THANKSGIVING DAY

INTRODUCTION
Thanksgiving Day is a public holiday and celebration mainly held on the fourth Thursday of November in the USA and on the second Monday of October in Canada, in order to remember the thanks that the people who first came from Europe gave to God when they gathered crops for the first time in their new country. Apart from America, there are several other countries and religions in which Thanksgiving Day is also celebrated. This feast always takes place during the harvest season and in the same way it intends to thank the Lord for his blessings and the abundance and prosperity he provided their people with. Thanksgiving Day is a joyous family festival celebrated with lot of enthusiasm. It commemorates the feast that the Pilgrim colonists and members of the Wampanoag people held at Plymouth in 1621. All of them shared an autumn harvest feast which is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. As a consequence, this harvest meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to be the very first Thanksgiving celebration, the core of the celebration is the fact of keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops.
An interesting piece if information: Native American groups throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.
Nowadays, apart from expressing gratitude to God for his blessings, on this day people give thanks to dear ones for their love and support. So feasting with family is the integral and most delightful part of such a celebration. People offer prayers and give presents to their near and dear ones. These festivals have the form of family reunion and feasting tradition of turkey. There is also a traditional Thanksgiving parade probably started with President Lincoln proclaiming it an official day.
Students will be required to enlarge the information I have provided in this introduction by giving extra information about every or a particular detail they like. This will be a wide and hard task but it will give you the chance to have a good mark even if you fail to pass your final exam



TASK
-In order to succeed, students will have to write a three-page essay on this topic. You can do it individually, which will be rewarded with an extra mark, or in groups of two people. This essay must be well written and it will include new vocabulary and a great variety of grammatical structures (structures which have been tackled with in class). Remember that plagiarism will be punished. You can compile all the information you can in the resources I give you below. You can also use your own material but be careful about the web pages you visit because some of them may not be reliable.

-After writing the essay you will do an oral presentation in class using tools such as power point or other computer programs. This presentation will last at least fifteen minutes. After presenting your composition and research in class you will be given a whole week for correction and after it the essay will be handed in. Dates for the presentations will be assigned in class; all of them will take place during the same week.



PROCESS
-Groups will be organised at random in class. You will have a whole month to do your task. One hour a week you will be given the chance to work with your group mates in class in case you are not able to gather together outside school.
-The topic of the essay may deal with history, parades, cooking, gifts and so on. I recommend you this option rather than the one of dealing with several topics, which will not allowed you to go deep into any of them.
-I will book the computer room so that you can use school computers in case you do not have one at home. Extra materials like CDs to record your work will be lent by school.
-The last day before the presentation you will be able to review and play your presentations in class with the rest of your classmates, so that you can give some suggestions each other.
-I will be available in case you have doubts or whether you need my help or whatever.


RESOURCES
Here you have some on-line resources you can deal with:
http://www.thanksgiving-day.org/
http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/jfa-ha/action_e.cfm
http://www.history.com/minisites/thanksgiving/
http://www.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/thanksgi.html
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761569242/Thanksgiving_Day.html
http://www.thanksgivingworld.com/


EVALUATION
The whole activity will be half of the mark you will receive at the end of the term, together with the final exam, so task (50%) and final exam (50%).
The essay will count 25% of the mark and the oral presentation will be the other 25%.
Students who present interesting or original data, pictures, music, videos an so on, will be rewarded concerning their final mark.
The assessment of the essay will be equal for each member of the group. Regarding the oral presentation, each student will be assessed individually, taking into account their pronunciation, vocabulary employed and fluency.



CONCLUSION
This activity intends to promote common work and the relationship among students. Academically it will increase students’ interest in other cultures and traditions. Moreover students will need to apply the grammar knowledge they have acquired in class to the composition of the essay, which will help them when taking their final exam.
Finally the oral presentation in class will help them to lose their fear to perform in class, to control their nerves and to be self-confident.

THE LADY OF SHALOTT

On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And through the field the road run by To many-tower'd Camelot; And up and down the people go, Gazing where the lilies blow Round an island there below, The island of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk and shiver Through the wave that runs for ever By the island in the river Flowing down to Camelot. Four grey walls, and four grey towers, Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott.
By the margin, willow veil'd,Slide the heavy barges trail'd By slow horses; and unhail'd The shallop flitteth silken-sail'dSkimming down to Camelot: But who hath seen her wave her hand? Or at the casement seen her stand? Or is she known in all the land, The Lady of Shalott?
Only reapers, reaping early, In among the bearded barley Hear a song that echoes cheerly From the river winding clearly; Down to tower'd Camelot; And by the moon the reaper weary, Piling sheaves in uplands airy, Listening, whispers, " 'Tis the fairy The Lady of Shalott."
There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott.
And moving through a mirror clear That hangs before her all the year, Shadows of the world appear. There she sees the highway near Winding down to Camelot; There the river eddy whirls, And there the surly village churls, And the red cloaks of market girls Pass onward from Shalott.
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd lad, Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad Goes by to tower'd Camelot; And sometimes through the mirror blue The knights come riding two and two. She hath no loyal Knight and true, The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights To weave the mirror's magic sights, For often through the silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights And music, went to Camelot; Or when the Moon was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed. "I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott.
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, He rode between the barley sheaves, The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves, And flamed upon the brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot. A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd To a lady in his shield, That sparkled on the yellow field, Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter'd free, Like to some branch of stars we see Hung in the golden Galaxy. The bridle bells rang merrily As he rode down to Camelot: And from his blazon'd baldric slung A mighty silver bugle hung, And as he rode his armor rung Beside remote Shalott.
All in the blue unclouded weather Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather, The helmet and the helmet-feather Burn'd like one burning flame together, As he rode down to Camelot. As often thro' the purple night, Below the starry clusters bright, Some bearded meteor, burning bright, Moves over still Shalott.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd; On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode; From underneath his helmet flow'd His coal-black curls as on he rode, As he rode down to Camelot. From the bank and from the river He flashed into the crystal mirror, "Tirra lirra," by the river Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom, She made three paces through the room, She saw the water-lily bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume, She look'd down to Camelot. Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack'd from side to side; "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott.
In the stormy east-wind straining, The pale yellow woods were waning, The broad stream in his banks complaining. Heavily the low sky raining Over tower'd Camelot; Down she came and found a boat Beneath a willow left afloat, And around about the prow she wrote The Lady of Shalott.
And down the river's dim expanse Like some bold seer in a trance, Seeing all his own mischance -- With a glassy countenance Did she look to Camelot. And at the closing of the day She loosed the chain, and down she lay; The broad stream bore her far away, The Lady of Shalott.
Lying, robed in snowy white That loosely flew to left and right -- The leaves upon her falling light -- Thro' the noises of the night, She floated down to Camelot: And as the boat-head wound along The willowy hills and fields among, They heard her singing her last song, The Lady of Shalott.
Heard a carol, mournful, holy, Chanted loudly, chanted lowly, Till her blood was frozen slowly, And her eyes were darkened wholly, Turn'd to tower'd Camelot. For ere she reach'd upon the tide The first house by the water-side, Singing in her song she died, The Lady of Shalott.
Under tower and balcony, By garden-wall and gallery, A gleaming shape she floated by, Dead-pale between the houses high, Silent into Camelot. Out upon the wharfs they came, Knight and Burgher, Lord and Dame, And around the prow they read her name, The Lady of Shalott.
Who is this? And what is here? And in the lighted palace near Died the sound of royal cheer; And they crossed themselves for fear, All the Knights at Camelot; But Lancelot mused a little space He said, "She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott."

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Una gran verdad:
Wise men talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.