You know thatcinco de mayo is not Mexican Independance Day,* right? And you know that, in Mexico, cinco de mayo is not really a big deal?
If you didn’t know that, here’s a refresher. Cinco de mayo commemorates a military victory against the French in a war that Mexico ultimately lost. It is celebrated in the state of Puebla with a parade and a state fair. Outside of Puebla, the holiday is not terribly exciting: no parades, no fireworks, and (contrary to popular belief), not an excuse to drink or eat tacos. Cinco de mayo in the US, however, is often interpreted by those who don’t know better (or don’t care) as an excuse to indulge in tequila. This handy infografic breaks it down for you: A US Citizen’s Guide to Cinco de Mayo,“a big deal for people who like to get drunk and make racist jokes on Twitter.”
*FYI, Mexican Independence Day is celebrated in September. If you’re confused about that, too, here’s a quick guide toMexican Independence Day explained.
In the spirit of cinco de mayo and cultural exchange, here are five funny pictures that capture the spirit of epic US cinco de mayo fails.
Calendar fail. From cheezburger.com
From someecards.com
From cheezburger.com
Let’s be honest. From someecards.com
When you can’t beat em, join em. From buzzfeed.com
Do you like the phrase cellar door? Would you like it better if you knew it is considered one of the most beautiful phrases in the English language?
The claim that cellar door is beautiful to the ear — in opposition to its prosaic meaning — has been made by and attributed to a wide variety of writers over the years. “Poetry, in fact, is two quite distinct things,” H. L. Mencken wrote in a 1920 magazine column. “It may be either or both. One is a series of words that are intrinsically musical, in clang-tint and rhythm, as the single word cellar-door is musical. The other is a series of ideas, false in themselves, that offer a means of emotional and imaginative escape from the harsh realities of everyday.”
Do you agree? And what makes a word beautiful to you, anyway?
One website is set to find out, asking visitors to vote in word vs word battles. Laurel leaf vs yells. To take office vs umpteen. Comparable vs cosignatory. The viewer is given pair after pair of words or phrases and asked to choose the more beautiful. The idea is that at about a hundred million votes or so, a list of the top twenty-five most beautiful, and least beautiful, will emerge as chosen by the internet.
At the time of this writing the site claims there have been almost 200,000 votes cast, still a long way from a million. The lists of ten best and ten worst are thought provoking. On the ten most beautiful list, several words of distinctly non-English origin, including aide-de-camp, pita, and ibis. First among the ten ugliest: pregnant. Accompanied by negative pressure, data storage, and to flambé.
One can only speculate which words and phrases were voted up (or voted down) because of their internal rhyme structure, and which were chosen (or not) because of their meaning.
As a follow up to our post on animal sounds in Spanish, peruse this adorable page about animal sounds from different languages around the world, including English, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Swiss German, and more. Make sure you have sound enabled on your computer or device because the audio clips are the best part. It sounds like the people who contributed their best impression of a pig/cow/owl/dog etc were having a blast.
What do turkeys, travel, family, (American) football games, giant balloons, indigenous rights, cooking, shopping, school vacations, traditional costumes and thankfulness have in common?
They are all ideas associated with the American tradition of Thanksgiving, celebrated on the third Thursday in November every year. November is a great time for English classes around the world to learn about this American holiday and pick up some new vocabulary as well. Here are resources to learn about Thanksgiving and plan your own celebration.
1. Learn the history of Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 in what is now Massachusetts, United States. It was a harvest celebration attended by English colonists and Wampanoag indigenous people. Back then, it wasn’t called “Thanksgiving” and it probably was not celebrated in November! To learn more about what really happened on Thanksgiving, visit this Interactive Plimoth Plantation Exhibit and become a historian.
4. Be thankful. Thanksgiving is a time to think about the good things in our lives and express gratitude for them. Click here to read about an interactive art project called the Look for the Good Project.
Kermit the Frog (Photo credit: MikeMonello)
5. Create your own Thanksgiving Parade float. Every year on Thanksgiving Day there is a big parade in New York City, New York. There are celebrities and musical performances, but the parade is most famous for its giant balloons. They are usually characters from television, comic books, and movies. You can watch a video of the parade here. Then, follow these instructions to make your own balloon floats. Your balloon float won’t be as large as the ones in the parade… or will it?
6. Watch American football. The Thanksgiving Day football game is a tradition at the high school, university, and professional level. Not sure how to play football? This Goofy cartoon will teach you.
7. Go shopping. The day after Thanksgiving in the United States is called “Black Friday,” and it is traditionally a day for people to start shopping for Christmas gifts. Stores have big sales and people go shopping very, very early in the morning to get the best deals. Practice numbers and prices exploring this Black Friday shopping website. Who can find the best deal on a TV? On clothing? On video games?
Hand Turkey by Kara (Photo credit: Rory Finneren)
8. Do some arts and crafts. In the United States, most schoolchildren have a small vacation, starting with a half day of school on the day before Thanksgiving and continuing for four days. It is traditional for families to travel to visit one another and be together for Thanksgiving Dinner. If you still have school this week, here are some arts and crafts you can do with your class.
Send some e-cards here and here.
Do a variety of educational crafts here.
People in the United States don’t dress up in folkloric costumes as much as many other countries do, but schoolchildren often still wear costumes to represent the colonists and Wompanoag. You can watch a video about how to make a colonist costume here.
And, no Thanksgiving arts and crafts session would be complete without our favorite craft: make a Thanksgiving hand turkey here.
9. Watch a Thanksgiving video. Now that you know about American Thanksgiving traditions, sing along with this Thanksgiving song by Nicole Westbrook. How many Thanksgiving traditions do you see represented in the video? What do you see in the video that doesn’t make sense? What traditions is the video missing? Check your answers in the comments.
I’m wide awake, and I should take A step and say thank you, thank you, For the things you’ve done, and what you did Oh yeah, ooh yeah. December was Christmas, January was New Year’s. April was Easter, and the Fourth of July, but now it’s Thanksgiving. Oh oh oh, it’s Thanksgiving. We we we, we’re gonna have a good time. Oh oh oh, it’s Thanksgiving. We we we are gonna have a good time. With the turkey (hey!) And mashed potatoes (hey!) We we we are gonna have a good time. We need the turkey (hey!) And mashed potatoes (hey!)
Does this happen at your house on Thanksgiving?
It’s Thanksgiving, It’s Thanksgiving. You know school is out, I can’t wait, I can shout thank you, thank you, thank you. No matter what you do, no matter what you say, This is my favorite day. December was Christmas, January was New Year’s. April was Easter, and the Fourth of July, but now it’s Thanksgiving. Yo, it’s Thanksgiving-givin’ and I’m tryin’ to be forgivin’. Nothing is forbidden, you know we gotta have it. I gotta give thanks to you, and you, and you. Can’t be hateful, gotta be grateful; gotta be grateful, can’t be hateful. Mashed potatoes on my, on my table, I got ribs smelling’ up my neighbors’ cribs. Havin’ good times, we be laughin’ ’til we cry. It’s Thanks, Thanks, Thanksgiving, come on It’s Thanks, Thanks, Thanksgiving, give ‘em thanks, y’all. Oh oh oh, it’s Thanksgiving. We we we, we’re gonna have a good time. Oh oh oh, it’s Thanksgiving. We we we, are gonna have a good time. With the turkey (hey!) And mashed potatoes (hey!) We we we, are gonna have a good time. With the turkey (hey!) And mashed potatoes (hey!) It’s Thanksgiving, it’s Thanksgiving.
Conversation Questions:
Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in your country? Do you have another similar holiday? Which Thanksgiving tradition is your favorite?
Where are you from? And what makes your home special?
You know you’re from London when you have an Oyster Card. You know you’re from Toronto when you’re afraid of the turbo elevator in the CN tower. You know you’re from Boston when people ask you to say “park the car.” You know you’re from Los Angeles when your school is used as a filming location.
What do they really celebrate in Mexico on cinco de mayo? The holiday celebrates the May 5th, 1862 battle in which Mexican soldiers defeated the invading French army at the Loreto and Guadalupe forts overlooking the city ofPuebla. This was an important David-and-Goliath style battle in which the much smaller Mexican troops drove off the larger and better-equipped French forces. Unfortunately for the Mexicans, the French went on to win the war and occupy the country for three years.The fifth of Mayis called Día de la Batalla de Puebla in México and is celebrated with a parade in downtown Puebla. Celebrations are much more widespread in the US, where the day is seen as a celebration of hispanic heritage.
Everyone knows a few good ghost stories. Image via Wikipedia
Everybody knows a few good ghost stories. Try this conversation game with advanced beginner students who need to reinforce simple past, present, and future tenses. This is also a good game to play for Saint Patrick’s Day, when conversation turns toleprechauns* and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
1. Warm up. Each member of the group says his or her name and the name of a favorite movie. See if there are any popular movie genres among the group, like horror or action. If possible, split the group into pairs based on their movie preferences.
2. Vocabulary builder. Review the word believe. Ask each person to finish the sentence, “I believe in ___ but I don’t believe in ___.” Make a list of things the class believes or doesn’t believe in on the board. Then review the words ghosts, angels, the devil, saints, leprechauns, witches and wizards, monsters, vampires, warewolves, superheroes.
3. Ghost stories. In pairs, students take turn asking each other about the items on the list: Do you believe in ___? Why? Do you have a story about it? Do you know somebody that believes in ___?
If necessary, switch partners after a few minutes.
Celebrating Saint Patrick's Day. Image via Wikipedia
4. Global feedback. Ask the students to share any interesting stories they heard or told. Ask the group, “Do you know any ghost stories about our city?”
For Saint Patrick’s Day, ask the group, “Do you know anybody who believes in leprechauns? Do you know any stories about leprechauns?”
5. Extra: A group ghost story. Start with the phrase It was a dark and stormy night… then compose a ghost story with the group. Each person can only contribute one sentence to the story at a time.
*ELL classes or English classes in other countries might need a brief explanation about the meaning of the word leprechaun. Explain that a leprechaun is a spirit or fairy from Ireland. For Spanish classes or students whose first language is Spanish, it might be necessary to point out that “leprechaun” is not an English word and, similarly, there is no Spanish translation, although duende irlandés will do. Because Saint Patrick’s Day is a day to celebrate Irish heritage in many parts of the United States (if less so in Ireland itself), stories about leprechauns are popular in March. One common story is that if you find the end of a rainbow, you will discover where a leprechaun has hidden a pot of gold.
Conversation objectives: tell an engaging story, use personal examples, practice simple past, simple present and future will or future going to, build vocabulary through conversation Ideal group size: Six to twelve people. Ideal group level: Strong beginner to intermediate English. For simpler games that practice similar vocabulary, try What am I? and My secret celebrity alter ego.
This post is part of our March Conversation Marathon. We publish a new conversation activity every Tuesday and Thursday during the month of March. To see the complete list of Marathon activities, click here. For more general conversation topics, click here. For more conversation games, click here.
