Задания по теме "Holidays"

Holidays and Traditions. Список английских слов №3

1. Kinds of holidays

1. holiday — 1. выходной день 2. праздник

2. festival — праздник

3. holidays – каникулы (мн.ч.)

4. day off – выходной

5. family holiday – семейный праздник

6. religious holiday – религиозный праздник

7. public holiday = national holiday = state holiday – государственный праздник

8. pagan holiday — языческий праздник

2. Main National and Religious (Pagan) Holidays

Guess the Russian names for the celebrations below:

1. New Year’s Day

2. Hogmanay

3. St. Valentine’s Day

4. Pancake Day =Shrovetide

5. Defender of Motherland Day  (23 февраля — День защитника отечества)

6. Women’s Day

7. St. Patrick’s Day

8. Easter

9. April Fool’s Day

10. May Day

11. Victory Day

12. Independence Day

13. Day of Knowledge

14. Teacher’s Day

15. Thanksgiving Day

16. Guy Fawkes Night

17. Halloween

18. Christmas

19. Boxing Day

3. Main British Holidays

• The main holidays in Great Britain are New Year’s Day, Good Friday (Пятница на Страстной неделе), Easter Monday, Labour Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

• Public holidays are called Bank Holidays because on these days banks, most of shops and offices are closed.

• Besides public holidays the British people observe certain traditions on such days as Pancake Day, Guy Fawkes’ Night, St. Valentine’s Day, April Fool’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween which are ordinary working days.

• Christmas is the main religious holiday in many countries. It is celebrated in Europe on the 25th of December, in Russia on the 7th of January. It is the day when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, though the actual date of his birth is not known.

• Boxing Day (UK) is the next day after Christmas, when rich people give small presents in boxes to the servants, etc.

• The New Year is not as widely celebrated as Christmas in Britain. Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at usual time. Others, however, do celebrate it in one way or another. The most common way of celebration is a New Year Party.

• Hogmanay is the most popular holiday in Scotland, celebrated on the New Year’s Eve.

• Easter is a very important festival in the Christian calendar. The Christians think that on the day of Easter Jesus Christ rose from dead. The actual date of Easter changes every year. The preparations for Easter really begin 40 days before Easter, on Shrove Tuesday. This marks the beginning of a period of fasting, called Lent.

• There are also local festivals all through the year. In spring village children dance round Maypole (Майское дерево). Maypole is an ancient emblem of the beginning of summer. In ancient times it was a pagan spring festival. A tall pole decorated with flowers, maypole, was erected to which ribbons were attached and held by the dancers.

• Guy Fawkes Night (UK) is on November, 5. Guy Fawkes Night goes back to the days of King James I who was vary unpopular as a protestant. So some of the Catholics made an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. The man who was to explode the building was Guy Fawkes. But he was discovered, arrested and hanged. Since that time people burn a straw dummy of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire on the 5th of November.

4. Main American Holidays

• National festivals in the USA are New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day.

• New Year’s Day is a national holiday, people make promises, for example, to give up smoking, to change their life. Ii is not so important as in Russia, very small presents are given.

• New Year Resolution is a promise which many people make before New Year. Usually they  want to improve their behavior and to give up bad habits.

• Valentine’s Day is on February, 14. It is not a national holiday, but the holiday of love and friendship. It is one of the most loved holidays. There are romantic cards and gifts for those who are in love. The most popular wish:” Be my Valentine!” There are also cards for wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, and even grandparents.

• St. Patrick’s Day is on March, 17.  It was a religious holiday. Now everybody wears green this day. Former Irish holiday (the Irish believed that St. Patrick freed Ireland from snakes.) Day of fun and parades.

• April Fool’s Day is on April, 1. No one is sure how April’s Fool day got started. Most countries seem to have a day when people play tricks on each other. Children specially like these days. Some people think that trick days begin in India. People there celebrate a spring holiday called Holi. A favourite trick on Holi is to fill a bamboo pipe with coloured powder and blow the powder at people. Sometimes children fill the pipe with water and squirt each other.

• Mother’s Day, Father’s Day  are the days when the Americans thank their parents, give them flowers and presents. In the UK there is only Mother’s Sunday.

• Good Friday is the Friday before Easter (страстная пятница). On that dat people eat hot cross buns.

• Easter Sunday, Easter Monday. The symbol of the holiday is Easter Bunny who brings the eggs. The traditional presents coloured eggs and chocolate eggs.

• Memorial Day  is the last day in May. It is a national holiday (since 1917) to remember the soldiers killed in battles.

• Independence Day  is on July,4. This day the USA became independent from the United Kingdom in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was accepted.

• Labour Day is the day to honor all the workers.

• Columbus Day is on October, 12, 1492 Columbus discovered America. Now it is celebrated on the second Monday in October.

• Thanksgiving Day is on the 4th Thursday in November. It is a national holiday, family holiday. The first Europeans on American land wanted to thank God and the Native Americans for their help during their first winter which was cold and hungry. Traditional food is turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies. The original celebration was held in 1621 after the first harvest in New England.

• Halloween is on October, 31. It is not a national holiday. Children make costumes and go from house to house. They say “ Trick or treat ”. People give them tasty things.

• Christmas is a national and religious holiday which is celebrated on December, 25. Santa Claus visits children and puts their presents into their stockings.

Holidays and Traditions. Задания

Задание 1. Describe any holiday. Your partner will guess. 

Задание 2. Answer the questions:
1) What American holidays do you know?
2) What British holidays do you know?
3) What holidays are celebrated both in Russia and the USA / Great Britain?
4) What is your favourite Russian holiday?
5) What is more important for you: a day off or a celebration?
6) How is Christmas celebrated in Great Britain and in Russia?

ОТВЕТЫ вы найдете в конце статьи.

Remember the holidays that are celebrated throughout the world:
1. New Year’s Day
2. St. Valentine’s Day
3. April Fool’s Day
4. Christmas
5. Easter

Задание 3. Complete the text about Russian holidays.

Another Russian ______ is Maslenitsa. It used to be a ______ holiday. Now it becomes a _____ to celebrate it. This holiday is loved by everybody. People celebrate it at the ____ of February or at the beginning of March. It lasts for a week. During this holiday people ____ the winter ____ and greet spring. In old times people usually cooked _____, had fires, burnt scarecrows of winter, sang songs and danced. _____, which are round and hot, symbolize the Sun. Now it is a merry holiday when people dance, sing songs and cook pancakes. Usually this holiday is ______ in parks.

The most important _____ holidays are Christmas and Easter. In Russia Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January but in Europe and in the USA on the 25th of December. On that day Christians celebrate the birth of _______, though the actual date of his birth is not known.

The tradition to decorate Christmas tree came from Germany. In Russia this tradition was _____ by Peter the Great. It is a custom to decorate Christmas tree with candles, coloured lights and balls. The _______ Christmas colours are red and green. The traditional Christmas food is a roast turkey with vegetables and a Christmas pudding.

Answer the questions:

1. What holidays does your family celebrate?

2. What is your favourite holiday?

3. Does your family have any special New Year traditions?

4. Do you cook and eat any special holiday meals?

5. Do you celebrate any religious holidays?

6. Have you ever tried to celebrate any foreign holidays?

7. What is the main holiday in our country? In Great Britain? In the USA?

8. What holidays are celebrated throughout the world?

9. Are there any differences in the celebrations and customs of New Year in European countries?

Holidays in Russia

Task 3. You are going to give a talk about public holidays in Russia. You will have to start in 1.5 minutes and speak for not more than 2 minutes (10-12 sentences).

Remember to say:

  what public holidays are celebrated in Russia

  what your favourite public holiday is, and why you like it

  how your favourite public holiday is celebrated in your city, town or village

You have to talk continuously.

I am going to give a talk about public holidays in Russia.

There are many national holidays in Russia, when people all over the country do not work and have special celebrations.

The major holidays are: New Year's Day, Women's Day, May Day, Victory Day and Independence Day.

The first holiday of the year is New Year's Day. People see the New Year in at midnight to the 31st of December. They greet the new year with champagne and listen to the Kremlin chimes beating 12 o'clock. After the speech of the President of the Russian Federation most of the families spend night walking in the streets. It is my favourite holiday. We usually get together, we like celebrate this holiday at home. There are lots of New Year traditions in Russia. In every home there is a New Year tree glittering with coloured lights and decorations. Children always wait for Father Frost or Santa Claus to come and give them a present. Also we give each other presents. Personally I like to give presents to other people because I think that it’s great that I can make them happy by doing it.

A renewed holiday in our country is Christmas. It is celebrated on the 7th of January. It's a religious holiday and a lot of people go to church services on that day.

On the 8th of March we celebrate Women's Day when men are supposed to do everything about the house and cook all the meals.

The greatest national holiday in our country is Victory Day. On the 9th of May, 1945, the Soviet Army and its allies completely defeated the German fascists and the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War ended. A magnificent memorial on Poklonnaya Gora has been built to commemorate the Victory.  A lot of guest from different countries of the world came to Moscow to participate in the celebrations.

This year we celebrated the 75th anniversary of this great event. The inhabitants of our village, veterans, many guests, and children took part in the holiday demonstration “Immortal Regiment” and laid wreaths at the war memorial sites. All stood in silence for a minute. The symbol of memory became St. George ribbon. People wear this black-and-yellow ribbon on their clothes. Radio and television broadcast popular war songs all day long. Many people watch the fireworks at night on Victory Day.

Independence Day is a new holiday in our country. On the 12th of June, 1992, the first President of Russia was elected.

We also celebrate Day of the Defender of Motherland on the 23d of February, Easter, Day of knowledge and lots of professional holidays.

In conclusion, I‘d say, I like holidays. They unite people together.

CARD 9 You are going to give a talk about RUSSIAN TRADITIONS.

The Plan

-what holidays are most popular in your country;

- what Ivan Kupala holiday is;

- how Russian people celebrate it;

- what your favourite holiday is and how you celebrate it

When it comes to speaking about Russian Traditions, I’d like to stress that they are of great importance as they can help to preserve our culture.

The most popular holidays in Russia are New Year’s Day, Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day and Victory Day. In winter Russian people celebrate Maslenitsa and in summer Ivan Kupala Day.

Ivan Kupala Day is an ancient holiday to honour the sun on Midsummer Day. This Day is filled with a variety of rites and ceremonies connected with water, fire and plants.

In the evening before Ivan Kupala Day some people look for fern flowers in the forests. A fern flower is thought to bring prosperity to the lucky finder. Swimming and water fights on Ivan Kupala Day are popular with children. In the evening people light huge bonfires, dance and jump over them.

My favourite holiday is New Year’s Day. On the thirty-first of December we decorate a Christmas tree and cook a special dinner. At midnight we wish a Happy Year and give presents to each other. Then we watch TV, have supper, dance, make fireworks and have a lot of fun. I love this holiday because I enjoy spending time with my family.

To sum up, I’d like to say that we should keep up Russian traditions because they are part of our history.

Напиши письмо другу

You have received an email message from your English-speaking pen-friend Lily:

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Holidays

… You’ve probably seen the photos which I took on my holiday. During the rainy days we are having now they bring back good memories!

… Where did you spend your last summer holidays? What did you do during your holidays? What school holidays do you like most of all and why?…

Write a message to Lily and answer her 3 questions.

Write 100–120 words.

Remember the rules of email writing.