Original Lesson Plan

Title: Celebrations Thanksgiving Day

Grade Level: Grade 5-6 EFL
EFL Level: Intermediate
Duration: Two 60-minute sessions

Objectives:
• Content Objective: To explore the Thanksgiving Day celebrations in Africa, America, Korea, and Mexico
• Learning Objective: To research Thanksgiving Day in each country
• Language Objective: To give a presentation about Thanksgiving Day

NCTE / IRA Standards for the English Language Arts
The Standards
• Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
Equipment Needed: Projector, screen, and computer, pencil, eraser

List of Materials:
E-1 Focus Sheet: Thanksgiving Day Around the World
E-2 Work Sheet: Thanksgiving Day Graphic Organizer
E-3 Work Sheet: Answer in Order
E-4 Summative Assessment: Rubric.

Warm-up:
The teacher will use a projector, screen, and computer to introduce Thanksgiving to the class.
Let’s explore Thanksgiving celebrations around the world! The teacher will click on the links for the students to see a Thanksgiving festival.

http://mytv.tvb.com/news/newsat730/7293/913#page-1

Task Chain 1. Exploring the Thanksgiving Day Celebrations in Africa, America, Korea, and Mexico
1. To understand cultural differences, the teacher gives general information about Thanksgiving. Focus Sheet E-1: Thanksgiving around the World.
2. The teacher pairs the students.
Make groups of 5 students. The teacher assigns each group a different country.
• Group 1: Africa
• Group 2: America
• Group 3: Korea
• Group 4: Mexico
3. With their partner, the students take turns reading
Focus Sheet E-1: Thanksgiving around the World.
Formative assessment: Walk around and help students with reading comprehension. The students shall stay focused on the task, take turns reading, and interpret the meaning of the text.

Task Chain 2. Researching Thanksgiving Day in each country
1. Each group must now find information about the Thanksgiving celebration in the country assigned to their group.
http://www.thanksgiving-day.org/thanksgiving-around-world.html
2. Each group prepares the mind map, to help them organize their ideas for their presentation to the class based on the information they found. The students are not allowed to copy words from the Web site. They must use own words to explain the celebration. E-2 Work Sheet: Thanksgiving Day Graphic Organizer.
3. Each group writes the answers in the order you want to present them to the class. E-3 Work Sheet: Answer Your Reply in Order.
Formative Assessment: The teacher helps the students to find out useful information from the Web site.

Task Chain 3. Giving a presentation about Thanksgiving Day
Each group has five minutes to present the celebration of the country you have.
Formative Assessment: Encourage students to present what they researched.
Summative Assessment: The teacher completes the E-4 Assessment Rubric.

Citation of Sources:
Diaz-Rico, L.T. (2008). Strategies for teaching English language Learners. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
NCTE / IRA Standards for the English Language Arts. Retrieved March 02, 2010 from, http://www.ncte.org/standards
Oberauer, K. (2005, April 07). Oral Presentation. Retrieved from http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=1593465&
Thanksgiving Day. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://www.thanksgiving-day.org/thanksgiving-around-world.html
Thanksgiving Festival. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://mytv.tvb.com/news/newsat730/7293/913#page-1

E-1 Focus sheet: Thanksgiving Day Around the World


Thanksgiving is essentially a harvest related festival. It celebrates communal harmony. Though it is said to have been originated in America, a number of other countries celebrate harvest related festivals. They are observed with different names and in different seasons.
Harvest related festivals, all the over the world are characterized with lot of fun and merrymaking. Each region has its unique customs and traditions to jubilate the occasion.
Canada celebrates thanksgiving on the second Monday in the month of October. India also has a number of harvest related festivals in different regions. Popular regional festivals are Pongal, Baisakhi, Lohri, Onam etc. Though the underlying principle behind each of them is same, every festival is exclusive and different from the other.
Other Asian countries such as China, Malaysia, Korea celebrate the festival on different dates. Each festival has a folklore attached to it. Harmony, peace, feeling gratitude is the underlying theme of the celebration all over.

E-2, Work Sheet: Thanksgiving Day Graphic Organizer