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Easter

Easter

Date: Apr 10 2009

Themes: Holidays

Grammar: Gerunds vs. Infinitives

Intro

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For Christians, Easter is one of the most important holidays of the year. But for non-Christian and secular Americans, it’s kind of a weird one. This Sunday, people all over the US are going to hunt for colored eggs in their yards that were left there by a rabbit. You read that correctly.

People celebrate Easter with an Easter egg hunt. They dye eggs and then hide them so that other people can try to find them. Children like Easter because they usually get a basket full of chocolate eggs, which a giant bunny supposedly delivers to them. For college students, Easter means spring break, a week of no school and lots of partying. Now, just don’t ask what all this has to do with Jesus Christ and the resurrection!

Devan loves Easter, but Mason isn’t a fan. Listen to them discuss this unique holiday.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Mason

Devan

Devan

Mason:  So Easter is coming up, which is, you know, lame.

Devan:  Lame, what do you mean lame?

Mason:  I have a very conflicting relationship with Easter because it falls on my birthday one every three years.

Devan:  Oh, when’s your birthday?

Mason:  April 16th. So you know, I have these bad memories of none of my friends being able to come to my party because they had to go do lame Easter things.

Devan:  Like Easter egg hunts or dyeing Easter eggs?

Mason:  Yeah, all that crap. Totally lame.

Devan:  Yeah, I don’t know. I think Easter’s great. I love getting an Easter basket, and you always have your chocolate Easter bunny in your basket, and I love doing the Easter egg hunt. One year I found the golden egg and I won a prize.

Mason:  See this is another thing, I mean, as a bunny-owner in my older years, bunnies don’t lay eggs. Just another inaccuracy.

Devan:  Do you know how they celebrate it in France? It’s a giant bell that drops off the baskets.

Mason:  A bell?

Devan:  Like a Liberty Bell. So if you think a rabbit laying eggs is weird, try having a bell.

 

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Discussion

This Sunday is Easter, and Mason isn’t looking forward to it. His birthday sometimes gets ignored because it falls on the same day as Easter, which is always on a Sunday in the spring.

Mason also thinks that the way we celebrate Easter is weird. Unlike Devan, he doesn’t enjoy dyeing Easter eggs or going on Easter egg hunts. He doesn’t understand the connection between bunnies and eggs. But as Devan points out, other countries have their own interesting ways of celebrating this holiday.

One reason bunnies and eggs are a part of Easter celebrations is that the holiday is associated with spring. Do you have a spring holiday or festival in your country? How do you celebrate it?

 

Comments

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zlm33

Turkey

Oh it is very nice to go on celebrating such days but it is nicer to celebrate it in its real meaning of course. In turkey we celebrate ‘nawruz’ on the 21st of march as the coming of the spring. but we dont have holiday. Happy Easters to you…

05:50 PM Apr 02 2012 |

1 person likes this

qq_baby

qq_babySuper Member!

Taiwan

This holiday coming up soon…..april 8

11:22 PM Mar 30 2012 |

primula

primula

Saudi Arabia

How nice to know about other's cultures. We DO NOT have Easter. But it sounds a great fun Cool. We do have a break about a week  during spring and most people go camping or visit their relatives.

 

09:15 PM Jul 26 2010 |

rikkizhao

China

You are so lucky! Happy easter everybody

06:58 AM Apr 23 2009 |

rikkizhao

China

You are so lucky! Happy easter everybody

06:58 AM Apr 23 2009 |

otooziki

otooziki

United Kingdom

Happy Easter to all the Orthodox Christians! We celebrated it last week. The weather was bad then, we should have waited – it is nice weather now.

Easter in the UK – the Thursday is Maundy Thursday – the Queen gives out silver coins to elderly people – the number of people is the same as her age. In olden days the King or Queen would wash the feet of the poor (this was when we had catholic Kings) and it is symbolic of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.

We eat Hot Cross Buns –

We also eat Chocolate eggs of course, and fish, not meat, on Good Friday.

On Easter Sunday all the big shops and supermarkets are closed (only this day and christmas day)

It is the busiest weekend for travelling – millions fly abroad or go to the seaside.

A lot of Easter traditions come from the Pagan spring festival that existed before Christianity.

I have heard of Nowruz in Turkey and Iran … it is similar I think and not religious?

For most people here it is not religious, just a nice holiday.

12:30 PM Apr 18 2009 |

1 person likes this

Burnett

United States

Hi!

it is realy good tradition. we not eat meat 40 days

09:37 PM Apr 16 2009 |

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

I love this holiday because it falls before the weekend,then we get more days off hehe

12:27 AM Apr 16 2009 |

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

We simply exchange chocolates eggs and we eat a lot! hehe

The tradition here in Brazil is not  to eat meat on easter,only fish or cod :)

12:23 AM Apr 16 2009 |

joaco

joaco

Argentina

pleeease watch ZEITGEIST the movie, and then tell me what do you think about religion

05:51 PM Apr 15 2009 |

bvk.prasad@gmail.com

India

voice is very low. I am using good ear phone set, still there is a problem. expecting any tips on increasing the English Lession conversation volume.

08:18 AM Apr 15 2009 |

getchar

getchar

Algeria

why christians that just they don’t celebrate Easter as it meant to be?

03:12 PM Apr 14 2009 |

kukuka

kukuka

Ukraine

I was surprised to know that Devan didn't know when Mason's birthday was…they used to be friends for a long time and now they are a couple, i guess it's weird. The lesson is nice.

07:14 AM Apr 14 2009 |

ciberd7

ciberd7

Brazil

We celebrate giving eggs to children and eating fish.

Here in Brazil, we mustn´t eat meat at Easter, because it´s like a rule, but I broke it ehehe.

 

08:09 PM Apr 13 2009 |

Aneta_91

Aneta_91

Poland

In Poland day before Easter we go to church to bless our baskets with food(eggs, sausages, salt and bread)wchich we eat on our breakfast in Sunday most often after mass in church..and then we often visit our families and we eat a lot..:Pof course we also dying eggs but we don't look for them.

04:18 PM Apr 13 2009 |

djanlm

djanlm

Brazil

The rabbit means fertility and the eggs mean resurrection. Like christmas, Easter lost its real meaning because of capitalism… I think. lol

Here in Brazil, the stories get full of all kind and size of chocolate eggs. In Brazil there isn't Easter egg hunt and we don't dye eggs.

03:39 PM Apr 13 2009 |

Nikauchi

Nikauchi

Russian Federation

well, Easter is a great holiday, but i guess some people forget what we celebrate and why eggs ((((

03:38 PM Apr 13 2009 |

hadjira

hadjira

Algeria

 

     In Algeria, people in the past they used to celebrate spring holiday, even nowadays specially in the east of Algeria,  and as in known the spring in Algeria is very incredible. Few days before this holiday, people decorate the house with the flowers and the plants , they prepare different kinds of dishes and cakes  and the women wear traditional dresses , in other hands they exhibit many things as rug, traditional dishes and traditional music Cool


01:45 PM Apr 13 2009 |

iman82

iman82

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

it`s the same day in Arabic world, we often celebrate in this day, get out to spind a wonderful times with our family and dyeing eggs then eating it Surprised or not, it`s not rule, we call abt this day here (SHAM-ELNASSEM),

i was born in this day Smile

09:37 AM Apr 13 2009 |

egyptophile

Egypt

Easter is celebrated in Egypt as we have christian fellow citizens ( the copts ) and Monday after the Easter Sunday is a national holiday we call it " Sham An-nasseem " breeze sniffing ". The ancient egyptians celebrated that day and the copts kept on celebrating it as the re-birth of nature resembles the resurrection of Jesus. I recall decorating the eggs with my brothers when I was so young ( Those were the days ) and my late mother usually said we must eat the colored eggs to have better sight ( We are moslems ).

03:56 AM Apr 13 2009 |

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