Exploring Festivals and Celebrations
Engage in a conversation with your partner about a festival or celebration, taking turns to ask follow-up questions without the speaker looking at the list. Keep the discussion going until your teacher intervenes. The speaker should share details without referring to the follow-up questions.
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All Saints Day/ (Mexican) Day of the Dead/ Día de los Muertos April Fool’s Day Armistice Day/ Remembrance Day/ War Memorial Day/ Poppy Day (Mid-)Autumn Festival/ Mooncake Festival (adult) baptism birth Bonfire Night/ Guy Fawkes Night/ Fireworks night (1st/18th/ 20th/ 21st) birthday Boxing Day Buddha’s birthday/ Vesak Burning Man Carnival/ Mardi Gras cherry blossom viewing christening/ naming ceremony (British/ American/ Japanese/ Spanish/ French) Christmas (Day/ Eve) children’s day circumcision coming of age confirmation Constitution Day/ Independence Day Diwali Easter (Sunday)/ Semana Santa Eid (ul Fitr) Emperor’s birthday/ King’s birthday/ Queen’s birthday engagement Father’s Day (Spanish) fiesta Fire Festival first communion Gay Pride Glastonbury Good Friday
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graduation Halloween Hanukkah harvest festivals Holi paint throwing festival Krampus Nacht La Tomatina tomato throwing festival Lent May Day Mother’s Day National holidays/ Bank holidays (Scottish/ Japanese/ Chinese/ lunar) New Year/ New Year’s Day/ New Year’s Eve/ Rosh Hashanah Notting Hill Carnival Oktoberfest Peppero Day/ Pocky Day Purim Quinceañera Ramadan retirement Running of the Bulls Sabbath/ Shabbat Saint Patrick’s Day saint’s day Shrove Tuesday/ Pancake Day Snow Festival Songkran water throwing festival summer festival Tanabata Teachers’ Day Thanksgiving Valentine’s Day (silver/ gold/ diamond) wedding anniversary wedding ceremony wedding reception “White Day” Whitsun
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Follow-up Questions for Festivals and Celebrations
- Do you have to…?
- How do you feel about…?
- How embarrassing is…?/ How uncomfortable does… make you feel?
- How fun is…?/ How much fun is…?
- How important is…?
- How keen are you on…?
- How long do you…?
- How much do you enjoy…?/ How enjoyable is…?
- How much food is there?/ How much… is there?/ How many dishes are there?/ How many… are there?
- How much of it takes place…?
- How often do you miss/ avoid…?
- How typical is…?
- How’s the atmosphere?
- How’s the food?
- Is it your favourite…?
- What do you do before/ after…?
- What do you like least about…?/ What’s your least favourite part of…?
- What do you like most about…?/ What’s your favourite part of…?
- What does… mean?/ What is the meaning of…?
- Where does… take place?
Share a memorable experience or strong opinion about festivals and celebrations related to your partner.
Were there any festivals your partner didn’t feel strongly about?
Discuss using strong and weak language when talking about festivals and celebrations.
Ranking Language
Arrange each section below from the strongest to the weakest, from the most positive to the most negative, etc. They are currently in the wrong order.
- absolutely love
- really enjoy
- like
- don’t mind
- don’t really like
- really don’t like
- absolutely hate
- so beautiful/ extremely beautiful
- absolutely gorgeous
- very beautiful/ really beautiful
- extremely beautiful
- fairly beautiful
- not so beautiful
- virtually all
- the vast majority of
- most/ the majority of
- almost all
- some
- all
- so many/ huge numbers of/ huge amounts of/ tons of
- many/ a lot of/ loads of
- some
- few/ (a) little/ not much/ not many
- almost no
- no
- definitely
- probably
- possibly/ probably not
- maybe
- almost certainly
- almost certainly not
- always
- usually/ normally/ typically
- often
- sometimes
- rarely/ occasionally/ hardly ever
- never
- almost always
- almost never
Brainstorm responses to these questions and then refer to the list above:
How beautiful is it?
How do you feel about…?
How likely?
How many?/ How much?
How often?
What percentage?
Pronunciation
The word “quite” has two different meanings and intonation patterns. Practice pronouncing them to understand the nuances.
It’s quite pretty. = It’s fairly pretty./ It’s quite gorgeous. = It’s absolutely gorgeous.
It’s quite important. = It’s fairly important./ It’s quite important. = It’s very important.
Which meaning and pronunciation aligns with extreme adjectives like “exorbitant”, “excruciating”, and “stuffed”?
Engaging in Discussions about Festivals and Celebrations
Use the provided questions to find common ground on festivals and celebrations. Remember to note agreements to share with the class later.
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Useful phrases for discussing rankings Ø How about you? Ø Exactly./ I totally agree. Ø I wouldn’t go that far. I’d say that… Ø I’d go even further and say that…
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- How boring is…?
- How common is…?
- How do you feel about…?
- How embarrassing is…?
- How expensive is…?
- How full are you after…?
- How fun is…?
- How important is…?
- How keen are you on…?
- How long is…?
- How many people…?
- How many… are there during…?
- How much do you dislike…?
- How much do you like…?
- How much do you spend…?
- How much drinking is there during…?
- How much food… during…?
- How much money do people tend to spend on…?
- How much… is there during…?
- How often do people avoid…?
- How often do people…?
- How traditional is…?
- How typical is…?
- How uncomfortable does… make you feel?
- How unusual is…?
- How’s the atmosphere during…?
- How’s the food during…?
- How (adjective) does… make you feel?
- How (adjective) is…?
