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Halloween Pumpkin

Date: Oct 28 2003

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Hi Friends!
Happy Halloween! Halloween is a really fun American holiday – one that people of all ages get into. You’ve probably noticed that some people have decorated their homes for Halloween or have a jack-o-lantern sitting on their front steps. You may also have noticed crazy costumes for sale in the stores or people buying Halloween candy to give to the trick-or-treaters on the 31st. Halloween is definitely a very exciting time of the year and has many of its own special traditions.
Listen to Miguel tell John about his trip to pick out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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

John

Miguel

John: How was the pumpkin patch, dude?

Miguel: Well, I’ll tell ya, it was amazing. It was like a rock concert, or

something. I bet there was like 20,000 people there.

John: Weren’t you the oldest though?

Miguel: No. Actually, there was people of all ages. There were little kids

and there were, you know, 20-somethings and all the way up to grandmothers
and grandfathers.

John: So how’d that work? You went out there and, and, uh, walked around a

field and got to choose the pumpkin that you liked?

Miguel: Yeah, that’s about right. There’s basically about a million pumpkins

spread out over this huge field, and there’s just a gang of people, like,
racing around trying to, like, find the best one for their carving.

John: So, what kind of qualifications did you have for your pumpkin? Did you

want a big one or a small one?

Miguel: Well, I like an alternative pumpkin. I don’t like the just basic

round orange one. I try to find something that’s a little quirky. So, I
found one that was like a bright red color instead of the standard orange.

John: That’s cool. Although, I haven’t seen many pumpkins that are bright

red. Are you sure that falls in line with the tradition of Halloween?

Miguel: Well, that’s the thing – I think Halloween can be interpreted in a

lot of different ways. But, that’s the same thing when I carved it, I
don’t… You know, most people put a face on it or something. I just
drilled all these holes in random places, so it looked really bizarre.

John: So, do you think you’re gonna do the drilling-hole method on your

pumpkin next year?

Miguel: Well, I like to be innovative, so I don’t think I’ll copy my same

method, but I’ll come up with something else just as interesting.

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Discussion

Did you know that the history of Halloween goes back more than 2,000 years ago? At that time, some of the people who lived in Northern Europe believed that on the night of October 31st, the ghosts of people who had died came back to earth looking for the body of a living person to inhabit. In order to scare the spirits away, people dressed up in scary costumes and lit huge bonfires. This tradition was brought to the US by immigrants from Europe and has evolved into the way we celebrate Halloween today.
Today, Halloween is celebrated by dressing up in costumes, having Halloween parties, and trying to scare your friends and family a little.
Have a great week and Happy Halloween!
-Tanis