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GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

THANKSGIVING

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1 Warm up
A journalist asked five people on the street to say what they liked about the American holiday of
Thanksgiving. Listen to each speaker A-F and match them to options 1-5 below.

1. family:

2. food:

3. football:

4. (Black) Friday:

5. friends:

In pairs, discuss questions below.

1. What do you know about Thanksgiving?

2. Which part of the holiday sounds like the most fun to you?

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2 Vocabulary

Part A: Choose the best option to complete the sentences. Explain your choice.

1. Can you tell me what the impact / result on sales will be if we go ahead with this project?

2. In the afternoons, you can see all the children heading back home / to home after a long day at
school.

3. It was really fun to see all the colourful costumes that people were wearing in the demonstration
/ parade.

4. Most cultures have some kind of crop / harvest festival in the autumn when they’ve stored enough
food for the winter.

5. The doctor said it would take a long time for my leg to heal / heel after the accident.

6. The most important thing to consider is our long-term survivor / survival on this planet.

Part B: Read the sentences and match the words in bold with their meanings.

1. Holidays in my family can be very difficult because of the deep divisions between my father and
his older brothers

2. If the rainy season starts late, lots of people will starve.

3. My grandmother prepared a huge feast for my birthday with all my favourite foods.

4. She started a campaign to ensure that people would be safe at work.

5. There’s so much controversy surrounding the new governor that he may have to quit.

6. These two political parties have formed an alliance to win the next election.

a. a lot of disagreement about an issue, which often involves different opinions

b. a special meal with many dishes and/or to be eaten by many people

c. a series of activities which are intended to produce a particular result

d. an agreement to work together in order to achieve shared goals

e. a situation where people in one group strongly disagree with each other

f. die because they don’t have enough to eat

How do you think these words will be used in an article about Thanksgiving?

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3 Reading for main idea

Skim the article at page four and choose the best heading for each paragraph A-G. One heading is
missing - write your own ideas for this paragraph.

1. A helping hand:

2. A mixed picture:

3. North of the border:

4. The holiday basics:

5. The nation celebrates together:

6. There’s always room for one more:

7. Your idea:

4 Thanksgiving foods

Part A: Label the Thanksgiving foods in the picture using information from the article.

corn on the cob cranberries mashed potato pumpkin pie turkey

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Part B: Match the items with their meanings.

1. gravy a. orange vegetables that grow under the ground

2. stuffing b. a mixture usually made of breadcrumbs that goes inside a

turkey or other bird while it is cooking
3. sweet potato and yam c. a sauce that you pour over meat, so it doesn’t taste too dry

1. Which of these foods have you eaten?

2. Which would you like to try?

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Turkey Day
What’s Thanksgiving all about?

A. Every year at the end of November, millions of Americans are on the move, heading back home to their families
for a long weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving. This national holiday always takes place on the fourth Thursday of
November, with schools and offices closed on this day and the next. The main event is a big meal and the focus,
as the name suggests, is being thankful for the good things in life: food, family and friends.

B. The celebration dates back several hundred years. The story goes that in 1620, a hundred men, women and
children travelled across the Atlantic Ocean from England to the east coast of North America, looking for religious
freedom. This group, called the Pilgrims, were not well prepared for survival in this new land and they nearly
starved during their first winter. The local Native American people, the Wampanoag, helped the Pilgrims by
giving them food and teaching them how to grow corn and hunt and fish. Eventually, this friendship became
a political alliance, and the relationship was celebrated with a three-day feast, featuring turkey, corn on the cob,
cranberries and pumpkins. These typical American foods still feature on the Thanksgiving menu today, 400 years
later, although every family has its own preferences and recipes, which nowadays include stuffing, gravy, mashed
potato, sweet potato or yams, and pumpkin pie.

C. Because autumn is a natural time to celebrate the harvest, many people who came to North America, as well
as those already living here, marked this occasion in their own ways, or not at all. Thanksgiving didn’t become
a national holiday until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln invited all Americans to join in a country-wide
celebration on the last Thursday in November. Lincoln was hoping to heal the nation’s divisions during the terrible
1861-1865 Civil War between the north and the south. In fact, he was also responding to a campaign which had
begun in 1827, when a magazine editor called Sarah Josepha Hale called for support from her many readers to
make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

D. The spirit of togetherness that Lincoln was hoping to promote continues today. Many organizations in America
prepare and distribute turkey dinners to the homeless in their local area. Many Americans also make a point of
including a friend or neighbour around an already crowded table so that no one is alone at this special time.

E. The four-day weekend also typically includes a range of other events. Macy’s department store in New York City
holds a huge parade which is televised nationally. Retailers everywhere open the Christmas shopping season
with sales on Black Friday. The National Football league schedules important games over this period and many
people hold viewing parties around the TV if they can’t attend a game in person, or at least play a game in their
backyard to run off the huge meal. And perhaps strangest of all, the White House holds a yearly ceremony where
the president pardons a turkey to save it from the dinner table, following the example of President George Bush
senior in 1989.

F. Canadians also celebrate Thanksgiving but on the second Monday in October. The earlier date is linked to the
traditional English harvest festival celebrations. Their festive menu is very similar to the American celebration, but
the weather tends to be warmer which allows for easier travel before the winter sets in.

G. Thanksgiving has some similarities with traditional Christmas celebrations: a big meal, family time and fun
with friends. However, many Americans enjoy the fact that, unlike Christmas, Thanksgiving has no religious
associations, and better yet, there is no need to give or receive gifts! However, the holiday is not without
controversy and recent years have seen people consider how Native Americans view the holiday, as well as the
impact on the environment of modern Thanksgiving celebrations.

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5 Reading for detail

Read the article again and find the answers to these questions. Be ready to explain the answers in
your own words without reading directly from the article.

1. How long does the modern Thanksgiving holiday last?

2. Who took part in the first Thanksgiving celebrations, according to the article?

3. Why did President Lincoln think it was important to make Thanksgiving a national holiday?

4. What are two examples of how Americans show a feeling of togetherness during Thanksgiving
today?

5. What four other types of events do Americans enjoy at Thanksgiving?

6. What are the similarities and differences between Thanksgiving in the US and in Canada?

7. What are two positive things about Thanksgiving compared to Christmas? Why do you think these
are advantages?

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6 Jigsaw reading

In pairs, answer the following question:

What are two aspects of Thanksgiving which cause some controversy today? Can you explain why?

Now, work in A/B pairs. Student A look at this page and Student B look at the next page. Read your
information, using the glossary to help. Then get ready to explain what you read to your partner.

Student A

The Wampanoag were very generous when they helped the Pilgrims to survive in North
America, especially considering how dangerous contact with Europeans was for native
peoples. Even before 1620, Europeans had introduced diseases into North America
which killed huge numbers of Native Americans, including many Wampanoag.

Despite their alliance with the Pilgrims, over time the Wampanoag died in further
epidemics, were sold into slavery and lost their lands. Again and again, Europeans made
treaties with native people and then broke them, and this pattern was repeated all over
the North American continent. It is hardly surprising that native peoples feel that
Thanksgiving is a celebration of genocide.

Native Americans from all over the country want the truth to be told about their history
in general and about Thanksgiving in particular.

Glossary
genocide: the crime of killing every person in a particular group
slavery: a situation where one person owns another person, who works for the first person’s profit
treaties: agreements between two countries, signed by their leaders

Discuss these questions with your partner.

1. How serious are these problems?

2. What can be done about each one to improve the situation?

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Student B

With so much concern about climate change, people have turned their attention to the
environmental impact of Thanksgiving. There are three main areas to examine.

The first is travel. With the expectation that people will return to their hometowns from
all over the country, CO2 emissions from plane and car travel are very high over the
holiday weekend.

The second is the food itself, and also food waste. Turkey is better than beef, for
example, in terms of its environmental impact, but most birds are raised in crowded
conditions and their food and waste have a big carbon footprint. Furthermore, most
families end up throwing away food after the meal, which is a huge waste of both money
and transport and cooking energy.

Finally, the sales on Black Friday encourage people to buy things they don’t really need.
We already have serious problems dealing with plastic or electronic items that we no
longer want. It seems crazy to generate more.

Glossary
CO2 emissions: the carbon dioxide that is produced by transport and which leads to global warming /
climate change.
carbon footprint: the measurement of the amount of carbon dioxide that an activity produces.
generate: create something or cause it to exist

Discuss these questions with your partner.

1. How serious are these problems?

2. What can be done about each one to improve the situation?

7 Talking point
Discuss these questions in pairs or small groups.

1. Do you celebrate a day of giving thanks in your country?

2. What aspect of Thanksgiving do you think you would enjoy most? And least?
3. What do you think are some of the difficulties of hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner? Think of as
many problems as you can.
4. How can vegetarians or vegans enjoy a Thanksgiving meal?
5. Describe what you think the first Thanksgiving was like.

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8 Optional extension

Pumpkin pie is a classic Thanksgiving dessert. Complete the recipe with missing adjectives from the
box. One item is extra.

Note: American recipes usually refer to volume rather than weight, so the quantities are given in
cups and teaspoons. An American cup holds 240 ml of water. Americans also use Fahrenheit for
temperature.

clean / delicious / easy / normal / ready-made / sharp / smooth / soft / special

1
First, prepare a pie crust in the way using flour, butter, a pinch of salt and water
2
and use it to line a 22 cm pie dish. You can even buy a crust if you like. Before you
start to make the filling, you need to have 2 cups of cooked and mashed pumpkin ready. Some people
3
use pumpkin from a tin but it’s very to peel a small pumpkin, cut it into chunks and
4
steam it until it’s . Now you’re going to prepare the filling. Crack 3 eggs and beat them
slightly. Mix the eggs with 1 1/4 cups of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. The spices you add next are 1
teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon ginger. Also add
the juice and grated peel of one lemon and mix well. The lemon flavour is what really makes this pie
5 6
! Now blend in the pumpkin. It needs to be really so use an electric
blender if you can. Finally add the milk and mix it well. Pour the filling into the crust and bake at 450
degrees F (230 C) for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees (175 C) and bake for 40-45
7
minutes. The pie is done when you insert a knife in the centre and pull it out . Let the
8
pie cool and serve it with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. !

In pairs, answer the questions.

1. Could you make this recipe? Would you be able to find a real pumpkin, or would you use a tin?
2. Have you ever used cups to cook with? What do you think the advantages are?
3. How would you prefer to serve and eat this pie?

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Transcripts

1. Warm up

Narrator: Speaker A

Speaker A: I’d travel hundreds of miles just for a taste of my mom’s famous pumpkin pie. Oh my god
- it’s amazing. And she won’t tell me her secret!

Narrator: Speaker B

Speaker B: We have our fair share of arguments around the dinner table, but all that disappears
when we sit down to watch the big game on TV with our favourite drinks and snacks.
Sometimes we even go outside and play a friendly game in the backyard!

Narrator: Speaker C

Speaker C: It’s wonderful having everyone home for the holiday, but it certainly is a lot of work to
take care of them all over the long weekend. I feel like I need a vacation when everyone
has gone back home!

Narrator: Speaker D

Speaker D: Thanksgiving dinner? I can take it or leave it, but what I really like is the sales! You can
find some great deals and get a head start on your Christmas present shopping.

Narrator : Speaker E

Speaker E: I’ve only been in the country for three years but what’s really nice is that every year
my neighbours or colleagues have asked me to join them for the big meal. Apparently,
it’s a tradition to invite someone who might otherwise be alone on the holiday. I really
appreciate it!

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Key

1. Warm up

10 mins.
This brief listening activity introduces students to the American holiday of Thanksgiving via some personal statements.
Go over the introduction and instructions (note that football refers to American football, not soccer) and play the
recording for students to complete the exercise. They could check answers in pairs before you go over the answers
with the class. A second listening is fine if required. Pose the follow-up questions to the whole class to elicit some
brief responses and tell students they will find out more about this holiday during the lesson.

1. C 2. A 3. B 4. D 5. E

2. Vocabulary

10 mins.
Part A
Students define some vocabulary that they will encounter in the article. The first exercise supports understanding
and accurate use of B2 items. Students must choose the correct option as well as explain their choice. The
second exercise deals with higher-level items. Check pronunciation when you check answers - stressed syllables
are underlined. Note that in British English controversy is an alternative stress pattern. If there is time, pose the
follow-up question to elicit some brief answers, perhaps about three of the items in the whole exercise.
Answers to Part A: impact + on (result cannot be followed by on); home does not require a preposition before it; a
demonstration is a type of protest, not entertainment, so it is unlikely to involve costumes; crop refers to the actual
foods that have been produced to eat, while harvest refers to the act of bringing these foods in and storing them;
heel with double E spelling is a part of the foot - the pronunciation of these two items is the same; survival is the
act of staying alive, while survivor is the person who manages to do this.

1. impact 2. home 3. parade

4. harvest 5. heal 6. survival
Part B

1. → e. 2. → f.
3. → b. 4. → c.
5. → a. 6. → d.

3. Reading for main idea

5 mins.
This stage offers valuable practice in the skill of skimming, or reading an article to see the main content and how
it is organised, which is important for IELTS and Cambridge reading exams. Go over the instructions and ask
students to complete the task on their own, setting a time limit of a couple of minutes. Check answers and accept
any reasonable response for the heading that students supply themselves.

1. Paragraph B
2. Paragraph G
3. Paragraph F
4. Paragraph A

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5. Paragraph C
6. Paragraph D
7. Paragraph E, missing heading, sample answer More holiday fun or similar

4. Thanksgiving foods

5 mins.
Part A
This stage offers a quick check on the key foods for Thanksgiving - the items are named at the end of paragraph
B. Work with the whole class on the two activities and the follow-up questions. Note the /eI/ sound in gravy.

1. turkey 2. mashed potato 3. corn on the cob 4. pumpkin pie 5. cranberries

Part B

1. → c. 2. → b. 3. → a.

5. Reading for detail

10 mins.
Students revisit the article to locate the answers to these questions. They should highlight or underline the relevant
information in the article, but they need to give the answers in their own words rather than simply reading out
loud from the text. Sample answers are provided - focus on comprehension first but also support students to
answer in full sentences.

1. It takes place over a long weekend, so Thursday to Sunday. However, the main meal is eaten on Thursday.
2. A group called the Pilgrims and the Native American group, the Wampanoag.
3. Because he hoped it would bring the country together during a time of war.
4. They make sure that homeless people or isolated, lonely people enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner.
5. Parades, sales, sports events and the presidential turkey pardon.
6. The meal is very similar, but the date is different.
7. It is not a religious holiday so everyone can celebrate and there are no gifts which saves money and stress.

6. Jigsaw reading

10 mins.
Students complete a jigsaw reading and speaking activity to find out and share information about some controversial
aspects of Thanksgiving. Pose the lead-in question to introduce the subject and set up A/B roles, making sure
students are looking at the correct page of the worksheet. Set a time limit of a couple of minutes for students to
read their own information. Then ask them to cover their text and report back to their partner in their own words.
Students can then read their partner’s information to confirm their ideas. Pose the follow-up questions for pairs
to discuss and get feedback with the whole class.

What are two aspects of Thanksgiving which cause some controversy today? Can you explain why? 7→ The
Native American view of Thanksgiving and the environmental impact.

7. Talking point

10 mins.

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Remind students to give reasons and examples for their answers and to explore other points of view. Monitor and
support as necessary and round off the stage with feedback and error correction, including pronunciation. The
topic of celebrations and festivals is often included in IELTS and Cambridge speaking exams.

8. Optional extension

10 mins.
This activity is intended as a filler or cooler if you have time in your lesson. Explain the instructions and go over
the information. Students should read the whole text before they complete the gap-fill. Check answers and pose
the follow-up questions to the class or for students to discuss in pairs. The extra item is sharp.

1. normal 2. ready-made
3. easy 4. soft
5. special 6. smooth
7. clean 8. Delicious

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