January+4,+2012

=Topic=
 * Celebrating New Years Around the World - Research Activity

=Activity=
 * [[image:http://www.zunal.com/zunal_uploads/images/20101215115708agamy.bmp]] ||
 * All over the world, people welcome the new year for it is one of the oldest of all holidays. In Thailand we have the New Year on April,13 but not all New Year celebrations take place on the same day or in the same way! Sometimes this is because people in different parts of the world use different calendars. China and Israel keep a lunar calendar. It is based on the movement of the moon around the Earth. Some countries celebrate in the spring when new crops begin to grow or in autumn when the crops are harvested.

**//Wouldn't it be fun to travel around the world and celebrate the New Year all year long?//** || It's time to travel !!

Our class will have a New Year's celebration to learn about the cultural and religious differences and similarities between ourselves and other diverse cultures.  Each of you will be required to complete a New Year Comparison Chart (attached file below) of 5 contries or cultures that you are interested in. I would like you to finish this task in 30 minutes. S elect the countries or cultures below for your research.  - Yuan Tan (Chinese)  Chinese New Year  - Songkran (Thai)  Thai New Year  - Shougatsu (Japanese)  Japanese New Year  - Festival of Saint Basil (Greek)  Greek New Year - New Year (American) American New Year  - Diwali (India)  Indian New Year  - Tet Nguryen Dan (Vietnamese) Vietnamese New Year Print out the and write in your answers! //Lesson adapted from New Year's webquest found at// []