Look at the pictures ,what are they doing?
They are celebrating an important festival.
They’re celebrating Dragon Boat Festival.
What are they doing?
What festival is it?
Water-sprinkling festival of Dai national minority.
They’re celebrating carnival.
What are they doing?
“ Santa Claus is coming ! ”
Spring Festival Music
Festivals Around
the World
unit 1
Topic
Talk about festivals ,how festivals begin and how festivals are celebrated.
Words and Expressions
Knowledge Goals
Words:
starve, plenty, satisfy, ancestor, lead, feast, origin, trick, poet, arrival, gain, independence, gather, agricultural, European, custom, award, handsome, admire, energetic, clothing, daily, religious, social, possibility, permission, apologize, drown, obvious, wipe, lonely, couple , weep , announcer , forgive .
Expressions:
take place , starve to death , plenty of , lead to , in memory of , dress up , play a trick on ,
look forward to (prep.) , day and night ,
as though (if) , have fun , turn up ,
keep one’s word , hold one’s breath ,
apologize to someone for something , wipe off ,
a couple of , in the shape of .
Functional Items
How to make phone calls.
How to make requests and invitations. How to express our thanks.
Grammar
Learn to use Modal verbs:
may/might ,can/could ,will/would ,
shall/should ,must/can’t.
Ability Goals
Enable to write a similar story with a different ending to ;train skills of speaking ;
develop the ability of learning English through different ways, such as reading newspapers, magazines and books, surfing the Internet, etc.
Emotion Goals
Train positive and healthy attitude towards different festivals and customs;
further understand the differences between Chinese and foreign cultures.
Important and Difficult Points
Important Points
Festivals and celebrations; try to understand all kinds of festivals both in China and abroad, as well as their backgrounds;
the usages of some Modal Verbs;
try to improve speaking ability by talking about the festivals and practicing the functional sentences of request, invitation, etc.
Try to understand the differences between Chinese and foreign cultures, as well as the backgrounds of the festivals;
try to develop our speaking ability.
Difficult Points
What festivals are the pictures about?
Spring Festival
Festivals are meant to celebrate important events. Different countries have different festivals. Festivals and celebrations of all kinds have been held everywhere since ancient times.
When does the Spring Festival take place?
What does it celebrate?
What do people usually do in the Spring Festival?
Spring Festival
spring (Jan. and/or Feb.)
Lunar New Year
Eat dumplings, fish, and meat
Spring Festival
dumplings
New Year supper
Lantern Festival
Some other Chinese Traditional Festivals
Dragon Boat Day
Mid- Autumn Festival
“How rare the moon, so round and clear! With cup in hand, I ask of the blue sky, ‘I do not know in the celestial sphere What name this festive night goes by?’
 I want to fly home, riding the air,
But fear the ethereal cold up there,
The jade and crystal mansions are so high! Dancing to my shadow, I feel no longer the mortal tie.
“She rounds the vermilion tower,
Stoops to silk-pad doors,
Shines on those who sleepless lie. Why does she, bearing us no grudge,
Shine upon our parting, reunion deny? But rare is perfect happiness-- The moon does wax, the moon does wane, And so men meet and say goodbye. I only pray our life be long, And our souls together heavenward fly!
但愿人长久
千里共婵娟
《水调歌头•明月几时有》（苏轼）（林语堂译）
Do you know some other festivals in China,
including traditional festivals and public holidays?
FESTIVAL
New Year
National Day
Mid-Autumn
Festival
Children’s Day
Dragon
Boat
Festival
Teachers’
Day
Spring Festival
May Day
Army Day
…
Double Nine Festival
Qingming Festival
Lantern Festival
Brainstorming
the 1st day of the lunar month
coming of the spring
visit relatives; have a big meal; get together and have fun with friends
the first full moon after Lunar New Year
eat special sweet dumplings; enjoy lanterns and fireworks
May the 1st
the hard-working people all over the world
take a week off work; visit scenic spots; go shopping
the 5th day of the 5th lunar month
In memory of Qu Yuan, a great poet
dragon boat racing; eat zongzi
the 15th day of the 8th lunar month
harvest
admire the moon;
eat mooncakes
the15th day of the 1st lunar month
Fill in the chart according to what you know.
What about festivals around the world?
Look at the title of the passage and the pictures.
Discuss in pairs about what kind of infromation will be introduced in the passage in your mind.
1. Fast Reading, pay attention:
How many types of festivals are discussed?
What festivals are they?
2. Listen to the text:
Click here
Fill in the chart in Exercise1 on Page 3.
Obon
Day of the Dead
Halloween
Japan
Mexico
some Western countries
Dragon Boat Festival
Columbus Day
festival to honor Gandhi
China
USA
India
Harvest/Thanksgiving
festivals
Mid-autumn festival
European and
other countries
China and Japan
Spring Festival
Easter and related holidays
Cherry Blossom Festival
China
Japan
some Western countries
3. Detailed Reading:
Read the text loudly for a second time and then try to tell whether these sentences are True or False.
A. The ancient people needn’t worry about their food.
( F )
B. Halloween used to be a festival intended to honor the dead.
( T )
C. Qu Yuan was a great poet who people honor a lot in China.
D. Mid-autumn Festival is held to celebrate the end of the autumn.
E. Easter celebrates the birth of Jesus.
( T )
( F )
( F )
4. Reading the text the third time:
While reading, work with your partners and make a list of the useful phrases you’ve noticed in the passage, if necessary you may refer to the notes on pages 76-78,and then work in pairs to do Exercise 2 on Page 3.
Explanation
festival
1.名词 (pl. festivals)节日,喜庆日。
Christmas is one of the major festivals in the United States of America.
圣诞节是美国的主要节日之一。

2.(定期举行的)音乐节,戏剧节。
Our city holds a music festival every year.
我们市每年举办音乐节。
3.庆祝活动，纪念活动。
Holding a festival on Independence Day.
在独立纪念日举办庆祝会。

4.形容词(节日的,喜庆)
We all wore festival costumes to the ball.
我们都穿着节日的盛装去参加舞会。
saint's day, holy day, feast day, ferias, rite.
festival
同义词:
A festival is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on some unique aspect of that community. Among many religions, a feast or festival is a set of celebrations in honor of God or gods. The word fest derives from the Middle English, from Middle French word festivals, from the Latin word festivals. Festivals, of many types, serve to meet specific needs, as well as to provide entertainment. These times of celebration offer a sense of belonging for religious, social, or geographical groups. Modern festivals that focus on cultural or ethnic topics seek to inform members of their traditions. There are numerous types of festivals in the world. Though many have religious origins, others involve seasonal change or have some cultural significance. Seasonal festivals are determined by the solar and the lunar calendars and by the cycle of the seasons. The changing of the season was celebrated because of its effect on food supply. Ancient Egyptians would celebrate the seasonal inundation caused by the Nile River, a form of irrigation, which provided fertile land for crops. A recognized winter festival, the Chinese New Year, is set by the lunar calendar, and celebrated from the day of the second new moon after the winter solstice.
Background
Spring Festival
spring festivals: means festivals in spring,
（春天的节庆）
Spring Festival: means the festival in spring
celebrated in China, Korea, Japan
and Southeast Asia（春节）
The Origin of Chinese New Year
The Chinese New Year is now popularly known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the Beginning of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coordination with the changes of Nature). Its origin is too old to be traced. Several explanations are hanging around. All agree, however, that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese solely means “year”, was originally the name of a monster beast that started to prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year.
One legend goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would swallow a great many people with one bite. People were very scared. One day, an old man came to their rescue, offering to subdue Nian. To Nian he said, “I hear say that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts of prey on earth instead of people who are by no means of your worthy opponents?" So, it did swallow many of the beasts of prey on earth that also harassed people and their domestic animals from time to time.
After that, the old man disappeared riding the beast Nian. He turned out to be an immortal god. Now that Nian is gone and other beasts of prey are also scared into forests, people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare away Nian in case it sneaked back again, because red is the color the beast feared the most.
From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation.
Words about Spring Festival
Greeting Season
春节 The Spring Festival
农历 lunar calendar
正月 lunar January
the first month by lunar calendar
除夕 New Year's Eve
eve of lunar New Year
初一 the beginning of New Year
元宵节 the Lantern Festival
Food Names
团圆饭 family reunion dinner
年夜饭 the dinner on New Year's Eve
饺子 dumpling
汤圆 Tang-yuan;
年糕 Nian-gao; rise cake;
New Year cake
红枣 red dates
西瓜子