15 Interesting Facts About Halloween

1 Black and orange are typically associated with Halloween: orange, along with brown and gold, stands for the harvest and autumn. Black is typically a symbol of death and darkness and reminds us that Halloween was once a festival that marked the boundaries between life and death.

2 More candy is sold on October 28th than any other day of the year.

3 In Arkansas it's illegal to dress up as a priest.

4 The Village Halloween parade in New York City is the largest Halloween parade in the United States. It includes 50.000 participants and draws over 2.000.000 spectators.

5 According to legend, if you see a spider on Halloween it's actually the spirit of a loved one watching over you.

http://thechive.com/2013/09/19/30-interesting-facts-about-halloween-30-photos/

6 October 30th is National Candy Corn day.

7 It's actually very rare for a full moon to occur on Halloween.

8 Pumpkins are typically orange, but they can also be green, white, red and grey.

9 Ireland is believed to be the birthplace of Halloween.

10 The word "witch" comes from the Old English "wicce", meaning "wise woman". In fact, witches were highly respected people at one time.

11 Magician Harry Houdini died on Halloween.

12 In the UK white cats are thought to bring bad luck.

13 Hard candy lasts for a year, while chocolate can last up to two.

14 Thousands of people suffer from Samhainophobia, which is an irrational fear of Halloween.

15 Many shelters don't allow black cats to be adopted around Halloween, for fear that they may be tortured or sacrificed.

(source: thechive.com)

• Read the information above about Halloween and find the FALSE fact.
• Then click on the picture and check if you were right.
• Explain in your own words: the origin of the word "Halloween" / fancy dress / trick-or-treating / pumpkin carving / jack-o'lantern / ducking for apples.
• You can also see this VIDEO on Halloween and answer the questions.

Do They Know It's Halloween?

Watch this video of a song about Halloween. Do the quiz, too.

Do you think the message is positive or negative? What's your opinion on Halloween celebration?

Carnivals: A Travel Guide (Web Task)

Make your own travel guide for the most famous carnivals in the world. Go to this Web Task and start working!

Mr Bean's Christmas: Web Task

Mr Bean celebrates the traditional British Christmas. Find out how. Click on the Web Task and do all the activities.

St Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day falls on February 14 every year. Red and pink hearts decorate classrooms. Children make or buy cards to give to their friends. Adults often buy cards for the people they love. Friends may give gifts of candy, chocolate, flowers, or jewelry.

The cards given on Valentine’s Day are called “valentines”. Valentines often have poems written on them: 

Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet / And so are you

Valentine's Day / Is a wonderful way / To make I love you / Easy to say

Valentine’s Day is not a legal holiday. Children go to school on Valentine’s Day. Moms and dads go to work. But Valentine’s Day is still a very special day. Valentine’s Day is a good time to tell someone “I 'm glad you are my friend”, or “I love you”.

Now play filling in the lyrics for the song Love Story by Taylor Swift.
  

How to play:

• » To continue playing you must complete each line.
• » To listen again the last line, press backspace key.
• » If you can't understand a word, press tab key to jump to the next.
• » Don't write spaces neither any special character.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Here you have two different versions of the song All I Want For Christmas Is You, which one is your favourite?

Sing, enjoy and leave a comment!

A Happy Thanksgiving WebQuest

1 Click HERE to see the WebQuest.

2 Work in groups. Answer the questions on a sheet of paper.

3 Give your teacher the sheet of paper at the end of the lesson.

I hope you find out a lot of interesting things about Thanksgiving. Have fun!

Happy Halloween!!

The pagans who lived in Britain 200 years ago celebrated New Year on 1st November. Then the Christians came and celebrated “Hallowmas”, a festival between 31^st October and 2^nd November.

31^st October slowly changed the name to HALLOWEEN.

In the past, people believed that bad spirits came in winter. They wanted bad spirits to go away, so they made fires outside and used pumpkins to make jack o’ lanterns.

To make a jack o’ lantern, people cut a hole in a large fruit. Then they put a candle in the hole, and cut a face in the side.

Another thing people do is to dress like witches and ghosts to make the bad spirits go away. People often put up decorations for Halloween parties, play games such as "bobbing apples", attend costume parties and bonfires, tell scary stories and watch horror films.

Children go “trick or treating”. They dress like witches and ghosts, and go to the houses in small groups.When someone answers the door, the children say: TRICK OR TREAT? and the person in the house must decide. They may give the children a treat ( chocolate, fruit, sweets…) or the children will play a trick on them . The children sometimes throw eggs at the house.

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Read the text and do these exercises in your notebook:

1 Answer these questions:

•  When do we celebrate Halloween?
•  What countries typically celebrate Halloween?
•  What is a jack-o-lantern?
•  Can you mention three activities people often do in Halloween?

2 Find the meaning of the underlined words (you can use a dictionary)

3 Find out the meaning of the word "halloween".

__________________________________________________________________________

4 Now, watch this cartoon related to Halloween and answer these questions in your notebook:

a What are the children doing?
b Mention four things children have got in their bags.
c What does the last child get?

Halloween is fun, isn't it? Enjoy a lot and don't forget to bring your HOMEWORK to class!!