Unit 14 Reading

The Birth of A Festival

Study the words or phrases in the box and group them into pairs.

Words with similar meaning: 1.honour /respect 2.purpose / goal 3.argument / discussion

Words with opposite meaning: 1.peace / fight 2.joy / sorrow 3.destruction / construction

discussion destruction construction goal sorrow peace purpose joy fight argument respect honour

Halloween

Thanksgiving Day

Easter

Day of Death

Water-Sprinkling Festival

Spring Festival

True or False

1.Kwanzaa is a very old festival. F 2.The world Kwanzaa means first fruit in Swahili. T

3.Kwanzaa is based on old Africa festivals. T 4.People created Kwanzaa to celebrate American culture.

F 5. Kwanzaa is celebrated on Christmas Day. F 6.People who celebrate Kwanzaa light a candle for each of the seven

principles. T

Read the text and answer these questions.

1. Why did Dr. Karenga create Kwanzaa ?

2. When is the festival ? 3. How old is this festival ? 4. How do people celebrate it ? 5. What are the seven principles of K

wanzaa?

Read the passage again and discuss this question in groups .

Look at the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Which one do you think is the most important? Why? Are there any other festival which have ore or more of the same principles?

According to the short passage, fill in the words.

April Fools’ Day is on April 1st. People paly tricks on others on this special day. If you succeed in fooling someone, you usually laugh and say, “April Fool !” The best trick is one that makes everyone laugh, including the “fool”.

Mother’s Day is on the second Sunday of May. It’s a day to thank mothers for all they do for us. On that day mothers usually receive flowers and cards from their children. Fathers and children do the housework so that mothers can have a rest.

Easter Day falls on the first Sunday after the full moon which is on or after March 21st. It’s also called Easter Sunday. It is said that on the Monday Jesus Christ comes back to life. Many people go to church and children often get presents.

Thanksgiving Day is on the fourth Tuesday in November. It’s a day when people give thanks for the good things in life. Usually families get together and have a big dinner.

Christmas Day comes on December 25th. For some people it’s the most important festival in a year. Beautiful decoration can be seen hanging in the streets. People exchange gifts, send Christmas cards and first friends.