3 Month Mark of Class: Thanksgiving

Week of 11/25/08

I have always loved the holidays. Although Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving is very important to me as well. It is a time for my very large and very close family to come together for the holiday and truly appreciate that, even in hard times, we have one another to be thankful for. My sister, brother and I often visit a few houses in the same day to try to see as many loved ones as possible. Thankfully, most of my family lives within a thirty minute distance so we never have to worry much about the headache of traveling through holiday traffic. Truthfully, on Thanksgiving, even the traffic doesn't get to me. What I love most about Thanksgiving is the cooking and preparing of the food, catching up with family members, the delicious smell of the various dishes, and the traditions and aspects of our Italian culture that the holidays bring out in my family. We wake up early and get home late. The day is always full of lots to do but it is always very relaxing. Now, with Thanksgiving behind us, I look forward to my favorite holiday.

Vocabulary from the Passage

1. time (n): a system of measuring duration of events over the past, present and future. I used this word in my passage to describe Thanksgiving and what it means to me.
2. together (adv): collective as a whole; to collect into a group. I used this word to discuss the Thanksgiving holiday for me and my family.
3. holiday (n): a day of freedom from the labor of work and responsibilities; a day set aside by law or custom for the suspension of business and schools, usually to commemorate an event. I used this word to describe Thanksgiving.
4. possible (adj): that can be; capable of existing. I used this word in my passage to describe what my siblings and I do during our holiday.
5. delicious (adj): very pleasing; delightful; very enjoyable; I used this word to describe the smell of the food on Thanksgiving day.
6. family (n): all of those claiming descent from a common ancestor; a group of people related by ancestry or marriage. I used this word in my passage to discuss the holiday.

** Practice Exercise **

Can you think of a good grammatical structure for my passage? Try to come up with a Grammatical Structure of your own.

** Practice Exercise II **

1. In my passage, what holiday did I mention as my favorite holiday of the year? ___________________
2. What holiday am I discussing in this passage (What is the main idea)? _________________
3. What did I mention that I am thankful for on Thanksgiving? _________________________________________________________________
4. In my passage, what did I say I love most about Thanksgiving? __________________________________________________________
5. In the end of my passage, what did I say I am looking forward to? ___________________

Close Exercise: Match with the Vocabulary

1. No matter how long the day is, there is never enough _______ for everything that I would like to get done. Thankfully, there's always tomorrow.

2. I did not want to go out alone, so my sister agreed to go too and we went out ___________.

3. What is your favorite ______________?

4. Is it ___________ that Christmas is almost here? Where did the year go?

5. I love to eat. The food on Thanksgiving was so ________________.

6. _________ is a very important thing to be thankful for.

http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2008/11/esl-and-efl-thanksgiving-story-and-activities/
(Teaching ESL children about Thanksgiving with Stories and Activities)