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Chinese New Year 1 Osserva le foto e il titolo della pagina web. Quali credi che sia il

significato di Gung Hay Fat Choy? Leggi il brano e controlla la risposta.

‘Gung Hay Fat Choy!’ Han lives in London. He tells us about an exciting important festival:

Chinese New Year!

2 Rileggi il brano. Decidi se le frasi sono True (T) o False (F)? Correggi le frasi false.

Every year Chinese New Year is on a different date. T

1 The New Year festival is fifteen days.

2 Red is an unlucky colour for Chinese people.

3 Long noodles are a symbol of long life.

4 Li Shi is a traditional food.

5 In Chinatown in London, people carry a dragon and dance in the streets.

6 In Chinese culture, every year has the name of an animal.

3 Qual è il tuo segno zodiacale occidentale? Cerca delle informazioni sul tuo segno e prendi degli appunti usando le seguenti domande per aiutarti:

What sign are you? What are the good and bad characteristics of

your sign? Are any of these characteristics true for you?

Which ones? Which are not true?

Ora usa gli appunti per scrivere un breve paragrafo sul tuo segno zodiacale e la personalità che lo contraddistingue.

DVD 3 Puoi trovare ulteriori informazioni sul Chinese New Year nei Festivals 1 del DVD.

1 Festivals

‘Chinese New Year is the most important festival of the year for our community. It’s always in January or February, but it depends on the moon. The New Year festival starts on the new moon and ends fifteen days later, on the full moon. At New Year, Chinese people decorate their homes with traditional red decorations. Red brings good luck in Chinese culture. On New Year’s Eve, families meet for a traditional meal. It is traditional to eat food that brings good luck.

For example, we have a whole chicken, because that is a symbol of wealth. And long noodles are a symbol of long life. It’s bad luck to cut them! On New Year’s Day we often have fireworks and firecrackers outside. We wish each other Gung Hay Fat Choy, which means ‘Happy New Year!’. Chinese people don’t give presents at New Year. Instead, they give Li Shi. These are special red packets decorated with lucky symbols. A special event at New Year in London’s Chinatown is the Dragon Dance. People carry a ‘dragon’ and dance through the streets. The dragon frightens bad spirits away and brings good luck. In the Chinese zodiac, each year is named after an animal. There are twelve different animals. I was born in 1992 – the year of the monkey!’

new moon luna nuovagood luck buona fortunafull moon luna pienawealth prosperitànoodle noodle (simile ad una tagliatella)

firecracker petardopacket pacchetto

Glossary

St Valentine’s Day 1 Leggi il brano e rispondi alle domande. ES

1 Why did Emperor Claudius II stop marriage ceremonies?

2 How did Valentine help couples?

3 What happened when the Emperor found out?

4 Who did Valentine fall in love with?

5 When did Esther A. Howland sell her first handmade Valentine’s card?

6 How many Valentine’s cards are sold each year?

2 3.18 Ascolta e leggi una canzone d’amore tradizionale scozzese di Robert Burns. Qual è il simbolo d’amore citato nella canzone?

My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose

O, my love is like a red, red rose that’s newly sprung in June,O, my love is like a melody that’s sweetly played in tune.As fair thou art, my bonnie lass, so deep in love am I;And I will love thee still, my dear, till a’ the seas gang* dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:And I will love thee still, my dear,While the sands of life shall run.

*gang (Scottish) = go (English)

3 Scrivi un breve paragrafo sul giorno di San Valentino in Italia. Prendi degli appunti usando le seguenti domande per aiutarti.

What do people do on Valentine’s Day? Is it very popular? Are shops full of Valentine’s cards? What do you think of Valentine’s Day? Do you send Valentine’s cards? Why / why not?

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2Festivals

priest preterule governarearmy esercitoperform celebrare

ceremony funzione religiosa

prison prigioneguard guardia

Glossary

St Valentine’s Day, on 14th February, has become a worldwide celebration of love. But how did it start – and who was St Valentine?

There are at least three different saints called Valentine or Valentinus. The one most people associate with St Valentine’s Day was a Roman

priest who lived when Emperor Claudius II ruled Rome.

The Emperor had a problem getting men to join his army, because they didn’t want to leave their wives and children. So he decided to stop marriages. But Valentine secretly performed marriage ceremonies for couples. When the Emperor found out, Valentine went to prison.

In prison, Valentine fell in love with the prison guard’s daughter. According to the story, on the day of his death (14th February, AD 269) he wrote her a note, and signed it, ‘Love from your Valentine’.

In 1849, an American, Esther A. Howland, sold her first handmade Valentine card in America.

Now, people all over the world send about one billion Valentine cards each year (more than the number of Christmas cards!).

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2 Rileggi il brano e completa il factfile.

Notting Hill CarnivalLocation: London

Dates held now: Origin: First carnival in UK: Traditional musical instrument: Traditional food: Number of people who take part: Number of people who visit it:

3 3.19 Ascolta e leggi una canzone popolare soca.

Hot Hot HotOle Ole Ole Ole, Ole Ole Ole Ole Feelin’ hot hot hot, Feelin’ hot hot hot

Me mind on fire, me soul on fire,Feelin’ hot hot hot!Party people, all around me,Feelin’ hot hot hot!

What to do, on a night like this?Music’s sweet, I can’t resist.We need a party sound,A fun, Jamaican jam,

So we can room boom boom boom,Yeah, we room boom boom boom.

DVD 3 Puoi trovare ulteriori informazioni sul Notting Hill Carnival nei Festivals 2 del DVD.

Notting Hill Carnival 1 Osserva le foto e rispondi alla domanda. Quale gruppo culturale si celebra

durante il carnevale di Notting Hill? Leggi il brano e controlla la risposta.

Every year, on the last Sunday and Monday in August, London prepares for its biggest carnival, the Notting Hill Carnival. More than 2 million people come to dance, listen to music, eat Caribbean food and have fun at this huge event.

The Notting Hill Carnival started as a celebration of the African and Caribbean communities in London. In the 19th century, the carnival was already a tradition in the Caribbean islands. Later it became a celebration of the end of the slave trade. From the 1940s to the 1960s, when lots of Caribbean people emigrated to the UK, they brought the tradition of carnival with them. In 1959 there was a Caribbean festival inside Saint Pancras Town Hall in North London in February. It first moved outside in 1965, and the month moved to August – because it was warmer!

The Carnival consists of two very different parades. On the

Sunday there is a special parade for children. They dress up in fantastic costumes and dance in the streets. The day after that it’s the main parade, with colourful floats, costumes, music and dancing. In total, about 7,000 people take part in ‘Mas bands’. These are groups of dancers in costumes, who dance behind a float with music. For months before the carnival, the ‘Mas bands’ start designing their amazing costumes.

Traditionally, carnival music is steel drums, soca (dance music from Trinidad) and calypso (traditional songs with steel drums). Nowadays, massive sound systems play a wide variety of music, including reggae, hip hop and rock.

In the streets there are hundreds of stalls selling Caribbean food – jerk chicken (spicy chicken cooked on a fire), rice and peas, and exotic fruits like mangoes and coconuts – and food from all over the world.

3 Festivals

inside all’internooutside all’esternocostume costumeparade sfilata

float (n) carro allegoricosteel drum strumento a percussione ricavato dal coperchio di un bidone

Glossary

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My name’s Macy and I come from New Orleans, in the south of the USA. When people think of New Orleans they think of Mardi Gras — and they’re right. This is where it all began!

The Mardi Gras Carnival first came to New Orleans from France in 1699 when the French explorers celebrated their traditional holiday here. Later, in 1857, a group called the Mystick Krewe of Comus had a parade at night. They wore masks, costumes, and had dancing and music. This is how the custom of ‘krewes’ began. Today there are more than 60 krewes in New Orleans, who have their own parades, dances and parties in the city.

The celebrations begin on 6th January, about two weeks before Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras means ‘Fat Tuesday’.

The name is for Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent starts. Some people believe that the name comes from the custom of using up all the fats in the home before Lent.

But the main event at Carnival is the parade. Each krewe chooses a king and a queen for its parade. Some krewes choose famous celebrities — one year we had the actors Elijah Wood and Kevin Costner. The krewes decorate lorries as floats in the parades, and dancers and bands follow the floats. People watching shout, ‘Throw me something, Mister!’ and the people on the floats throw beads, coins, sweets and toys into the air.

In 1872, the King of Carnival chose purple (for justice), green (for faith) and gold (for power) as the official Mardi Gras colours.

There is also a traditional cake. The round King Cake symbolizes the different faiths coming together, and is decorated in the Mardi Gras colours. Inside each cake there is a plastic toy baby. The baby is the Baby Jesus. If you get the slice of cake with the baby in it, it means good luck. It also means you have to make next year’s King Cake!

Mardi Gras 1 Leggi il brano. Le seguenti frasi sul

Martedì Grasso sono false. Correggile.

Spanish priests first brought the Carnival to New Orleans.

French explorers first brought the Carnival

to New Orleans.

1 The first Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans was in 1872.

2 The traditional colours of Carnival are red, green and white.

3 There is one Carnival King and Queen.

4 The Carnival Kings and Queens are never famous people.

5 The King Cake is round because it is a symbol of the moon.

6 It’s bad luck to get the piece of cake with the toy baby in it.

2 3.20 Ascolta una canzone tradizionale sul Martedì Grasso.

3 Descrivi un cibo tipico del carnevale o di un giorno di festa usando le seguenti domande per aiutarti:

What is it called? When do you eat it? What are the origins of this food? What are the ingredients? How do you make it?

4Festivals

Carnival TimeThe Green room is smokin’, and the Plaza’s burnin’ down.Throw my baby out the window; let those joints burn down.All because it’s carnival time, woah, it’s carnival time....! Oh well, it’s carnival time and everybody’s having fun!

Clai-borne Street is rocking from one side to the other.The joints are jammin’, packing; I’m about to smother.All because it’s carnival time, woah, it’s carnival time....!Oh well, it’s carnival time and everybody’s having fun!

Right Now, it’s carnival time, woah, carnival time....!Oh well, it’s carnival time and everybody’s having fun!

explorer esploratoremask mascheracostume costumecustom usanzafat (n) (il) grassoparade (n) sfilata

float (n) carro allegoricosweets caramellejustice giustiziafaith fedepower forza, potere

Glossary