[Lesson Plan] Thanksgiving

This week was an especially fun one at school: I got to try out Beaujolais wine in the teacher’s lounge (naughty…); my students brought me snacks again; and I got to help set up the Christmas tree. Even though all the food and festivity was great, the highlight came in class: while discussing what we’re thankful for, a student told me “I’m thankful to be with you,” which totally caught me off guard and was really sweet.

I ended up getting some other interesting responses for what students were thankful for when we created “Thankful Squashes.”

I have very mixed feelings about Thanksgiving and ended up spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to do for this lesson. I’d originally wanted to focus on food and perhaps talk about the “decolonizing food” project, but I ended up going with trying to incorporate some history about the Native Americans and trying to refocus them on other aspects of Thanksgiving besides turkeys.

Lesson 4: Thanksgiving 

Objectives: 

• Discuss what they already know about Thanksgiving (and have them practice making complete sentences)
• Have them practice speaking about what they are thankful for
• Review question words (who/what/where/why/when) and «thanks» vs. «please»

Intro:

• Have them share what they already know about Thanksgiving:
  • When it is
  • Where it is celebrated
  • What we eat
  • Why we celebrate it
  • «Thanks» vs. «giving»: demonstrate by receiving an object and saying «thanks» and by «giving» an object
• Show slideshows of:
  • “Typical” Thanksgiving food (including squash, potatoes, pumpkin pie, cranberries, etc.)
  • History of Native Americans:
    • Show gif of Native American territory over time and ask:
      • What is the map of?
      • What year is the map showing (in English!)?
      • What happened to the Native Americans?

Discuss Native American quote and «thankful»:

• Have written on the board:
  • «We thank all the food plants…the vegetables, bean, and berries [that] help us survive.» – Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Speech
• Ask «What is he thankful for?» and «Why is he thankful?»
• Show that you can be thankful for features of nature, people, and things
• Ensure that they understand what «thankful» means (use «reconnaissant» if absolutely necessary)

Discuss what they are thankful for using a «Thankful Squash»:

• Have them trace their hands to create a «Thankful Squash»
• Write «I’m thankful for…» in the squash and fill in with things that they are thankful for
• Have them read aloud what they wrote

Extra time:

Review meanings of who/what/where/why/when and «thanks» vs. «please» (by having them translate into French if necessary)

How it went:

When I’d ask them what they knew about Thanksgiving, they’d generally say “dinde!” so I’d ask them to describe it for me (“big…chicken!”) and then tell them the word was “turkey.” Then I’d usually say, “But I’m vegetarian…so what would I eat?” and show them photos of mashed potatoes, etc.

When I showed them the gif of Native American territory, I’d have them read the date on at least the first slide. Then I’d have them tell me what happened, and quite a few of them were able to tell me a little about the settlers coming to the United States.

I’d heard that “Thankful Turkeys” generally went well and I wanted to give them a chance to express what they’re thankful for, so I had them do “Thankful Squashes” instead. Even though they understood the word “thanks,” it was often surprisingly hard to have them understand what “thankful” meant, so there were a couple of times with the younger classes where I had to write the French translation on the board for the first time.