1、Reading and Thinking Unit 1 Festivals and Celebrations Discussion Look at the following pictures and answer the questions. 1. What festivals do you celebrate with your family every year? Pre-reading Activity 1 2. Why do you think people celebrate different festivals? Names of the festivals Reasons f
2、or celebrating the festivals Why do we celebrate festivals? People all over the world celebrate different festivals because: *they would like to _. *festivals _. share joy, gratitude, love or peace are an important part in the society Reading Activity 2 Predicting Look at the picture and the title o
3、n Page 4 and predict what the text is probably about. The text is probably about reasons why festivals are celebrated all around the world. Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions. (1)What do all festivals have in common? (2)What festival can be found in almost every culture? (
4、1)Why do people celebrate the harvest festivals? Now please read the text again and find out all the influencing factors that encourage people to celebrate festivals. People celebrate the harvest festivals to express their gratitude to nature. (2)What role do customs and traditions play in festivals
5、? Do you think they are also the reasons for celebrating festivals? Why? Customs and traditions are very important and they are also the reasons for celebrating festivals. (3)Why did the writer mention the commercialisation of festivals? How is it influencing peoples way of celebrating festivals? Pe
6、ople follow customs and sometimes even establish new traditions to celebrate the festivals. The commercialisation of festivals can influence peoples decisions to spend more money on festival, which can be considered as an encouragement to celebrate festivals. The other reasons for celebrating festiv
7、als can include peoples religious beliefs, personal interests, or hobbies, etc. (4)What are some other reasons for celebrating festivals? In pairs, discuss which is the topic sentence for each paragraph. *Do you know how to identify the main idea of each paragraph? *Where can we usually find the “to
8、pic sentence”? Para. 1: Para. 2: Para. 3: Para. 4: Para. 5: Festivals are celebrated all around the world. Of all the traditional festivals, the harvest festivals can be found in almost every culture. Customs play a significant role in festivals, but sometimes they can change over time. Festivals ar
9、e becoming more and more commercial, with businesses taking advantage of the celebrations. Festivals are an important part in society. Activity 3 Please discuss these questions with your partner and share your ideas. *What do you think most festivals seem to have in common? Can you give some example
10、s to illustrate your opinion? *What do you think are the most important things in most festivals? *Why do you think people around the world find these things important? Do they have something to do with the human history/social life/peoples spiritual needs? Activity 4 Discuss the changes of festival
11、 customs. What festival customs have already faded away? Festivals Customs that have already faded away Reasons why they have disappeared Your feelings Activity 5 *People inused toduring, but now *Nowadays people no longer *I think it is because *People have given up the custom ofin order to *As for
12、 the custom of, I *I think I would love to Use these expressions to discuss and finish the table. Discuss in pairs, analyze the structure of the discourse. Analyzing discourse structure Activity 6 Language points 1. wide range of origins = a great number of different origins, many kinds of origins 2
13、. It featured a parade and a great feast with music, dancing, and sports. =A parade and a great feast with music, dancing, and sports were included as important parts of the Egyptian harvest festival. 3. . some traditions may fade away and others may be established. = Some traditions may disappear g
14、radually, while other new traditions may come into being. 1. Read the text again, in-depth understanding of the text; 2. Discuss the origin of festivals, the historical changes of related customs, the influence of commercial society on festivals and the connotation and essential meaning of festivals; 3. Complete relevant exercises in the guide plan. Homework
