Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

With New Year’s coming-up (at least in the calendar that many of us use), I thought a “The Best…” list would be in order.

This list, though, will highlight other New Year celebrations in addition to the one traditionally celebrated in the Gregorian calendar.

These sites, and many others, can also be found on my website under Holidays.   Please feel free to offer any suggestions you have.  You  might also be interested in The Best Resources For Chinese New Year .

Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Learning About New Year Celebrations (and that are accessible to English Language Learners):

How about learning the famous New Year’s song that everyone sings but most don’t know what it means? I’m talking, of course, about Auld Lang Syne. Students can listen, read the words, and repeat them at this ManyThings website for English Language Learners.

Read a short summary of New Year traditions at this site which provides audio support for the text. It’s sponsored by a Florida school.

Here are three online grammar quizzes designed for English Language Learners that also contain a great deal of information about New Year’s traditions.

Father’s Time New Year Traditions has very accessible descriptions of New Year traditions from a ton of different countries.

New Year’s Celebrations From Around The World comes from “Topics” magazine, an online resource specifically for English Language Learners.

Learn about New Year’s Resolutions in this story by the Voice of America Special English.

Read this short passage about New Year celebrations and answer the comprehension questions.

EL Civics has a very accessible New Year’s Lesson.

Mr. Donn has a page with several good informational links on various New Year’s celebrations.

Fact Monster has good material at History Of The New Year.

Here’s an interactive map where you can also learn about New Year’s celebrations around the world.

ESL Home has some very good instructional resources on New Year’s.

The New York Times has a slideshow on the famous New Year’s celebration at TImes Square.

Here’s a very short overview of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration.

How Hashanah Works might be a little challenging for ELL’s, but it has great information that could be modified for classroom use.

BBC Schools has some good information on Rosh Hashanah.

Read this British Council talking story about the Chinese New Year.

The History Channel has an excellent site on the Chinese New Year.

The Honolulu Advertiser has a slideshow on recent local Chinese New Year celebrations.

PBS Kids has a series of Chinese New Year games students can play.

Watch a slideshow of a Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco.

Send a Chinese New Year’s eCard from Blue Mountain or a New Year’s greeting from American Greetings. You can post links to student-created cards on teacher/student webpages.

I’m also adding Chinese New Year Resources From Topmarks, which has a number of accessible materials available.

Chinese New Year is the simple title of a variety of listening exercises from ELLO.

Here are some new Chinese New Year resources for ELL’s from the British Council that I’m adding to this list:

The Great Race, a “talking story.”

See what animal you are based on your birthdate.

Listen to, and read, a song about Chinese New Year.

Ushering In The Year Of The Ox is a slideshow from Radio Free Asia.

Apples 4 The Teacher has a nice interactive that students can use to learn what animal is influencing their life because of the year you were born.

Here’s a similar interactive from the Museum of East Asian Art.

Here are images and videos from the San Francisco Chronicle about a Chinese New Year mini-parade in Chinatown.

EL Civics has developed a Chinese New Year Lesson specifically for English Language Learners.

A New York Times slideshow and a video on the Chinese New Year celebration.

The China Daily has several new slideshows, too, including the Celebration of the Year Of The Ox Around China and Royal Rituals Practiced Ahead of Lunar New Year.

The S.F. Chronicle has a special page filled with slideshows and videos about present and past Chinese New Year celebrations.

The Lunar New Year is the title of a series of photos from The Sacramento Bee.

The Boston Globe’s Big Picture has a great group of photos on Chinese New Year: Welcoming The Ox.

Year Of The Ox is the title of a Wall Street Journal slideshow.

TIME Magazine also has a Chinese New Year slideshow.

MSNBC has a video showing global celebrations of the Chinese New Year.

Here’s an article and short slideshow on a Mien New Year celebration.

Here’s a short passage about Hmong New Year, along with a few comprehension questions.

There’s an annual huge Hmong New Year celebration here in Sacramento.  You can access a large collection of images from previous years here.

CBBC Newsround has images of people celebrating the New Year all around the world.

Here are some classroom materials from Lanternfish.

Here’s an interactive graphic explaining the Persian New Year. The same newspaper, the Orange County Register, has accessible information about several other New Year celebrations and one on the Vietnamese Tet New Year.

The San Jose Mercury News has a musical slideshow on a local Persian New Year celebration.

I’m adding Brainpop’s New Year’s Movie to this list.  You usually need a paid subscription in order to view Brainpop movies, but you can also get a free trial.  However, when I just checked out their New Year’s movie, it was available for free-of-charge.

The Sydney Morning Herald has several slideshows about their local New Year’s celebration.

Ringing In The New Year is a great slideshow from MSNBC showing New Year celebrations from around the world.

The New York Times has an intriguing slideshow about different New Year’s “rituals” from throughout the world. The newspaper also has another slideshow highlighting celebrations, and another one focusing on Times Square.

Cleaning Up After The Party is a New York Times slideshow on…cleaning-up after the Times Square New Year’s Celebration.

Celebrating The Year is the title of a slideshow from Reuters.

Celebrating The New Year is also the title for a series of photos from the Sacramento Bee.

The Sacramento Bee also has a slideshow about local New Year’s celebrations.

The Wall Street Journal also has a nice slideshow showing New Year’s celebrations around the world.

The Sydney Morning Herald also has a similar slideshow.

I’ve gathered some materials about “Watch Night” that I’m adding to this list. Watch Night is particularly celebrated in African-American churches and commemorates when many African-Americans gathered to pray that President Abraham Lincoln would carry out his promise to sign the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863.

Here are two newspaper articles that give more background on the midnight prayer services (you probably have to modify portions to make them more accessible to English Language Learners), and a slideshow from the New York Times.

The Wall Street Journal has a slideshow on Tibetan New Year.

The Sacramento Bee also has a series of images on Tibetan New Year

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.

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