'St. Patrick's Day' photo (c) 2003, David Pursehouse - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

With St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) and April Fool’s Day (April 1st) coming so close together, I thought that it would be good to combine the two in a “The Best…” list.

I don’t mean to be a “party-pooper,” but I have to say that I believe that April Fool’s Day can often be “celebrated” in a way that can seem somewhat cruel.  However, I think it’s important that English Language Learners be aware of it and also learn how to participate in a fun and respectful way.

Here are my picks for The Best Sites For Learning About St. Patrick’s Day and April Fool’s Day (and are accessible to English Language Learners — by the way, these aren’t listed in any order of preference):

ST. PATRICK’S DAY:

There’s a good St. Patrick’s Day Lesson at EL Civics.

5 Minute English has a short article and comprehension questions about the holiday.

MES Games has a vocabulary building activity for St. Patrick’s-related words.

Of course, The History Channel has a great site on the holiday.

Language Lab has a good “text completion” activity for the day.

Learn English Feel Good has a vocabulary quiz.

Activities For ESL Students has a St. Patrick’s Day Quiz.

Renee Maufroid has created a good “Hangman” game about the holiday.

You can send an e-card at Blue Mountain.

ESL Holiday Lessons has a page on St. Patrick’s Day that provides audio support for the text.

Read and listen to a “talking book” about Ireland at Apples 4 The Teacher.

The Boston Globe has images of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The New York Times has a slideshow about the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City.

ESL Courses has multiple St. Patrick’s activities designed for ELL’s.

St. Patrick’s Day in New York City is a slideshow from The New York Times.

Here’s a New York Times video on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in that city.

Fun Facts for St. Patrick

From Visually.

St Patrick’s Day celebrated around the world – in pictures is from The Guardian.

In pictures: millions celebrate St Patrick’s Day around the world is from The Independent.

This Is What St. Patrick’s Day Really Looks Like is a photo gallery from The Atlantic.

By the numbers: St. Patrick’s Day is from CNN.

 

 

Irish Culture on Saint Patrick’s day! is from Informed Teachers.

The Real Irish American Story Not Taught in Schools is by Bill Bigelow.

The History of St. Patrick’s Day is from ESOL Courses.

 

Let’s Have Fun With English has a nice video exercise on St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Patrick’s Day Traditions is an ABC News video:

It’s About Immigrants, Not Irishness. Here’s how it ends: So let’s have one day — March 17 — where the word “immigration” is not immediately followed by the word “problem” in our national conversation. Because that has never, ever been our real immigrant story. St. Patrick’s Day reminds us to celebrate, not despise or fear, immigrants. And the hyphenated-Irish, descendants of the first “immigrants,” ought to lead the parade.

St. Patrick’s celebrations go green is a CNN slideshow.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade is a NY Times slideshow.

St. Patrick’s Day In New York City: 100 PHOTOS From 100 Plus Years Of The Parade (SLIDESHOW) is from The Huffington Post.

Use the text-to-speech feature on Oddcast’s Chatty Leprechaun’s site and you can have a…Leprechaun deliver your message with Irish music in the background.

The email function doesn’t seem to work, but it will give a link that you can send or post on a classroom blog.

St. Patrick’s Day traditions, explained is from Vox.

 

 

Infographic: St. Patrick's Day By The Numbers | Statista You will find more infographics at Statista

APRIL FOOL”S DAY:

You can find a short article with reading comprehension questions about April Fool’s Day at 5 Minute English.

Learn English Feel Good has a vocabulary quiz about the day.

Here’s a relatively simple history of April Fool’s Day.

ESL Holiday Lessons has a lesson on April Fool’s Day that provides audio support for the text.

April Fools! is a lesson from The New York Times Learning Network.

Greetings From the Land of the Make-Believe Species is a slideshow from Smithsonian Magazine. Here are other “hoax” related resources from the magazine.

 

April Fool’s Day in the Classroom: 8 Resources for Teachers is from Edutopia.

YOU DON’T FOOL ME is an ESL Lesson Plan.

6 Q’s About the News | April Fools’ Day is from The New York Times Learning Network.

April Fool’s Day – A Little Bit Of History

 

Here’s an April Fools Day lesson for ELLs.

I’d certainly be interested in hearing other suggestions, so please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

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