Friday, September 23rd 2022

Lesson goals
 To exercise reading comprehension through an article
 To discriminate invitations between one person to a lot of people
 To recognize invitation that are more formal and less formal

D GOAL Compare Festivals

A Do you have these four seasons in your country? Which months are in each season?

spring summer fall winter

B Read the article. Which festival is in ...

March? ______________
 April? ______________
May? ______________
Spring
Festivals
After a long, dark winter, everyone feels happy
when it’s spring. So, many people around the world
plan festivals to celebrate the beginning of this season.
Festival of Las Mayas: Spain
Every year on May 2nd, there is a festival in the
town of Colmenar Viejo. “Las Mayas” is an ancient
festival. Local families make altars with colorful
flowers. On each altar, a girl between the ages of 7 and
11 years old sits in a beautiful dress for two hours.
Bands play music and crowds of people walk past.
The Cherry Blossom Festival: Japan
Cherry blossoms are Japan’s national flower,
so Japanese people celebrate them with a festival
in the spring. In April, people come to look at the
beautiful, pink flowers. In the afternoons and evenings,
they sit under the trees with friends and enjoy food,
drinks, and music.
Holi: India and Nepal
Around the middle of March, people in India and
Nepal celebrate the arrival of spring. The festival lasts
for one night and one day. People sing and dance
around fires at night. Then, the next day, hundreds of
people throw different-colored powders and water at
each other.

altar a platform or table, for religion

arrival the time when something begins

C Match the words from the article to their definition.

1. ancient a. a lot of different colors
2. colorful b. very old
3. beautiful c. large groups of people
4. crowds d. nice to look at

D Read the article again. Check (✓) the sentences that are
true for each festival.

Las Cherry Holi

Mayas Blossom
1. It’s in the spring. ✓ ✓ ✓
2. It’s always on the same date.
3. It’s more than one day.
4. Flowers are very important.
5. The festival has many colors.
 6. There are large crowds.
7. There is music at the festival.
8. It is in one country.

E Compare the three festivals in pairs.

1. What is similar about the festivals? What is different?
2. Which festival would you like to go to? Why?

GOAL CHECK
1. Think of a festival in your country. Make notes about ...
• its time of year / dates.
• its length (one day? a week?).
• what people can see at the festival.
• what is most important. Music? Color? Flowers?
2. Work in groups. Describe and compare your festivals.
What is similar? What is different?

GOAL Invite People

Writing
A Do you ever give or receive invitations? What are the invitations for?
B Read the three invitations. Which invitations are to one person?
Which is an invitation to a lot of people?
People watching fireworks in Montreal, Canada, for the city’s 375th anniversary. Many cities have
celebrations or festivals on anniversaries.

C Read the invitations again and make notes in the table.

What is it? Wedding
Anniversary
Date?
Time?
Place?
Any other
information?
(e.g., music, food)

D Read about more and less formal writing. Then underline examples of more and
less formal writing in the three invitations. Which invitation is the most formal?

Communication
E Work in groups. Choose one of the situations. Discuss your plans and make
notes in the table.
• Your school is fifty years old this year. Plan an anniversary celebration.
• Your company is seventy-five years old. Plan an anniversary party for the staff.
• Your town is three hundred years old. Plan a weekend of activities in the
local park.
What is the event?
 When is it?
At what time?
Where is it?
Other information?
(e.g., music, food)

GOAL CHECK Invite People

1. Decide how you are going to invite people to your event in E (a letter, an email,
an ad, etc.). Write an invitation using your notes in the table.
2. Exchange invitations in pairs. How formal is your partner’s invitation?