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St. Patrick's Day

Date: Mar 10 2003

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Hi Friends!
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated every year on March 17th. The day started out as a holy celebration of Christianity in Ireland, but has since become more of a secular holiday. In the U.S., people with Irish heritage and without spend the day celebrating all things Irish.
The most well known tradition on St. Patrick’s Day is probably the practice of wearing green, the color of shamrocks and the national color of the Ireland. Those not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day are supposed to be pinched!
Many cities, both in Ireland and around the world, have St. Patrick Day’s parades. New York actually has the honor of having held the first St. Patrick’s Day parade. Chicago and Boston both have huge parades every year.
Read on to hear how John and Beth plan to celebrate!

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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

John

Beth

John: You have any St. Patty’s Day traditions Beth?

Beth: Well, when I was young I used to, uh, eat green bagels and now that I’m a little older I like to, uh, drink green beer. How ‘bout you John?

John: Oh yuck. I don’t know about green bagels. Um, I don’t know, I don’t usually do anything besides maybe go out that night. But this year I’m going to try that St. Patty’s Day run.

Beth: That’s cool. How far is it?

John: I think you can do three, five or nine miles, and then at the end it’s really fun ‘cause they have tents set up and you can go drink beer. I assume it’s some of that green beer you drink.

Beth: So are you doing the three?

John: I don’t know. I’m still trying to decide. Um, it’s between the three and the five though. There’s no way I can do 9 miles.

Beth: Do you have to decide before you go, or can you just start running?

John: I think, I think you have to decide before you go, but, uh, I’m not sure. I might just start running and see where I have to stop.

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Discussion

John’s run sounds like fun. It’s a different way than I’m used to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day though. My family is Irish, so we usually have a big feast to celebrate our heritage. We have traditional Irish foods like corned beef and cabbage, Irish Soda Bread and potato pancakes. My mom also goes wild with green food coloring, making things like green cakes, cookies and ice cream!
Happy St. Patty’s Day!!!
Tanis