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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving

Learn English with this holiday English lesson.

Date: Nov 23 2020

Themes: Holidays

Grammar: Present Progressive Tense

Intro

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No matter what race, religion, or ethnicity, on the third Thursday in November, most people in the US sit down to a Thanksgiving meal. For some, it’s a traditional dinner, with turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. Others might serve all vegetarian food. Still others might include foods that reflect their cultural heritage, like turkey with kimchi or tamales instead of stuffing.

Whatever food might be on the table, Thanksgiving is about ritual. It’s about getting together with loved ones. And it’s about giving thanks and being grateful for what you have. Hear Marni and Greta’s thoughts about Thanksgiving in this English lesson.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Greta

Greta

Marni

Marni

Greta:  Thanksgiving is coming up.

Marni:  It is indeed.

Greta:  Do you have plans?

Marni:  You know, I don’t. It’s usually big family get-togethers, and we’re all organized about who’s bringing what, and this year it’s just kinda up in the air.

Greta:  Huh! I have more than I would like to going on on Thanksgiving.

Marni:  Okay.

Greta:  My parents are divorced.

Marni:  Ah.

Greta:  And so usually we have Thanksgiving with my mom the day before, and then Thanksgiving with my husband’s family in the early afternoon on Thanksgiving, and then Thanksgiving with my dad at night.

Marni:  Wow. That’s a lot of eating.

Greta:  It is. But this year my mom can’t do the day before, so we are doing three back-to-back on the same day.

Marni:  My goodness. That is quite a commitment there.

Greta:  It’s going to be a lot of pumpkin pie and turkey.

Marni:  Yeah. You know, the one thing I do like about Thanksgiving is it does give you pause, and it’s good for everyone to stop and reflect and think about what they’re grateful for.

Greta:  Do you do the thing with your family where everyone goes around the table before it starts and says what they’re grateful for?

Marni:  We do. And I do really enjoy that, because it’s interesting just to take pause and realize that there is a lot to be grateful for.

Greta:  It’s true.

 

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Discussion

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Greta notes that Thanksgiving is soon, and asks if Marni has any plans. Marni doesn’t, though she usually does. This year, she doesn’t know exactly what she’s doing.

Greta is in the opposite situation. Because her parents are divorced, and she is married, she usually has three separate Thanksgiving meals. Usually, one is the day before, and two are on Thanksgiving itself. But this year, all three will be on one day. Marni points out that that’s a big commitment, and a lot of turkey.

Marni admits that her favorite part about Thanksgiving is actually that it provides the opportunity to take pause and reflect. It lets you stop and think about what you’re grateful for.

What do you know about Thanksgiving in the US? Is there a similar holiday in your country? What are you grateful for?

 

Comments

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princessanika

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i think tomarow is tanksgiving day in U.S.A and another country,but in Iran we don’t have any thanksgiving day,but i know it’s a very big celebrate.

09:49 AM Nov 21 2012 |

IMOdraude

Brazil

Here in Brazil we haven’t got any similar holiday. One similar holiday is Christmas. Beyond the celebration the birth of Christ, we take a pause and reflect about life, family, future plans, friends. It’s time to a family and friends make an effort to get together and leave differences and conflicts aside. That’s a lot of eating too! We have turkey, chester, leg, etc…

09:18 AM Nov 21 2012 |

bellaboo2422

Pakistan


in our country we dont have a thanksgiving holiday. being a muslim we always pay thanks to Allah Almighty for all the things he has blessed us with. we dont need a day or event to pay thanks to him. its our duty to pay thanks day and night for all the bounties we are enjoing so we do. we have many rituals to get togather with people like friend and family etc. we have two eid cermonies in a year one eid miladulnabi PBUH the birth day of our prophet. we arrange dinner parties and special meals all the day for friends and family on these rituals. we celebrate some blessed nights too like shab e barat, shab e marrage, lailatul qadar we can say these are thanksgiving nights because we alltogather friends and family pray whole night we thanks to Allah Almighty, ask for his pardon and he bless every single person of being there. there are many exceptional events of mirth to share with people all togater:).

09:12 AM Nov 21 2012 |

Moriza

Moriza

Ukraine

November has many holidays to celebrate.And one of them is Thanksgiving Day.For several centuries people of America get together to give thanks for year,s harvest and enjoy its fruits.Thanksgiving Day,legal holiday in the USA,first celebrated in the early colonial times in New England…


 Unfortunately,we do not have such a holiday although many countries have followed the USA,s example and started marking it in different months of the year.This is a day to give thanks to the people who contributed a lot to our lives,to our closest relatives and friends,to God,to the earth for the opportunity to live,work,smile,love…


 For flowers that bloom about our feet,


 For tender grass,so fresh,so sweet,


 For song of bird,and hum of bee,


 For all things fair we hear or see,


 Father in heaven,we thank Thee!

09:05 AM Nov 21 2012 |

zarin.setare

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

we havent similar holiday.we believe that three times a day.we should say prayer as prophet Mohammad said and when we start each meal we say in the name of Allah and at the end we say thank God and there is especial arabic prayer some people say so.about having especial food in the first night before every year Iranian eat fish and rice(in our language sabzi polo ba mahi) as a costom.

08:08 AM Nov 21 2012 |

rosadnvn

Viet Nam

For each Vietnamese, Tet holiday is very special event of the year. It starts from the first day of lunar year. Most of people come back home town, enjoy, meet relatives, friends…We meet each other, say Good luck for coming year. We give the lucky money to young people like teenager, children,,,We make many kinds rice cakes, meat cook slow, steamed sticky rice, egg roll, onion pickles…these are traditional meal. We wear traditional clothes – ao dai (long dress). Before Tet holiday, we redecorate, make house new, everything will be ready and new. 

07:19 AM Nov 21 2012 |

1 person likes this

makpal

makpal

Kazakhstan

here in Kazakhstan we have annual muslim tradition called Kurban ait or Kurban bairam.  Families kill a sheep as a sacrifice for the peace of the dead ancestors. They invite relatives and friends for a meal made of that sheep’s meat. after the meal the hosts distribute all the rest of the meat to the guests to take home with themselves. during 3 days people go to each others places and eat different traditional dishes. this year we celebrated it in the end of October.

06:13 AM Nov 21 2012 |

mojtaba

mojtaba

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

no .we don’t have similar this in my country but we every day prayer and are thankful to god for blessings such as health

06:06 AM Nov 21 2012 |

haitham4vip

Egypt

mmmm thanks

02:49 AM Nov 21 2012 |

ola33

ola33

Japan

It’s a great tradition to get-together, eat turkey, mashed potato with gravy and be gratefull for what you have. It’s important to invite someone, I think, on this day and share food.



 

01:58 AM Nov 21 2012 |

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