Цели и задачи:

• совершенствование навыков монологической, диалогической речи и полилога;
• развитие способности к логическому изложению содержания;
• развитие коммуникативной компетенции;
• активизация лексического материала по теме «Праздники»;
• обучение проектной технологии.

Radio  programme “Exotic Holidays”

T.:  Today you are working at a popular radio station “Round the World”. The programme will be broadcast abroad. The audience will not see you, so you should express your ideas clearly and emotionally. The main purpose of our radio programme is to attract the listeners and get them interested.
Today you should demonstrate what you have learnt in the unit and to show your creativity and ability to act
So, you are on the air.

The song “Jingle Bells” is performed.

P1 (host of the programme):
Good morning, dear friends! We are happy to meet you at our programme. How are you getting on? I hope you are OK. My name is …I’m a host of this programme. Let’s begin our popular programme “Round the World”.

P2 (host 2):
Today we shall speak about exotic holidays and customs. We have invited interesting guests from different countries. They are going to  tell you about exotic holidays in their countries. First listen to our history expert.

P3 (history expert):
There are many different holidays in the world. Some of them such as Cristmas, New Year’s Day, Women’s Day and others are celebrated in many countries but in their own way. And there are some exotic festivals and customs which are unique and specific. As for me I like Halloween. Some words about the roots of this holiday.
Long ago many people believed that on certain fall nights dead spirits came back to Earth. This idea was held by Celts, European people, who lived in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France. Over 2000 years ago the Celts held festival that was probably the start of Halloween. The Celts festival was held on October 31. It was called Samhain, after the Celts lord of death. Samhain was thought to send ghosts to Earth on the night of October 31 when angry Samhain could send many evil ghosts. The Celts built fires on the hilltops to scare off the ghosts. They also scared the ghosts away by wearing costumes made of animal heads and skins

P1 (host1):
And what about nowadays? Is Halloween popular among people?

P3 (history expert):
Yes, today it’s a spooky but fun day. It happens every fall. People still wear costumes on Halloween. Only now they are cloth and plastic instead of animal heads and skins. Fortune-telling is still done but just for fun. And Halloween’s colours – orange and black – may have come from Samhain festival. It was a time when orange flame lit up the black night. Here is a poem:

The sky is dark,
The Moon is blue
All the ghosts and witches
Came to frighten you!

P2 (host 2):
Thank you for your story! My name is …I’m the second host of the programme. Now I’d like to invite to our microphone our guest from England Mr. …What is your favourite holiday?

P4 (a guest from England):
Well, it’s Notting Hill Carnival, because it’s unusual, bright street carnival, which takes place on the last weekend in August. From simple beginnings, it has developed into a huge multicultural arts festival attended by up two million people. This festival is known for fantastic costume displays and steel drum music. The lively procession of costume, soca and steel bands winds its way over a route of some 7.5 km of the area. Besides, the festival also plays host to other musicians from all parts of the world.

P2 (host 2):
Thank you for your story. In my opinion this festival is like the Rio carnival in Brazil. Do you agree with me?

P5 (foreign correspondent of a popular magazine “National Geographic):
Not quite. The festival is the largest in the world. Hundreds of thousands of visitors come every year for the celebrations of the start of Lent. The carnival takes place in the  Sambadrome, a huge new stadium. There samba schools compete with each other for the best costumes and dancing. In the past the carnival procession was held in the streets of Rio, where beautifully clothed people threw streamers and confetti and danced for four days. Nowadays the world’s biggest street party has become a pleasure only for those who can afford the entrance fee.

P2 (host 2):
Thanks a lot for your expressive story. And now listen to N.Mihalkov. he is a famous Russian film producer.

P6 (film producer):
There are many holidays in my country, some of them are religious. One of them is Maslenitsa. This holiday lasts for a week. Russian people celebrate it at the end of February or at the beginning of March. They say “good-bye” to winter on this holiday. It is a tradition to cook pancakes and eat them with fish, sour cream, caviar, honey, sugar, butter. I tried to show the beauty of this holiday in my film “Sibirian Tsyrulnik”. Nowadays this holiday is usually celebrated in the parks. People prepare fires and burn straw scarecrows of winter. It’s enjoyable!

P1 (host 1):
Thank you. As I know there is alike holiday in England, isn’t there? It is Pancake Day, isn’t it?

P4 (a guest from England):
Shrove Tuesday is the last day on which we can enjoy ourselves before Lent. On this day the British devote themselves to quite innocent pleasures such as making pancakes when they get bored with just making pancakes and eating them, they have races in which participants run as fast as they can while throwing their pancakes into the air and trying to catch them again in the frying pan. It’s much more exciting than dancing!

P1 (host 1):
Why do you like this holiday?

P4 (a guest from England):
I like this gay holiday because I like to eat pancakes and I like spring!

P2 (host 2):
And now I’m going to invite Ksenia Sokolova to our microphone. Ksenia is a famous Russian social researcher. Let’s listen to her.

P7 (social researcher):
I’ve got statistics about holidays. Young people like to celebrate unusual holidays, such as Christmas, Halloween, Women’s Day, New Year’s Day and others. They like these holidays very much because they can meet their friends, show off a little or simply have a good time. Many young people celebrate April Fool’s Day in some countries. It is a day for fun. People like to play jokes on the 1st of April.

P2 (host 2):
Thank you for your information. But our time is over. We shall speak on about holidays at our  programme. You can send your questions to our programme. Good-bye! Good luck to you! 

Звучит мелодия “Jingle Bells”.