Unit1Festivals

around the world

The Dragon Boat Festival 端午节

The Double Ninth Festival 重阳节

The Spring Festival

Tomb Sweeping Day 清明节

The Lantern Festival 元宵节

The Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节

The Double Seventh Festival 七夕节

What kinds of festivals in China do you know about?

Brainstorming

festivals

Spring Festival Lantern Festival

清明时节雨纷纷，路上行人欲断魂。借问酒家何处有，牧童遥指杏花村。 ------[唐 ] 杜牧

Tomb-Sweeping Day

April 5th

Dragon Boat Festival Mid-Autumn Day

International Women’s Day

New Year’s Day( 元旦 )

Children’s Day

National Day

The Youth Day

International Labour Day

What Chinese public holidays do you know ?

Holidays

festivals

Christmas

Apirl Fool’s Day

Valentine’s Day

Easter(Mar--Apirl)

Thanksgiving Day November

Mother’s Day May

Father’s Day June

Halloween Oct.31

What festivals of foreign countries do you know?

ValentinesFebruary 14th

Halloween

Easter Thanksgiving Day

名称名称 英文名称英文名称 月份月份情人节 Valentine’s Day 2 月 14 日

复活节 Easter3 月 21 日或此日后月圆的第

一个星期日耶稣受难日 Good Friday 复活节前的星期五

愚人节 April Fool’s Day 4 月 1 日母亲节 Mother’s Day 5 月的第二个星期日父亲节 Father’s Day 6 月的第三个星期日劳动节 Labor Day 5 月 1 日万圣节 Halloween 10 月 31 日感恩节 Thanksgiving Day 11 月的第四个星期 4

斋节 Ramadan 穆斯林历的第 9 个月圣诞节 Christmas Day 12 月 25 日

Foreign Festivals

Pre-reading

What festivals or celebrations do you

have in your city or town? What part

of a festival do you like best- the

activities, the music, the sights, the

food or the people who visit?

Reading

How many types of festivals are

mentioned in the passage?

1. Ancient festivals

2. Festivals of the Dead

3. Festivals to Honor People

4. Harvest Festivals

5. Spring Festivals

Scanning

What festivals are mentioned in

each paragraph?

P1. Ancient festivals

celebrate the end of the cold weather,

planting in spring and harvest in

autumn; celebrate when hunters catch

animals.

P 2. Festivals of the Dead

Japan -----Obon

Mexico------Day of the Dead

America------Halloween

P 3. Festivals to Honour People

Dragon Boat Festival

Columbus Day

(India)October 2

Obon （盂兰盆） in Japan

Columbus Day

P 4. Harvest Festivals

Harvest and Thanksgiving

Festival

Mid-Autumn festival

P 5. Spring Festivals

Spring festival

Carnival

Easter

Cheery Blossom Festival

Harvest Festivals

Comprehending

I. Read the passage and then fill

in the following chart.

Purposes To honor the dead or satisfy the 1________

Names 2______ The Day of the Dead

4_________

Countries Japan 3_______ Western countries

1. Festivals of the Dead.

ancestors

Obon

Mexico

Halloween

Activities

Cleaning 5______; lighting 6_______ and lamps; playing 7______

Eating cakes with 8_____ on them; offering food, flowers and 9____ to the dead

Children 10 _______ and ask for sweets

graves

incense

music

bones

gifts

dress up

Obon The Day of the Dead

HalloweenFestivals

2. Festivals to Honour People

Match the person with the festival.

1. Qu Yuan

2. Christopher Columbus

3. Mohandas Gandhi

a. the Dragon Boat Festival

b. an Indian national festival on Oct. 2

c. Columbus Day

a

c

b

3. Harvest Festivals

Choose the best answer.

Many activities can be held in harvest

festivals EXCEPT that people ___.

A. get together to have meals

B. decorate houses to admire the moon

C. win awards for their farm produce

D. enjoy mooncakes

B

B. decorate houses to admire the moon

4. Spring Festivals Fill in the blanks.4. Spring Festivals Fill in the blanks.

Meanings

To look forward to the end of winter and to the coming of spring

Names 1______ ____________

2______

3_____

Cherry Blossom Festival

The SpringFestival

Carnivals Easter

Coun-tries

China Western countries

Mainly religious countries

8 _____Japan

Activities

Eating good foods; giving children 4_____ money; 5________ ______ and carnivals

6________; dancing in the streets; loud music; 7_________________

lucky

dragon dances

Parades

colourfulclothing

Spring Festival CarnivalsFestivals

1). What are festivals of the dead usually for?

Festivals of the dead are for honouring or satisfying dead ancestors or others, who some people believe might return to help or harm living people.

II. Use the information from the reading passage to answer the following question.

2). What makes autumn festivals happy events?

people are thankful that food is ready for winter and the hard farm work is finished.

3). What do people usually do at spring festivals?

people usually have dances, carnivals and other activities to celebrate the end of winter and the coming of spring.

4).What is one important reason to

have festivals and celebrations?

we can enjoy life/ be proud of our

customs/ forget our work for a little

while.

5). Compare the festivals of the dead in

Mexico, Japan and China. What things

are similar? What things are different?

Similarities: clean their ancestors’

graves, and the Mexicans offer food,

flowers and gifts to the dead.

Differences: the Mexicans eat special

food that looks like bones, something

the Chinese and Japanese do not do.

1. The ancient people needn’t worry about their

food.

2. Halloween used to be a festival intended to

honor the dead.

F

T

III. True or False

3. Qu Yuan was a great poet who people honor

a lot in China.

4. Mid-autumn Festival is held to celebrate the

end of autumn.

5. Easter celebrates the birth of Jesus.

T

F

F

Which festivals you think are the

most important and which are the

most fun.

Homework

1. Go over the text after class and

find the sentences that you don’t

understand

2. Finish exercise “discovering useful

words and expressions” on Page 4.

(Ex1, 2 and 3)

3. Find out as much information as

possible about festivals around the

world.