© 2001, English Language Institute
University of Florida
StudyEnglish@eli.ufl.edu

^{Learning Reading and Writing through World Holiday Activities}

^{Welcome to Ling-hui's holiday page. There are lot of interesting American and Chinese holiday links for ESL teachers and students to surf for their reading and writing resources. For more information of other countries' holidays, please go to Mohamed's page "Using Holidays in TESL".}

 

Chinese Holidays	American Holidays	Local Festivals
Hard Copy Information	Reading and Writing Aids	ESL On-line Links
Teaching Resources	Learning Activities	Who is Ling-hui Hsu

Chinese Holidays

• Chinese Folk Lantern Festival: Highlights of the San Francisco Lantern Festival.

• Chinese Holidays: Introduction to Chinese major holidays and festivals. Contents: Lunar New Year, Lantern Festival, Ching Ming, Dragon Boat Festival, Moon Festival, October Holidays.

• Festivals & Culture: By Taiwan Tung Nan Junior College of Technology Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival, Birthday of the Goddess of the Sea, Lukang Folk Arts Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Food Festival, Ghost Month, Moon Festival, Birthday of Confucius, Double ten, Temple celebrations, Chinese Folk Arts, Rice Dough Figures and Candy Sculpture, Chinese Knotting, Paper Cutting, Chinese Oil-Paper Umbrellas, Carvings, Dragon and Lion Dances, Colorful Aboriginal Festivals.

• Personalized Digital Card: By Chinese Cyber City. A lot of cards collection for different purposes and holidays are available.

• Spring Festival: Introduction to the festival.

• Moon Festival: Introduction to the festival.

• Chinese Holidays & Festivals: The Chinese, like other peoples, observe two sets of holidays, official and traditional. Including minority nationalities.

• Chinese Holidays, Celebrations and Customs: Provides lessons that relate to China and the Chinese culture. (Angier Elementary, Newton Schools Foundation - Panaggio)

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American Holidays

Religious Holidays

• Christmas Central: Absolutely the WWW's largest guide to Christmas animations, clip art, crafts, virtual cards, Christmas music, holiday recipes, Christmas events and links.

• Christmas on the Net: The history of Christmas, the story of the Christ child and Christmas, the Christmas tree, the Christmas stocking, holiday pictures to print and color, the voices of Christmas, holiday music, Christmas books, music, and videos.

• Christ in Christmas - Advent Resource Links: Place to find more information and topics related to Christmas.

• Easter: Religious art of Easter, Easter symbols,  eggs, stamps, games, and greeting cards.

• Easter Facts: Ukrainian history of Easter, Easter's date, a site regarding the creating of those beautiful, Ukrainian Easter eggs. Include the origins of the Easter bunny, and menus and recipes for Easter.

• Happy Easter: Easter symbols and legends, Easter symbols from the passion of Jesus Christ, Easter dating method, catholic online - stations of the cross, meaning of lent, and Easter around the world.

• Easter Eternal: More Easter information through religious viewpoints such as Shrove Tuesday: "Party for tomorrow may be lent!", Dirty Feet, the Last Supper, Simon of Cyrene, facts about the crucifixion, comprehending the cross, and several other Easter links.

• Easter on the Net: The story of Easter, the symbol of Easter, the story behind the colors, Easter bunnies and chocolate rabbits, Easter movies to download, an Easter bunny craft project,  holiday books, music, videos, Easter greeting cards, holiday message board, and holiday web directory.

• The History of Easter: The Easter lily, history of the Easter bunny, the empty egg, three trees, and Easter links.

• 'Twas the Night Before Easter: More links and information of Easter.

• Passover on the Net: The story of Passover, the Passover Seder, the music of Passover, Passover greeting cards, and holiday web directory.

• St. Patrick's Day: A description of who is St. Patrick, a legend of St. Patrick, what does green mean, and how to get good lucks in this day. St. Patrick Day's E-cards are available. Songs to sing in St. Patrick's Day. Cocktail for St. Patrick's Day.

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National Holidays

• Happy Fourth of July: Patriotic music, Independence Day, the star spangled web site, declaration of independence, preventor--Fourth of July safety, U.S. history front page and the Constitution of the United States of America, etc.

• Happy Birthday America: The story of America's Independence, the text of the Declaration of Independence, the signers of the Declaration, fireworks, the presidents of the United States of America, holiday books, music, and videos.

• The History of Labor Day: The origin of the Labor Day.

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: King's biography, Martin Luther King, Jr. from Stanford University, a quiz, on-line discussions, and a study guide.

• Memorial Day: A history of Memorial Day, the honored dead, Vietnam Veterans Memorial - in Washington, D.C., and a virtual tour about the memorial, Memorial Day web sites - a collection on war and peace.

• More Memorial Day: Brief history of the Grand Army of the Republic,  Memorial Day poetry, Memorial Day prayer, the National Memorial Day concert, memorials and cemeteries.
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• Memorial Day: Get the real meaning online--The Vietnam War photo album, the facts about Arlington National Cemetery, and Memorial Day E-cards.

• New Years: The customs and history of New Years Day.

• New Year's Day: A look at history, custom, traditions, and activities for celebrating the New Year around the world.

• Thanksgiving: The first Thanksgiving, Plymouth history, and the search for religious and political freedom, food recipes from magazines, Thanksgiving menus and frequently asked questions about turkeys, poetry, and E-cards for Thanksgiving.

• About Thanksgiving: Largest guide to Thanksgiving animations, clip art, virtual cards, Thanksgiving history, Thanksgiving travel, Thanksgiving recipes, Thanksgiving events and links.

• Rexanne's Thanksgiving: On this page you will find links to Thanksgiving cooking sites, kid links, Thanksgiving history links, graphic sites and other good general Thanksgiving web pages.

• Bountiful Thanksgiving on Kate.net: Free wallpaper from Kate.net! history/documents, educational materials, cards, Thanksgiving Day parades, preparations/the big day, food/recipes, food safety/holiday health, crafts & decorating ideas, activities/games/puzzles, stories/poems/songs, clip art, backgrounds, icon, and computer goodies.

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Other Holidays

• Groundhog Says: Groundhog Day legend, celebrations,  activities. related stories, and sites.

• Groundhog Facts: Questions and answers about the groundhogs.

• Groundhog Day History: Origins, the movie, facts, send a card, Punxsutawney  present weather and 5-day forecast.

• Halloween: A great visit to a haunted house decorated by schoolchildren,  old pictures showing Halloween symbols and customs, Halloween cards from family planet, a Halloween word search puzzle - holiday vocabulary, party help such as costumes, Halloween treats, recipes for spooky Halloween food, ideas for Halloween decorations, and Halloween magazine in the link of the official Halloween safety game.

• Halloween.Com: A lot of topics related to Halloween such as Vampires, witches and werewolves,  ghosts/haunted, cemeteries, scary tales, fun, and games,  miscellaneous/costumes/props, Halloween humor, and spare CPU cycles.

• Halloween Hits: Horror movies, costumes and make - up, haunted houses, Jack-O-Lanterns,  ghosts, ghouls, and goblins, humor link sites,  sounds, and graphics.

• About Halloween: Largest Halloween guide to Halloween animations, clip art, virtual cards, Halloween costumes, events,  party recipes, pumpkin carving, haunted houses and Halloween links.

• Hundreds of Halloween Links: Hundreds of topics related to Halloween.

• Clemson University Halloween Links:  Alphabet soup, Billy Bear's Halloween party, growing pumpkins, Halloween Carols, Halloween fun, magazine, recipes and safety, pumpkin festival, and trick or treat.

• Valentine's Day: The history of Valentine's Day, the facts of Valentine's Day, the electronic postcard, helps and ideas for writing a Valentine's letter and doing romantic things.

• Happy Valentine's Day: History of Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day cards, jokes, tongue twisters, facts, superstitions, stories, poems, and coloring page. Cupid.

• P.J.'s  Happy Valentines: Beauty and love in poetry, prose and songs, Valentine word search, flowers' meaning, facts and superstitions, Valentine symbols, history of the Valentine, and Romeo and Juliet.

• Holidays in the seasonal order

Spring                    Summer    Fall
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Local Festivals

• Mardi Gras 1999: What is Mardi Gras? You may find the origin of it and learn how people celebrate it around the USA. Surf the sites and enjoy Mardi Gras' music.

• Mardi Gras Link Extravaganza:  Get information on Mardi Gras attractions, general sites, video, audio, history, parades, jargon, photo links, and more...

• Mardi Gras Links: Mardi Gras live! Mardi Gras tour guide in New Orleans, Louisiana fun festivals, Gay Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras Indian, and more...

• Jazz and Heritage Festival: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - official site. Showcases strong gospel, rhythm and blues, soul, and jazz acts. Information on photo gallery, schedule, and all-around guide to New Orleans during Jazz Fest.

•  Film Festivals: Please surf the following topics that interested you. Animation, Gay and Lesbian, Documentary.

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Hard Copy Information

• Teaching ESL Writing

• Essential Idioms in English

• Motivating High Level Learners

• Effective Reading: Reading Skills for Advanced Students

• Academic Encounters: Reading, Study Skills, and Writing

• Colonial American Holidays and Entertainment

• Donna Erickson's Year-Round Holiday Fun Book (Prime Time Family Series)

• Writing to Create Ourselves : New Approaches for Teachers, Students, and Writers

• Study Writing : A Course in Written English for Academic and Professional Purposes

• Teaching English Across Cultures : An Introduction for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

• For Every Season : The Complete Guide to African American Celebrations Traditional to Contemporary

• The Book of American Traditions : Stories, Customs, and Rites of Passage to Celebrate Our Cultural Heritage

• Academic Writing for Graduate Students : Essential Tasksand Skills: A Course for Nonnative Speakers of English

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Read and Write Aids

• Reading Skills: A list aids you in finding relevant educational resources on the world wide web on reading skills such as how to be a flexible and faster reader, how to take notes quickly, read university texts and journals articles effectively, etc..

• Writing Online: An introduction to an on line world, suggestions of different activities in considering the conversational level of online writing, directions to get you ready for internet writing, and a list of resources for conducting searches. A good site for beginning users of internet writing.

• The Online Writery: Looking for help with your writing! Just send questions or texts to the cybertutor gang. You will get on-line writing tutorial help. On line referential materials, research on the world wide web, internet research help, other writing WWW sites, and help for teachers such as miscellaneous resources (reviews and cerebral exercise essays) are available.

• Interactive help for students whose second language is English: A site called EnglishLearner.Com contains interactive exercises at several different proficiency levels. There are guess-the-word games, proverbs games, and crossword puzzles. An online news is available in this site.

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ESL On-line Links

• Englishtown: English learning activities through cultures, games, and stories. Online instruction for all language skills using for distance learning. Teacher's Inn is the section for teachers including brain bar, pen pals, lesson lounge, and job lobby. Different kinds of information such as CD-ROM shack, bookstore, study abroad, and finding EF friends for students.

• LinguaCenter: It is made by students of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's. You can explore English grammar and vocabulary with authentic materials, practice your listening comprehension with authentic materials, learn American holidays, and start your search of the web from LinguaCenter's search page. There are many links to ESL resources, teacher resources, and web-based resources to help prepare TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, and TOEIC.

• Dave's ESL Cafe: Fun things for ESL students and teachers to do on the web. Includes e-mail connections,  idea exchanges,  chat room, a job center, links for students and teachers, idiom and phrasal verb pages.

• Linguistics Funland's TESL Page: A mega-collection of resources for teachers and students of English including, TOEFL information, activities for students, a job center, culture sites, e-mail pen pals, mailing lists, lists of organizations and journals, articles and essays, teaching resources, grant information, aids for creating web sites, electronic journals for students, lists of study programs and schools.

• Frizzy University Network (FUN): A relaxed and comfortable environment in which students can improve their writing. A lot of on-line links for students to get grammar helps, find writing references and study information, create your own page, and search more things from world wide web.

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Teaching Resources

• Web-based Lesson Plan Gallery: World Wide Web Institute for ABE/ESOL teachers and staff developers develops lesson plans on various topics.

• Archive of weekly lesson plans: Having trouble creating  wonderful lesson plans? You may find stimulating ideas from online lesson plans for the 95-99 school year.

• EFL Bestsellers: Find the most popular ESL books from this site.

• Books on finding job in ESL/ESL: Books on finding job in Asia.

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Learning activities

• TOEFL Prep: A lot of instructions, information, and exercises for students to prepare TOEFL test. This site also provides other related English learning sites for students.

• Holiday Quizzes: This site provides many questions to test your knowledge of various holidays of USA and other countries.

• Karin's ESL PartyLand: There are over 50 interactive quizzes and links that direct you to hundreds of others. Discussion Forums for ESL students and teachers. Practice your English as you learn about and discuss movies. Discover how you can use the internet to learn English! And more...

• CNN's Interactive: The online version of CNN news. Good source of short readings on current international topics. CNN.com's daily news, sports, and entertainment quizzes. Live discussions of different topics.

• Fluency Through Fables:  Online sites and references for students and teachers of English. Fables and idioms help you to improve your reading comprehension of English.

• Learning English Online: Exploring the web media through lots of online links including current events, newspapers, televisions, radios and magazines.

• Interactive Learning Resources: These web pages focus on utilizing current news stories for educational purposes. Teachers can use the lessons for group activities and students can work at their own pace for individualized learning.

• Hotpot Quiz: How much do you know about Chinese New Year? Test it out.

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Who is Ling-hui Hsu

I am a graduate student in University of Florida. I am from Taiwan. Formosa is another name for Taiwan which means a beautiful island in Portuguese.
 

I am the one wearing shorts with my sister
in Tamshui's Public Train Station in Taiwan.

Interests:

Play different kinds of sports
Listen to music
Watch TV
Bike
Chat

Check out this site to access more TESOL resources

Way to reach Ling-hui Hsu:

Email address: lhsu@grove.ufl.edu
 

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