Notting Hill Carnival - August, 24 and 25 2014 - What's your favourite Carnival?

Colours, music, stalls, floats and costumes. The  biggest European  street festival  is held in London in August.

London's Afro-Caribbean communities have celebrated their traditions since 1964 but learn more about this festival clicking on the following Blendspace lesson I prepared for you:

Notting Hill Carnival

SOME ESL RESOURCES

Notting Hill Worksheets and Printables

http://www.eslprintables.com/cinema_and_television/movies/drama_movies/notting_hill/

http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/pdf/index.pl?read=1937

Carnival vocabulary

Practice some Carnival vocabulary, and then take the test at:

http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-90943.php

ESL Resources on Carnivals around the World

The most famous carnivals:

http://www.michellehenry.fr/carnivals.htm

A Video Quiz: Carnivals from around the world:

http://www.eslvideo.com/esl_video_quiz_low_intermediate.php?id=15668

The most famous Italian Carnivals

Have a look at the following information I've put on Thinglink about  three famous Italian Carnival cities. Moreover I've added on Thinglink some videos I've mixed up with Metta. Enjoy!

YOUR TASK

What's your favourite Carnival? Do you celebrate Carnival in your country or city? Write an essay about some particular traditions or masks that characterize your country or city's Carnival.

Carnival in Italy

 

Carnival  occurs just before Lent and typically involves street  parades. People often dress up or masquerade during Carnival celebrations and parties.

In this post I'm showing you three important Italian Carnivals.

 

The Carnival of Venice (Veneto)

was first recorded in the 13th century but Venice has only been "the city of Carnival" since the 18th century, when people from all over Europe came to its fantastic parties. Recently there has been a great revival of the Venetian carnival. In the city there are a lot of parties, dancing and costumes parades. 

The Carnival of Viareggio  (Tuscany)

It was born in 1873 as a masquerade event for the rich bourgeois in their discontent at having to pay a too-high tax price. Through the course of time its principal characteristic has become its enormous, animated papier-mache floats. On these floats that parade along the coast of Viareggio, big caricatures of the political, cultural and showbiz names dominate.

The Carnival  of Putignano (Apulia)

is famous for the spectacular parade of papier-mache floats. It starts the day after Christmas and finishes the day before the ash Wednesday.
The figure that represents the Carnival of Putignano is "Farinella". The name derives from Farinella, a chickpea and barley flour which is the ancient food of country workers.

In July  there is a 'summer edition' of the Carnival. 

Have a look at the following information I've put on Thinglink about these three Italian cities. Moreover I've added on Thinglink some videos I've mixed up with Metta. Enjoy!

 

View the presentation:

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/488041961006039040 
(once you open Thinglink, click on the links of the image)

 

And now, could you find some information about some other famous carnivals in the world? You could  make a presentation using some of the tools I showed you! Have fun!