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Home , AdBusters, Buy Nothing Day

Nov 23rd

Name: Group: Date: / /

1. Discuss the questions with your teacher and classmates. a. What do you know about Thanksgiving? b. What do Americans usually do on this holiday? c. The day following Thanksgiving is called . What do you know about this day?

2. Work in small groups with the words below. Write T, if you think the word is related to Thanksgiving, or BF, if it is related to Black Friday. Look the words up in a dictionary, if necessary.

[ ] a. buyers [ ] b. crowds [ ] c. dinner [ ] d. discounts [ ] e doorbuster deals [ ] f. exploitation [ ] g. fall (n.) [ ] h. family [ ] i. holiday [ ] j. Native Americans [ ] k. Pilgrims [ ] l. shopping [ ] m. stores [ ] n. turkey

3. Listen to your teacher and check your predictions in Activity 1 and answers in Activity 2.

4. (BND) is a protest day that also takes place in . Look at the posters from BND campaigns and discuss the questions with your teacher and classmates.

1. 2. 3. a. Describe each poster. What is Buy Nothing Day protesting against? b. What does Buy Nothing Day and Black Friday have in common? Why do both dates have this point in common? c. Is there a day similar to Black Friday in Brazil? And a protest day similar to Buy Nothing Day?

5. Work in small groups. On a separate sheet of paper, create a protest poster for Buy Nothing Day.

THANKSGIVING

Nov 23rd

TEACHER’S NOTES

Target audience (age): Ensino Fundamental 2. Aim: talk about Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Buy Nothing Day. Discuss the consequences of . Duration: 50 min. Organization: individual / group work. Material: worksheet, dictionaries (either monolingual or bilingual), A4 sheets of paper, markers, colored pencils, old magazines, scissors, glue. Preparation: make copies of the  worksheet(s) (1 per student). Procedures: • Hand out the copies of the  worksheet(s). Next, draw students’ attention to the questions in Activity 1. Discuss them with the whole class, encouraging students to share their ideas. Do not confirm or reject them at this moment.  Answer(s): personal answers. • Read the instructions for Activity 2 with the whole class. Then have students work in small groups (3-4 students), encouraging them to refer to their assumptions in the previous activity to relate the words either to Thanksgiving or Black Friday. Also, have them look unfamiliar words up in their dictionaries. When they are finished, ask groups to share their answers with the class, explaining their choices.  Answer(s): personal answers. • In Activity 1 , read the information in the chart for students to check their ideas in Activity 1 and answers in Activity 2.  Answer(s): a. BF; b. BF; c. BF; d. T; e. BF; f. BF; g. T; h. T; i. T; j. T; k. T; l. BF; m. BF; n. T. When: Thanksgiving – fourth Thursday of November (in 2017, November 23rd); Black Friday – the day following Thanksgiving (in 2017, November 24th). Celebration: In the United States, Americans honor the first settlers of the country (known as Pilgrims) at Thanksgiving. Also, they give thanks to God for all the good things that have happened to them during the year. The first took place in 1621, as a celebration held by the Pilgrims to thank God for the abundant harvest of crops in the fall. The settlers invited Native Americans, who had helped the newcomers with seeds and plants, to share the meal with them. It is a very important holiday in the country, when Americans usually spend time with the family. At Thanksgiving dinner, people usually eat roasted turkey with , , mashed potatoes and , among other traditional dishes Black Friday is the most important shopping day in the United States. Most stores open early in the morning (or even during the night), offering great discounts. Crowds gather at shopping places and some buyers even fight with each other to get doorbuster deals. The date is heavily criticized for the excessive of goods and the exploitation of employees, who many times have to start working in the middle of the night during a family holiday. • Now direct students to the posters in Activity 4. Discuss the questions with the class.  Answer(s): a. It is protesting against excessive consumption. b. They take place on the same day. Because Buy Nothing Day is a clear protest against the excessive consumption on Black Friday. c. Yes – it is known as Dia Mundial Sem Compras, Dia Mundial sem Comprar or Dia Mundial Sem Consumo. It is celebrated on the last Saturday in November. (Source: https://exame.abril.com.br/marketing/buy-nothing-day-ou-24- horas-sem-comprar-nada)

THANKSGIVING

Nov 23rd

• Have students work in small groups (3-4 students) for Activity 5. Hand out the A4 sheets of paper and the other materials. Allow students some time to create a poster to protest against excessive consumption on Buy Nothing Day. When they are finished, have students work in larger groups to share their posters. • Wrap up: share with students a commercial about Buy Nothing Day produced by Adbusters.org (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQmdBiD0m2g). • Extension: students can display their posters around the school to raise other students’ awareness about consumerism.