                                      

#14 – Free online English courses

#15 – Effective e-mail communication                                             

#16 – Libraries online

#17 – American Studies                                                                     

#18 – Teaching methodologies

#19 – Internet tutorials                                                                       

#20 – Using the newspaper – Part I

#21 – Making books                                                                           

#22 - Using the newspaper – Part II

#23 – Human rights in language teaching

#24 – Blogging

#25 – Poetry and language teaching

#26 – The communicative approach

#27 -  Idioms

#28 – Earth Day

#29 – Alternative assessment

#30 – Peer assessment

#31 – Self-assessment

#32 – Portfolio assessment – Part I

#33 -  Portfolio assessment - Part II (Online Portfolios)

#34 – Intercultural communication

#35 – Teaching Adults

#36 – Learning disorders / Special needs

#37 – Using computers in reading instruction

#38 – Use of authentic materials

#39 – English for Medical Purposes

#40 – Sources for authentic materials

#41 – Education and technology

#42 – Academic writing

#43 – Teaching and stress

#44 – Back to school

#45 – Motivating students

#46 – Action research

#47 – Internet terminology

#48 – Fluency

#49 – Curriculum design

#50 – Pragmatics

#51 - Podcasting for English teachers

#52 – Critical reading

#53 – Learner autonomy

#54 - Scaffolding