LESSON NOTES

Video Culture Class: American

Holidays #5
Thanksgiving Day

CONTENTS
2 American English
3 Vocabulary
4 Sample Sentences

# 5
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 AMERICAN ENGLISH

1. Hi everyone, I'm Alisha.

2. Thanksgiving is one of the most celebrated holidays in the United States. It also marks
the beginning of the Holiday Season; the weeks leading up to Christmas, Hanukah,
Kwanz a and the winter solstice, which are all widely-celebrated holidays in the US. For
retailers, Thanksgiving begins their busiest season! Thanksgiving is celebrated on the
fourth Thursday of November.

3. Thanksgiving was founded as a national holiday by one of the most famous presidents
of the United States. Do you know who it might've been?

4. We'll show you the answer at the end of this video.

5. Thanksgiving, to a large extent, is about having a feast with friends and family. Turkey is
the traditional main course, with yams, squash, pumpkin pie, cranberries, and other rich
and filling foods rounding out the meal. Some families spend weeks preparing for their
Thanksgiving feast and to stuff oneself is most certainly encouraged!

6. The Thanksgiving meal of today is rooted in the meal that the pilgrims from Europe
shared with the Native Americans on the first Thanksgiving. This was quite a feast!
Turkey, duck, goose, squash, corn, and a plethora of other foods were shared between
the Europeans and the Native Americans. This original fete was said to go on for three
full days!

7. Football is another tradition during Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States.

Watching the football game while preparing the Thanksgiving meal is an important part
of the celebration for many families. Families that aren't sports fans, however, may opt to
spend time outside enjoying the crisp autumn air or may find other diversions to enjoy
while the turkey cooks.

8. Thanksgiving is not a uniquely American holiday. There are similar celebrations in

Canada, for instance. The concept behind the holiday—showing thankfulness by
having a feast—spans many cultures.

9. And now here's the answer to the quiz .

CONT'D OVER

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10. Do you know who founded Thanksgiving as a national holiday?

11. Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving during the dark days of the American Civil
War. Even though the holiday was officially born during this conflict, it's more
associated with the initially good relations between the first European immigrants and
the Native Americans.

12. How was this lesson? Did you learn something interesting?

13. Is there a day in your country where you give thanks?

14. Please leave a comment at EnglishClass101.com

15. Until next time!

VOCABULARY

V oc abular y English C lass

a national holiday
celebrated as a day of
Thanksgiving (Day) feasting and giving thanks noun
for goodness

to mark to show verb

the shortest day of the year,

winter solstice which usually occurs on phrase
December 21 to 22

extent degree, amount, or limit noun

a large and high quality

meal, usually with
feast entertainment for several noun
people

to make bigger, better, or

to round out more complete verb

to eat as much as possible;

to stuff oneself to overeat verb

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 a person who travels,
pilgrim especially a long distance noun
to some foreign place

a large number of/

plethora overabundance of noun
something

a festive celebration or
fete entertainment noun

to opt to make a choice verb

crisp fresh; refreshing adjective

an act to change someone's

diversion attention away from a noun
certain direction

uniquely unlike any other adverb

concept a general notion or idea noun

to span to extend or reach over verb

to make something to be
to establish accepted and recogniz ed verb

conflict a fight, battle, or struggle noun

someone who leaves one

immigrant country to settle noun
permanently in another

SAMPLE SENTENCES

There was a plethora of food on the table. My uncle opted to take early retirement
because of his poor health.

This town was originally settled by European immigrants.

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