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All About , Lesson 9 - Top 5 Important Dates in America

Chihiro

Ryan Ryan here! All About , Lesson 9 - Top 5 Important

Dates in America
None (manual write
in)
Ryan Hi everyone, and welcome back! I'm Ryan and this is
All About English Lesson 9 - Top 5 Important Dates in
America. I'm here with Chihiro
Chihiro Hi everyone, I'm glad you can join us for this lesson.
Now, America has a lot of interesting celebrations
throughout the year. In this lesson, we are going to learn
about 5 holidays that are near and dear to the hearts of
the American people.
Ryan We’re going to go in reverse order though, which
means we’ll start with number 5.
Chihiro Yes, but there are more than 5 holidays in America, so
we had to leave out some big ones like Valentine’s day,
Easter, Memorial Day and Halloween.
Ryan Maybe we can cover them in a future lesson. So,
what’s the first one?
1 Chihiro
Ryan
Coming in at number 5 is Super Bowl Sunday.
Super Bowl Sunday is not an actual holiday in
America, but since it falls on Sunday, it is widely
observed.
Chihiro It is the championship game of the National Football
League, the major professional football league.
Ryan The game draws one of the biggest if not the biggest
audiences of any TV event each year.
Chihiro Even people who are not usually football fans will tune
in.
Ryan Yes, there often viewing parties with beer, barbecue,
and soda.
Chihiro And often during halftime, people will go outside and
play football in the street.
Ryan That’s right. The game is also famous for its TV
commercials.
Chihiro Since the audience is so big, many companies make
special commercials for the event.
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Ryan These are quite popular and talked about the next day at
work. OK, what comes in at number 4?
Chihiro Number 4 on our list is New Year’s Eve.
Ryan New Year’s Eve and not New Year’s Day?
Chihiro Yeah, I think New Year’s Day is when people sleep in
and get over their hangovers.
Ryan And watch college football.
Chihiro Right, but people like to celebrate New Year’s Eve
with parties or at bars.
Ryan So, there’s a lot of drinking and maybe some games.
Chihiro Yes, and the highlight of the night is the countdown to
end the year.
Ryan That’s when people gather around, usually around the
TV and count down the last ten seconds together.
Chihiro Yes, and they usually use the TV footage of the ball
drop in New York City to synchronize their count with.
Ryan Yes, and when they reach zero, they yell out “Happy
New Year!”
Chihiro And single people usually try to kiss someone. This can
be a cause of much anxiety if you don’t have a date.
Ryan Yeah, you can see people rush around at the last minute
trying to find the right person to kiss.
Chihiro And if you can’t find a nice enough person to kiss, well
then I guess it would be a bad start to a new year. Oh
well, life goes on, so let’s carry on to the next holiday
on our list.
Ryan Number 3 on our list is Independence Day, the 4th of
2 July.
Chihiro Yes, this is a day when Americans celebrate America.
Ryan It’s a day to remember America declaring its
independence from Britain.
Chihiro Yeah, before July 4, 1776, America was a group of
British colonies.
Ryan But after much frustration about the treatment they
were receiving from the King of England, the colonists
met together and had Thomas Jefferson write the
Declaration of Independence.
Chihiro These days it is celebrated with games and picnics and
barbecues in backyards, parks and beaches.
Ryan Yeah, and don’t forget the fireworks!
Chihiro Yes, people will gather to watch public fireworks and
also use smaller, safer fireworks at home.
Ryan Okay, so now we’re down to #2 on our list.
Chihiro Number 2 is Thanksgiving Day.

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Ryan Yeah, Thanksgiving Day is held on the third Thursday

of November each year.
Chihiro Yes, and it’s celebrated by getting together, usually
with extended family, and is marked by eating lots of
food.
Ryan That’s right. The most traditional food to eat on
Thanksgiving is turkey. And since turkey is a large bird,
it almost requires that you have a big group of people to
eat it.
Chihiro Yes, turkey is traditional because it reminds us of how
the early European settlers in America shared a harvest
meal with the Native Americans long ago.
Ryan That’s right. So, Thanksgiving is not only a harvest
celebration like they have in other countries, but it
reminds Americans of the many things to be thankful
for.
Chihiro So, while people are stuffing themselves with turkey,
stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, they also
like to remember all the things they have to be thankful
for over the past year. That is if they don’t OD on food
and forget to remember.
Ryan Yes, and it’s also a day to watch football!
Chihiro Yeah whatever.
Ryan Anyway, that leads us to the number one special day on
our list.
Chihiro That’s right, number one on our list is Christmas Day.
Ryan This day, the 25th of December is really big in America
3 – like Thanksgiving, a lot of people travel across the
country to be with their relatives.
Chihiro Christmas is a time for giving presents and eating
feasts.
Ryan That’s right. The gift-giving makes it especially
popular with children.
Chihiro But, of course, adults like gift-giving too. And, of
course, eating.
Ryan That’s for sure! Most people gain weight during the
holiday period between Thanksgiving and New Year
and the biggest culprit is Christmas.
Chihiro Yeah. People like to make big meals and deserts and
cookies!
Ryan Yup. Some people serve turkey again, but you also see
ham, roast beef and other dishes.
Chihiro And there’s egg nog. Non-alcoholic for the children,
but adults can add rum or brandy to spice it up. We

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hope you have the chance to visit America during one of

these holidays so that you can experience it for yourself!
Ryan And don’t forget to visit EnglishClass101.com to sign
up for your free lifetime account. Signing up only take 7
seconds, so goon and visit EnglishClass101.com and
sign up for your free lifetime account today!
Chihiro Thanks for listening, see you soon!
Ryan Bye for now

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