When I asked the students what important U.S. holiday was approaching, the only response they could think of was “Black Friday.” I was a little surprised at the time until I realized images and videos of "Black Friday" would be more plentiful than those of Thanksgiving.
They learned about dense material such as the way that we currently portray the “First Thanksgiving” with Pilgrims and Native Americans, and the way that it actually occurred. Typically it is shown that both groups are enjoying the company of the others, when actually they were just trying to be tolerant to prevent conflict. Paintings done by U.S. American artists at the time present an idea that the Pilgrims were the ones assisting the Native Americans, instead of a symbiotic relationship.
I also discussed lighter subjects such as Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the traditional NFL games on played on the 4th Thursday of every November. They easily recognized the parade balloons of Spiderman and Mickey Mouse. Also the students should now know the difference between a rugby ball and an American football, after showing them the Charlie Brown balloon carrying the latter.
Of course the food is one of the most important parts of Thanksgiving, and it seemed that not many were surprised when I showed the amount that U.S. Americans eat on this holiday. Many of the foods can be found here in Spain, but there are also some that are unique to the United States as well.
Below is a short video of the history of how Thanksgiving came to be.
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