Holidays on the Net: Thanksgiving on the Net

Details

Activity Description

For high intermediate and advanced students, this Thanksgiving Web site offers lots of information, history, recipes, and games to acquaint students with the traditions of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Preparation

1. Preview the site using the Example Web Site link (above) and choose which article(s) you would like your students to read. This activity will focus on the example site on Facts, Figures & Folklore about the Pilgrims & the First Thanksgiving.
2. In order get students to the Web site to read the information, you can make a Favorite or Bookmark the site on each computer browser, e-mail them the link, e-mail a word processing document with the link in it, or post the link on your class Web page. Decide which method you would like to use and plan for it.
3. Download and print copies of Thanksgiving Question List A & B, one for each group. If you want smaller (or more) groups, you will need to create another list of scavenger hunt type questions.
4. If you do not have Internet access in your room, you can copy and paste the information from the Web page into a Word document, print it and distribute to each student.

How-To

1. Introduce the topic of Thanksgiving. Elicit what students know about the history of Thanksgiving. Group students in groups of four, each with one paper that they pass around. Each student in turn writes a sentence about Thanksgiving until they cannot think of any more. Share selected sentences with class.
2. Divide class into two groups and give members of one group Thanksgiving Question List A (attached above) and the other group Thanksgiving Question List B (also attached above), or other scavenger hunt lists like the ones attached here.
3. Explain to them how you want them to get to the Example Web Site (above) if you are sending them to the Internet to read.
4. In pairs, have them go online to read the article, or handout the printed article. This activity provides practice in skimming and scanning, as each group will be searching for only the answers to their questions. An answer key is provided at the end of each list of questions.
5. Give students the questions from the other group, and have them ask the questions to the other group. A member of the other group can look at their sheet, but then must answer the question without reading the answer.

Teacher Tips

• This site has many ads! Be sure students know how to close a pop-up box or page if they accidentally open one by rolling over it or clicking on it. Explain that this site is supported by ads, but that they do not need to read any ads to answer the questions.

More Ways

• There are many other resources on this site, such as a recipe for roasting a turkey, videos of other recipes, and articles about the history of Thanksgiving. Any of these can be made into a holiday lesson.
• There are also many other holidays, such as Christmas, Chanukah, New Years, and Halloween that could become similar activities.

Program Areas

• ESL: English as a Second Language

Levels

• Intermediate High
• Advanced

Documents

• Thanksgiving List A.doc - Thanksgiving Question List A
• Thanksgiving List B.doc - Thanksgiving Question List B

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