Unit 11 Holidays and Festivals
Active vocabulary
| in all probability | |
| necessity | |
| vast | |
| to choose | |
| force | |
| to force | , |
| entertainment | , |
| effort | , |
| creative | , |
| to satisfy | |
| to achieve | |
| ancient | |
| to discover | , |
| quiet | , |
| promise | |
| vigour | , |
| temporary | |
| virtue | , , |
| spring | , |
| coin | |
| castle | |
| palace | |
| to take photos | |
| view card | |
| badge | |
| common | , |
| church | |
| to broaden one's outlook |
Task 1. Read the text and answer the question What are young people doing at Christmas?
| Christmas Day is observed on the 25th of December. It is the most colourful and merry holiday. Christmas is a time for rejoicing, for parties, dances and celebrations. It is also a time for thinking of other people, for giving presents - and doing holiday jobs. | 
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At Christmas, London, like all big cities, has a special atmosphere. There are coloured lights and decorations in Regent Street and Oxford Street. There is a big Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square, sent by the people of Norway to the people of Britain. There are Christmas trees, too, in all the big shops and railway stations. There is carol-singing in the streets and people wish each other "Merry Christmas!"
Most big offices in Britain have dances or parties at Christmas; so do the schools, colleges and universities.
Christmas is an exciting time, but it can also be a very expensive time. You need money to buy Christmas presents for your family and friends; you need money to buy clothes for Christmas parties. A lot of young people in London, therefore, have a Christmas holiday job.
One of the most popular jobs is working for the Post Office: you can sort parcels and letters or you can deliver them. Other young people have Christmas holiday jobs in shops, cafes and restaurants. Christmas is the busiest time of the year for the shops, and shopkeepers need extra assistants.
Carol-singing at Christmas is a very old custom. All over the country, groups of people (young and old) sing in the streets and outside people's houses.
Trafalgar Square is the centre for carol-singing in London. Every night, during the week before Christmas, it is full of people. Everybody joins in the singing. Sometimes a band accompanies the singers, sometimes an accordion and sometimes a guitar.
From "Club" (Adapted)
Task 2. Tell how people celebrate Christmas in our country.
Task 3. Choose any holiday you like and tell about it. Use the information from the text.
