National Holidays and Traditions
Episode of the series Great Stuff
The episode
Two friends debunk the idea that Halloween is American — it's really an old Scottish and Irish tradition (Samhain), carried to America by Irish emigrants who found pumpkins didn't grow back home and carved turnips instead.
Episode worksheets (2)
- Student sheet In your teacher account
- Teacher sheet In your teacher account
Teaching guide
Objective & content
Two friends begin with a question: where does Halloween come from? They learn that it is an old Scottish and Irish tradition called Samhain, carried to America by Irish emigrants, and that in Scotland and Ireland people carved turnips because pumpkins do not grow there. The episode then tells the true story of Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night in 1605, and closes on Christmas: the King's speech at 3 pm, mince pies and Christmas crackers. The main grammar point is the past simple, regular and irregular, used for the historical narration, with the question "Did it work?"; one simple relative clause ("that's on TV") also appears. Learners practise listening for events, dates and the reasons behind each custom. One line to notice: "Completely real."
Materials & prerequisites
- Student sheet and teacher sheet (HTML and PDF, in the printables folder).
- Prerequisites: present simple, ordinal numbers and dates, and a first idea of regular and irregular past forms.
Curriculum alignment
Tagged with the axis "child and wider environment" (c3-child-and-wider-environment), cycle 3 (6e). The episode targets CEFR A2-.
Possible adaptations
- Lower levels: Offer segmented listening and additional visual aids.
- Advanced levels: Encourage an oral summary and a debate in English on the theme.
- Large groups: Organise group work with differentiated roles.
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