PREVIEW ACTIVITY 1 Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.

Bet You Didn’t Know: Thanksgiving History (B2)

PAGE 1

Work with a partner, group, or your teacher. Do the activities below together.
Discuss what you know about Thanksgiving. Then describe the images below and
PART 1
how you think each image is related to Thanksgiving.

1 2 3

PART 2 Try to match each Thanksgiving vocabulary term below with its correct definition.

1 stuffing a. the process or period of gathering/collecting crops

2 relish b. meat from deer
3 a feast c. a sweet or pickled sauce made chopped fruit or vegetables
4 a harvest d. a mixture of vegetables, seasonings, and bread crumbs
5 venison e. a really large meal, typically a celebratory one

Which words above match the images in Part 1?

Test your knowledge about Thanksgiving. Choose true or false for each statement
PART 3
below. If you think/know the statement is false, explain why.

1 TRUE FALSE Venison is the main Thanksgiving food in the USA.

2 TRUE FALSE Thanksgiving takes place on the last day of November.

3 TRUE FALSE The first Thanksgiving celebrated a successful harvest.

4 TRUE FALSE On the first Thanksgiving, a group of settlers called the

Pilgrims invited the Native Americans to have a feast.

5 TRUE FALSE Some American presidents have influenced Thanksgiving

traditions.
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THANKSGIVING | HISTORY Bet You Didn’t Know: Thanksgiving History (B2)
PAGE 2

PREVIEW DISCUSSION: Read the discussion topic

below and discuss it with your partner or teacher.

Who has influenced the holiday traditions and

celebrations in your country? How did they
influence these traditions and celebrations?
VIEWING ACTIVITY
Watch the first 0:35 of the video. How is the first Thanksgiving described? What
PART 1
happened on this day? Write some notes/information about it in the space below.

Watch from 0:35 - 0:53. Tick () which types of foods were (Y) / were not (N), or might
PART 2
have been (M) included in the first Thanksgiving.

1 Y /N /M Venison 4 Y /N /M Potatoes

2 Y /N /M Turkey 5 Y /N /M Plain cranberries

3 Y /N /M Pumpkin pie 6 Y /N /M Cranberry sauce/relish

Write which year in the timeline below each person influenced Thanksgiving history.
PART 3
Did you understand how each person influenced its history? If so, explain how.

1 2 3 4 5

GEORGE SARA JOSEPHA ABRAHAM FRANKLIN D. GEORGE H.W.

WASHINGTON HALE LINCOLN ROOSEVELT BUSH

1789

0:59 1:12 1:41 1:50 2:11

PART 4 Check your true/false answers from Preview 1, Part 4. Were they all correct?
POST-VIEWING ACTIVITY 1 Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.
Bet You Didn’t Know: Thanksgiving History (B2)
PAGE 3

PART 1 Discuss the questions below.

1 Do you think Thanksgiving has an interesting history? Why or why not?

Were there any facts you found to be particularly interesting? If so, why?

2 What kind of impact does food/cuisine have in your country’s cultural/holiday

celebrations? What kinds of foods are eaten during these celebrations? Do
they symbolize or represent any historical events?

PART 2 Choose the correct past simple verbs that fit the sentences below.

waged signed criticized announced took granted

1 In 1789, President George Washington announced the first-ever Thanksgiving

national holiday, which place on November 26.

2 In 1827, American writer Sara Josepha Hale a 30-year

campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

3 In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln that Thanksgiving

would be celebrated on the final Thursday in November.

4 In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving back one week,

in order to give retailers more time to make money during the holiday season.
However, he was widely for this, and so he
a bill in 1941 fixing Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday in November.

5 In 1989, President George H.W. Bush a pardon to a turkey,

sending a turkey to retire on a farm rather than to a Thanksgiving dinner table.

PART 3 Read the sentence from the video below and answer the questions.

“
One of the quirkiest Thanksgiving traditions began in 1989, when President
George H.W. Bush granted the first official pardon to a turkey.”

1 What do you think quirky means?

2 Does your country have any quirky holiday traditions? If so, describe them. If
not, have you heard about any quirky holiday traditions from other countries?
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Bet You Didn’t Know: Thanksgiving History (B2)
PAGE 4
QUIRKY TRADITION TASK:

• Work with a partner or on your own.

• Think of your country’s cultural/holiday celebrations and choose one.
• Imagine you are the president of that country, and you are announcing a new, quirky
tradition for this cultural/holiday celebration.
• Give a television announcement about this quirky tradition. Prepare notes for your
announcement below and then present it.

OPTIONAL VOCABULARY TO USE IN THE QUIRKY TRADITION DESCRIPTION:

take place sign a bill wage a campaign announce the first-ever

a feast grant a pardon widely criticized

HOLIDAY:

NEW, QUIRKY TRADITION DESCRIPTION:

TURKEY PARDON TASK:

• Work with a partner or on your own.

• Imagine it’s 1989 and you’re George H.W. Bush, the president of the USA.
• Imagine you are giving a TV announcement granting a pardon to a turkey on
Thanksgiving, for the first time ever.
• Describe the pardon and the reason for it.
• Prepare notes for your announcement below and then present it.

TURKEY PARDON ANNOUNCEMENT:

 OPTIONAL BONUS ACTIVITY
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Bet You Didn’t Know: Thanksgiving History (B2)
PAGE 5

PART 1 Study the usage and examples of the past perfect in the passive voice.

In the video, you hear the narrator say the following sentence:

“ On the first Thanksgiving, they didn’t have pumpkin pie or potatoes,

which hadn’t been introduced to New England yet.”

We use the past perfect in the passive voice to express that something happened (or didn’t
happen) in the past up to another point in the past. We use the passive voice to focus on the
effect (or the object) rather than the doer (the subject) of an action. If the focus is on the
subject of an action, we use the past perfect in the active voice. See the examples below:

PASSIVE VOICE Before George H.W. Bush was president, a turkey had never been granted
a pardon.

ACTIVE VOICE Before George H.W. Bush, a US president had never granted a pardon to a
turkey.

Write the correct form of the past perfect passive or active voice for each sentence
PART 2
below depending on the context. 3 sentences are in the active voice and 3 sentences
are in the passive voice. Use negation in each sentence!

EX. We kept the turkey in the oven a little longer than expected because it
hadn’t been cooked (cook) all the way through yet.

1 Until George Washington’s official announcement in 1789, Thanksgiving

(recognize) as a national holiday in the USA.

2 By the time we finished cooking the Thanksgiving feast, our guests

(show) up yet and the food got a bit cold.

3 Turkey (include) as a Thanksgiving dish until the 19th century.

4 I called my mom last night to see what she had in mind for Thanksgiving plans since we
(discuss) it yet.

5 Last year was the first time my family’s traditional Thanksgiving celebration
(hold) at my grandparents’ house. Instead, it was at my uncle’s.

6 When we went to harvest pumpkins on my uncle’s farm this year, it was disappointing to
see that they (grow) as much as they usually do.
QUIZ & REVIEW ACTIVITY Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.
Bet You Didn’t Know: Thanksgiving History (B2)
PAGE 6
Work with a partner. Complete the quiz and review activities below.

PART 1 Questions. Discuss the answers to the questions below about the first Thanksgiving.

1 What happened between the Pilgrims / Native Americans on the first

Thanksgiving? What kind of food was and was not on the menu?

2 On what day is Thanksgiving celebrated? How did this day change in history?

3 What is the quirkiest Thanksgiving tradition? How did this tradition start?

PART 2 Vocabulary: Write the correct past simple verbs used in each sentence below.

1 In 1789, President George Washington announced the first-ever Thanksgiving

national holiday, which place on November 26.

2 In 1827, American writer Sarah Josepha Hale a 30-year

campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

3 In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln that Thanksgiving would

be celebrated on the final Thursday in November.

4 In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving back one week,

in order to give retailers more time to make money during the holiday season.
However, he was widely for this, and so he
a bill in 1941 fixing Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday in November.

5 In 1989, President George H.W. Bush a pardon to a turkey,

sending a turkey to retire on a farm rather than to a Thanksgiving dinner table.

Grammar: Write the missing parts of the sentences below using the past perfect in
PART 3
the passive voice. Use any verb that may fit the context.

1 On the first Thanksgiving, they didn’t use pumpkin pie or potatoes, which
to New England yet.

2 Turkey as a Thanksgiving dish until the 19th

century.

3 I was very surprised when I arrived at the Thanksgiving feast quite late, and
all of the turkey yet!

4 Before George H.W. Bush was president, a turkey

a pardon.