How to Celebrate Holidays

1. How to Celebrate Holidays Writing ThreeThank-You Letters By Alex Haley

2. Structure • Pre-reading • Questions about the song • Questions about the text • Cultural Notes • Text Analysis • Reading for Gist • Organization • Content Questions • Reading for Details • Language points • Discussion

3. Questions about the song • Which holiday do you think the singer is singing about? How do you know? • This is a sentimental song full of familiar phrases such as “there’s no place like home” and “home sweet home”. Can you think of any Chinese sayings with similar meanings? • Which is the best place for holidays? Can you again think of any Chinese sayings with similar meaning?

4. Questions about the text • Quite often we take for granted the people who are nice to us, then we realized all too late that we have never expressed our appreciation. At other times, when we are away from the holiday rush, we are able to recall the true significance of a holiday – a time to say how much we value others. • Have you expressed your gratitude to the person(s)? • If the answer is yes, what have you done? • If the answer is no, what do you plan to do?

5. Cultural Notes: Alex Palmer Haley (1921-1992) • American biographer, scriptwriter, author who became famous with the publication of the novel ROOTS. In it Haley traced his ancestry back to Africa and covered seven American generations, starting from his ancestor, Kunta Kinte. The book was adapted to television series, and woke up an interest in genealogy, particularly among African-Americans. Haley himself commented that the book was not so much history as a study of mythmaking: "What Roots gets at in whatever form, is that it touches the pulse of how alike we human beings are when you get down to the bottom, beneath these man-imposed differences."

6. He said that three groups of people lived in every village. First were those you could see - walking around, eating, sleeping, and working. Second were the ancestors, whom Grandma Yaisa had now joined. "And the third people - who are they?" asked Kunta. "The third people," said Omoro, "are those waiting to be born." (from Roots)

7. Alex Haley was born in Ithaca, New York, as the son of Simon Alexander Haley and the former Bertha George Palmer. Haley's father was a teacher of agriculture - he taught at several Southern colleges. In 1921 the family moved to the small town of Henning, Tennessee. In Henning Alex heard stories from his maternal grandmother, Cynthia Palmer, who traced the family genealogy to Haley's great-great-great-great-grandfather, who was an African, called "Kin-tay". He was brought by slave-ship to America and named Toby.

8. Haley did not excel at school or university. From 1937 to 1939 he studied at Elizabeth City Teachers College in North Carolina. During WW II Haley enlisted in the Coast Guard as a messboy. For his fellow sailors he composed love letters, which they sent to their girlfriends and wives. His other writings Haley submitted for magazines for eight years and received countless rejection slips, before his first text was published. However, during these frustrating years he learned the basics of his craft.

9. After twenty years of service, Haley left the Coast Guard in 1959 to become a full-time writer. He wrote for Reader‘s Digest biographical features, interviewed Miles Davis for Playboy, and produced THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X, the spokesman for the Nation of Islam (Black Muslim) movement, (Malcolm Little, 1925-1965)， his first major work. It appeared in 1965 and had an immense effect on the black power movement in the United States.

10. Malcolm X: …I've never seen a sincere white man, not when it comes to helping black people. Usually things like this are done by white people to benefit themselves. The white man's primary interest is not to elevate the thinking of black people, or to waken black people, or white people either. The white man is interested in the black man only to the extent that the black man is of use to him. The white man's interest is to make money, to exploit. (from Malcom X's interview by Alex Haley, Playboy, May 1963)

11. Selected works: • THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X, 1965 (reprinted 1992) - written with Malcolm X - film 1992 , dir. by Spike Lee, starring Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall • ROOTS: The Saga of an American Family, 1976 - tv films in 1977 and 1979 • A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHRISTMAS, 1988 • QUEEN, 1993 (with David Stevens) • MAMA FLORA'S FAMILY, 1998 ("cowritten" by David Stevens)

12. Cultural Notes: About Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Day in America is a time to offer thanks, of family gatherings and holiday meals. A time of turkeys, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. A time for Indian corn, holiday parades and giant balloons

13. Happy Thanksgiving • Thanksgiving is celebrated in the US on the ______ ______ on _________. For many Americans it is the most important holiday apart from _________. Schools, offices and most businesses close for Thanksgiving, and many people make the whole weekend a vacation. fourth Thursday November Christmas

14. Associations • Thanksgiving is associated with the time when Europeans first came to North America. Called _______ now, those 100 or so people arrived in 1620 on the ship ___________at the beginning of a very hard winter and many died for lack of food. Then in the following summer, with help of _______________ , they survived. So in the winter, they held a big celebration to thank ______ and ___________________ for that fact that they had survived. pilgrims the Mayflower Native Americans God Native Americans

15. How do People celebrate Thanksgiving • The most important part of the celebration is a traditional dinner with foods that come from North America. The meal includes ________, sweet potatoes (also called yams) and cranberries, which are made into a kind of sauce or jelly. The turkey is filled with stuffing or dressing, and many families have their own special recipe. Dessert is ________made into a pie. turkey pumpkin

16. The Pilgrims The Pilgrims refer to the 102 English people who sailed to America on the Mayflower in 1620. Their group included 35 ______ whose aim was to create a safe religious community in the New World. The Pilgrims probably landed at Plymouth Rock, and they established Plymouth colony. Puritans

17. Native Americans Q: What were Native Americans originally called? Why? Indians When Christopher Columbus first arrived there, he thought he had landed in India. Today, many people do not like this name since it is based on mistake.

18. Reading for Gist: Text Organization On Thanksgiving Day 1943, as a young coastguardsman at sea, the writer came up with the idea of expressing his gratitude to people who had helped him before. (introduction to the whole passage <referring to the topic> ) Part One Paras 1-9 Part Two Paras 10-16 Part Three Paras 17-23 Part Four Paras 24-26 He wrote three thank-you letters to … He got three letters in reply. Good wishes: everyone should find the good and praise it

19. Content Questions Part One • When did the whole matter happen? where and what was the author? • What were the holds of my ship “the USS Murzim”?

20. Para. 10 • Why did the writer feel ashamed when he thought about the people that he wanted to express his gratitude to?

21. Part Two and Three: The writer wrote three thank-you letters and got three replies. Fill in the table on P165 with the main contents of the letters.

22. Part Four • According to the writer, what do most people want their fellows to do? • What did the writer wish for all people when another Thanksgiving was drawing near? Most people secretly hope that their friends and relatives will express appreciation for their efforts. World peace, and “Find the good and praise it”.

23. Language Study

24. be under way: to have started to happen or be done/ to have started to move or travel somewhere开始进行,着手；（船等）在航行中， • Preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games are well under way. 2008奥运会的准备工作正在紧锣密鼓地进行。 The tournament got under way on Friday. 比赛于周五开始进行。 Our train was already under way. 我们坐的火车已经开始前行了。

25. Get to thinking/ wondering: (informal) to start thinking about something • He got to thinking （began to think) about how disappointed his parents would be. 他开始想到他父母该有多失望。 He got to thinking that she would not come after all. 他开始觉得她毕竟不会来了。 读完这本小说后，他开始想外星人会长得什么样。

26. reverse: turn around to the opposite direction; 反转，颠倒exchange the positions of 改变……的次序或地位等 • Reverse the paper in the printer. • Reverse the picture and you will see a new one. Their conditions are now reversed: A is poor and B is rich. 他们的状况现在改变了： A穷，B 富。

27. turn sth over in one’s mind:think about sth (before making a decision or to solve some problem) Corbett rode along, turning over in his mind what Bruce had said. c.f. turn sth /sb. over to sb. : to give sb.the right/ responsibility to own / deal with sth.; to take a criminal to the police移交，交付 I’m turning the project/ matter/ problem/ responsibility /… over to you. 我将把这个项目/问题/责任等移交给你处理。 Suspected terrorists are immediately turned over to the law. 恐怖分子疑犯立即被移交给警方。

28. On one’s behalf/ on behalf of sb.: for sb.; in the interests of sb.; as sb.’s representative. She asked the doctor to speak to her parents on her behalf. • Specific: (1) (only before noun) a ~ thing, person, or group is one particular thing, person, or group 特 定的，2) Detailed and exact 明确的， 具体的 The money is to be used for a specific purpose. 该款项将用于特定的用途 Could you be more specific about what you’re looking for? 你能将你要找的东西说得更明确一些吗？

29. The book didn’t impress me at all. 这书没给我留下任何印象。 • (sth) impress sb with… /sb is impressed by sth • (sb) impress sth on sb I impressed on him the importance of his work./ I impressed the importance of his work on him. 我使他知晓他工作的重要性。 One particular candidate favorably impressed us with his knowledge. He impressed his knowledge on us.(not natural!) / we were favorably impressed by his knowledge. 有一位选手的知识给我们留下了良好印象。

30. diminish: make or become lessexpose: leave uncovered or unprotected • diminishing food supplies 日渐减少的食品供应 a currency that has diminished in value 已贬值的货币 让士兵们冒不必要的危险 受风吹雨打 遭受讥笑 expose soldiers to unnecessary risks be exposed to wind and rain be exposed to ridicule

31. immerse: immerse sb/ sth in sth immerse oneself in sth: to become completely involved in an activity专心于，陷入 • Immerse your foot in ice cold water to reduce the swelling. 把脚浸入冰水中以减轻肿胀 Be immersed in a book/ thought / work / one’s business 专心阅读一本书/陷入沉思/专心工作/ 专心于自己的事业 immersed: adj. She was far too immersed in her studies.

32. sprinkle: to sprinkle sth on/over sth to sprinkle sth with sth 洒水于多尘土的路面 sprinkle water on a dusty path Sprinkle a dusty path with water Considerate : thoughtful of the needs, etc. of others considerable:much, great It’s ~ of sb to do sth to be ~ towards /to others A considerable income/ distance 相当可观的收入/相当远的距离

33. accord: v. formal 1）to give someone or sth special attention or a particular type of treatment.给予，赠予2）~ with sth, to match or agree with sth与。。。相配，一致，符合 You will not be ~ed any special treatment. 你不会受到任何特殊待遇 He was ~ed a warm welcome. 他受到热烈的欢迎。 His behavior and his principles do not ~. 他的行为与其原则不符合。 His behavior does not ~ with his principles. 他的行为不合他的原则。

34. in turn: (of two persons) turn and turn about; (of more than three persons) in succession（两人）轮流地；（三人以上）依次; as a result of sth结果 in turn: as a result of sth • 依次回答问题 • 学习兴趣影响学习效率，学习效率转而又会影响学习兴趣。 answer questions in turn Interests in study affects one’s efficiency which ,in turn, affects one’s interests in study.

35. go about sth: to start to do sthgo about doing sth: go about sth: to do sth in the way that you usually do I want to learn German but I don’t know the best way to go about it. 我想学德语，但不知如何着手。 This book tells you how to go about making a wish. 这本书告诉你如何去许愿。 The villagers were going about their business as usual. 村民们在像往常一样干自己的事。

36. Discussion • Are you kind of person who take others’ kindness for granted? Have you ever tried to “find the good and praise it”? • Maybe it’s time you express your gratitude to your kinship, to your friends, and your teachers. • Don’t wait!For you never know how long it will take.

37. The National Day of Mourning • On Thanksgiving Day, many Native Americans and their supporters gather at the top of Coles Hill, overlooking Plymouth Rock, for the "National Day of Mourning." The dissenting view of Native Americans, who have suffered the theft of their lands and the destruction of their traditional way of life at the hands of the American nation, is equally valid.

38. To some, the "First Thanksgiving" presents a distorted picture of the history of relations between the European colonists and their descendants and the Native People.the long history of subsequent violence and discrimination suffered by Native People across America is nowhere represented. To others, the event shines forth as an example of the respect that was possible once, between two different cultures and as a vision of what may again be possible someday among people of goodwill.

39. History is not a set of "truths" to be memorized. history is an ongoing process of interpretation and learning. The true richness and depth of history come from multiplicity and complexity, from debate and disagreement and dialogue. There is room for more than one history; there is room for many voices. That’s how we should see the holiday of “Thanksgiving”. For more infor, please visit :http://eleaston.com/thanks-holiday.html