Today our Life Skills topic is Holidays.

Ask if somebody can name another holiday. Add responses to the list you have already begun-and add the plural "-s" to "HOLIDAY," calling attention to the fact, i.e., not one but two (etc.) holidays. After a few examples have been given to make clear the meaning of this topic, assign pairs and ask them to make a list of all the holidays they can think of-in their own country or anywhere in the world. Name a few countries well-known by your students. If they do not yet know the words to say in English, ask that the students draw pictures or simply write down the calendar date. See who can make the longest list. (A prize goes to the winning pair!) Debrief by compiling their lists with the one already begun on the board.

Distribute the Student Study Guide and call attention to the new words in #A. Walk to each place in the room where you have set up a holiday display and introduce seven of the most important holidays in the U.S.-Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. (For your displays, you may simply make an enlargement and add a bit of color to the symbols found on Handouts #2A and #2B with this lesson; or you may create interest with your own choice of holiday artifacts-Christmas decorations, valentines, etc.) Ask students to look at #A and read silently the names of the seven holidays as you read them aloud. Then ask the class to say them with you.

1 Distribute Handout #1B: (Crossword Puzzle Students' Copy). Demonstrate what you expect the students to do in this activity. Ask that each student work alone then compare answers with others in his/her small group. Briefly process the answers with the whole class.

2 Pass out Handouts #2A and #2B: (Holidays and Special Events gap activity). Students are to take turns asking about the months with no holiday listed. By now students should be somewhat familiar with the names of these seven holidays. If they need a confidence booster, however, they may write in the name next to the symbols on their copies of Handouts #2A and #2B. To fill in the gaps on their paper, they are to use the following model:

	Student A: Is there a holiday in [name of month]?
	Student B: No, there isn't.  
			  (or)
		      Yes, there is. [Name of holiday] is in [month].

3 Distribute Handout #3 (Timeline of U.S. Holidays). Lead the class in saying the names of the holidays. Issue a cur- rent calendar showing U.S. holidays to each of the pairs. Student A is to hold the timeline, and Student B the calendar. Student A is to ask/answer questions about holidays using the following model:

 
	Student A (with time line): 	When is [Name of holiday]?
	Student B (with calendar): 	[Name of holiday] is in 
					[month] on the [ordinal
					number date]. 

After recording information about the first seven holidays on the time line, the two students exchange roles. Student B holds the time line and asks the question for the last seven holidays on the time line, and Student A looks at the calendar in order to give the appropriate response. Before students begin, demonstrate what you expect them to do, and ask two students to demonstrate their understanding of what to do. Clear up any misunderstandings. Then mingle, encourage, and see that students stay "on task."

When everyone has finished, check the answers with the whole class. Ask:

Does anyone know another way to give a calendar date? (the month plus the ordinal number).

Go back over all fourteen holidays and lead students to say the date this other way.

Ask each pair to join another pair, making a group of four. Now that students are able to distinguish between the use of in and on, ask that they take turns in their own group, inquiring about the date for each of the fourteen holidays. The others give the answer the "usual" way, e.g., "Christmas is on December 25th."

!!!More Advanced!!!

1 Distribute paper for each student to make a time line of holidays for his/her own country. If you are teaching an ESL class (with more than one country represented), have students share their completed information in a small group. For added interest, try not to have duplicates of the same country within a single group. In this way, you make sure that English is the only "common ground."

If you are teaching EFL (with all students from the same country), assign groups to prepare and give a report on why the holiday is celebrated and on the various aspects of a particular celebration, i.e., the foods, the colors and clothing, the music, and customs surrounding the event. Your students may be presenting to an audience of one-that is you!

2 Prepare by writing on the board: GOOD BETTER BEST. Illustrate by drawing three ice cream cones labeled with your top three favorites. Use body language to show what you think is good, better and best.

!!!More Advanced!!!

Then ask that students fill in the blank for this sentence: "I like [name of holiday] best." Then share their sentences in pairs or small groups. More advanced students can expand on this, giving reasons why.

3 For this activity you will be using Handout #4 (a blank calendar) so each student may have a calendar of religious holidays or "festivals" represented in your class. Do not, however, issue the handout until students have positioned themselves in two concentric circles.

Divide the class into two groups. Ask one group to stand and form a circle, then ask that they turn to face the opposite direction. Demonstrate by helping one of the students to follow this instruction. Next ask the other group to make a circle around the first group. Each person in the outer circle is to be facing someone in the inner circle. Now distribute Handout #4 (blank calendar). The assignment for this activity is for each person to tell the others the dates for the religious holidays or festivals celebrated in his/her country. Demonstrate by joining a circle and sharing information with one of the more advanced students in your class. In addition to authentic dates from your culture, you are to give information about Passover, which is a focal point in this lesson. If you are from the U.S., you would share the following:

• Christmas, the time for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (December 25th)
• Easter, the time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus -sometimes in March but usually in April. Have the exact information to give for the current year.
• Thanksgiving, the time to thank God for His provisions and blessings.
• Passover, the religious holiday for Jews, to celebrate their freedom from slavery in Egypt-usually in April (Give the precise date for the year in which you are using these lessons.)