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.