Don’t be a fool on April 1

泉州市城东中学陈承雄

TEENS March 28, 2005

Warming up

Do you know the festival April Fools’ day?

How did you spend this festival this day? Did you play tricks on your friends?

If so, can you tell us how you perform your trick? Did it work?

Do you know the origin or history of April Fools’ day?

Some interesting flash cards for April Fool’s Day

Class activityBrain stormInterviewWriting exercisepuppy huntWrite-upreading

Brain storm

Brainstorm several different ideas about how the holiday of April Fools' Day began

Tell it to usWrite it on your notebook

Interview Interview your friends about a

prank or joke that was played on them perhaps on an April Fools' Day and note it down

Read it in class Discuss which jokes might have

been fun for everyone involved and which jokes may not have been so good

The origin or history of April Fool’s dayAncient rootsMedieval rootsAnthropological explanation

Mythological roots

The origin of April Fool’s Day

Throughout France in the early sixteenth century, New Year's Day was observed on March 25, the advent of spring. The celebrations, which included exchanging gifts, ran for a week, terminating with dinners and parties on April 1.

The origin of April Fool’s Day

In 1564, however, in beginning the adoption of the reformed, more accurate Gregorian calendar, King Charles proclaimed that New Year's Day be moved back to January 1. Many Frenchmen who resisted the change, and others who merely forgot about it, continued partying and exchanging gifts during the week ending April 1.

The origin of April Fool’s Day

Jokers ridiculed these conservatives' steadfast attachment to the old New Year's date by sending foolish gifts known as poisson d'avril, or "April fish" (because at that time of year the sun was leaving the zodiacal sign of Pisces, the fish)....

The origin of April Fool’s Day

Years later, when the country was comfortable with the new New Year's date, Frenchmen, fondly attached to whimsical April Fooling, made the practice a tradition in its own right.

Writing exerciseWrite down your own myth about how the April Fool’s Day began.

Try your best to be creativeShare your myth with your classmates

puppet hunt

Group one and group two hide two puppets in the next classroom.Group three and group four search the classroom for these two puppets

Write-up

Write down the process of your hiding the puppets or finding the puppets after classTurn it in in the next class

readingRead the article on newspaper on page 5 within 6 minutesAnswer the exercises

exercise Children in which country celebrate

April Fool’s Day by sticking a paper fish on people’s back?

A. America B. EnglandC. France D. Japan

France

exercise what does “practical jokes” in the

third paragraph mean?• Tricks that are easy to do• tricks played on somebody for

amusement• tricks played on friends• tricks that haven’t been done before

tricks played on somebody for

amusement

exercise According to the passage, which trick is

n’t fun to play on April Fool’s Day?A. Stick a paper fish on someone’s backB. Give someone a confetti showerC. Put a candy worm in someone’s appleD. Give someone a crank call

Give someone a crank call

Extensive reading You can the following website if you

are interested in April Fool’s Day http://www.snopes.com/holidays/

aprilfools/origins.asp http://www.straightdope.com/

mailbag/maprilfool.html http://www.infoplease.com/spot/

aprilfools1.html

Ancient roots

The Saturnalia a Roman winter festival

Holi, known as the festival of color an ancient festival to honor Lud in nor

th Europe, a Celtic god of humor

Medieval roots

Festus Fatuorum (the Feast of Fools) which evolved out of the Saturnalia

medieval figure of the Fool, the symbolic patron saint of the day

Anthropological explanation

festivals marking the Vernal Equinox, or Springtime.

the abundance of fish to be found in French streams and rivers during early April

Mythological roots

Noah's mistake of sending a dove out from the ark before the flood waters had subsided (thereby sending the dove on a fool's errand)

Jesus was sent from Pilate to Herod and back again.

the town of Gotham, the legendary town of fools located in Nottinghamshire

Roman mythology, particularly the myth of Ceres and Proserpina