Contents
=> “The Spirit of Halloween” - an editorial by Kevin
=> “Ghostly Phrases” - vocabulary & gap-fill exercise
=> Links to Halloween Activities
=> Answers to “Ghostly Phrases”
=>”Kalifornia Kasha” - a quick Russia-America activity
=> In the Next issues

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“The Spirit of Halloween” by Kevin
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snoop (v) = to pry into other’s affairs, with sneakiness
morbid (adj) = having a preoccupation with unpleasant thoughts
turnip (n)= the root of a plant, eaten as a vegetable
solemnity = being deeply serious, somber, and grave

Recently I was snooping through some blogs (web logs) of Russians living in California, writing letters to one another in internet forums. One remarked that Halloween was pretty awful. He didn’t like the skeleton pictures. He thought it was morbid.

A couple thousand years ago, the Celtic people, who were living in what’s now Ireland, Britain, and parts of France, celebrated New Year in the beginning of November. They started the year with winter. Why not? You might as well start with the hard part and work toward the nice part.

The end of the year, the end of October, was a time, they felt, when their was a kind of portal opened between the world’s of the dead and the living. They dressed in costumes and made fires. Some carried turnip with candles in them (like today’s jack-o-lanterns) to scare off spirits.

Today’s Halloween in the USA is not really morbid. It’s just about fun.

Down in Mexico, though, they have even more fun. November 1 and 2 are their ‘Dias De Los Meurtos’ — the Days of the Dead. It’s a real party with skeleton costumes, candy skulls, and dancing in the cemeteries. This is a happy time, when lost loved ones return to visit. If they want to honor the dead with joy instead of solemnity, should we blame them?

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“Ghostly Phrases” - vocabulary & gap-fill exercise
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Check these out:

1. a ghost of a chance
3. give up the ghost
4. lay the ghost to rest
5. ghost town

Now use your spiritual intuition to put them into the proper blankets in the sentences below. And like ghosts, they may need to change forms a bit.

1. When we arrived at the party there was almost no one there. “This place is ____________,” Mr. Poosheesty said. Let’s get out of here.

2. In the first half of the game we were dominated by the Black Baron Hockey team. We knew she didn’t have _________________ to win.

3. My father had an old Volga sedan. He drove it for 25 years, until at last it ___________________.

4. The Shaky Lads ping pong team had defeated the Shaky Boys ping pong team 48 times in a row. Finally, in their 49th meeting, the Shaky Boys were victorious, and _____________of their defeats ___________.

Answers after this…

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Links to Earlier Halloween Activities
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Here are links to Halloween material from Earlier issues of “English Teachers in Russian & Elsewhere”:

ETs in Russia #2: Vampire gap-fill funny activity & Scary ‘Y’ adjectives

ETs in Russia #29: Monster Fun-Fill, The Lavender Ghost (poem), Two Witches (poem)

ETs in Russia #48: Pumpkin C-test story Story

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Answers to Ghostly Phrases
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1. When we arrived at the party there was almost no one there. “This place is a ghost town,” Mr. Poosheesty said. Let’s get out of here. = a deserted place

2. In the first half of the game we were dominated by the Black Baron Hockey team. We knew she didn’t have a ghost of a chance to win. = Having almost no chance

3. My father had an old Volga sedan. He drove it for 25 years, until at last it gave up the ghost. = (a) to stop working, (b) to die

4. The Shaky Lads ping pong team had defeated the Shaky Boys ping pong team 48 times in a row. Finally, in their 49th meeting, the Shaky Boys were victorious, and laid the ghosts of their defeats to rest. = to get over something that has been troubling you for a long time

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Kalifornia Kasha
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Although Mr. Poosheesty has not found a Masha, a Sasha, or a Dasha, he has found some kasha. Grechneva kasha. It’s not poplar in the USA, but it can be had. Now and then, he rides his bicycle 9.6 kilometers (round trip) to pick up some kasha.

On October 24th he bought 2.8 pounds of Kasha. He bought it out of a bin, from a serve-yourself row of barrels at a place called Whole Foods.

Give your students the above information on kasha in California, then ask these questions…

1. How much in kasha did he buy in kilograms?
2. How much do you think the kasha cost per pound?
3. What was the kasha called? (Now you will know how kasha is referred to in America).
4. How much did it cost?

Answers
1. 2.8 pounds (1.27 kilos)
2. $1.99 per pound
3. On the bins/barrel it was called “Roasted Buckwheat (Kasha).” On the printed receipt, it was called “ORG BUCKWHEAT GROA.” That’s an abbreviation for “Organic Buckwheat Groats.”

Click for a photo of the kasha and the printed receipt. Teachers who can show the photo to students can ask a whole range of questions: What time did he buy it? Where is the store located? What’s the phone number there? and so on.

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In the Next Few issues
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Two super easy in-class word games.
A Russian celebration in California
More PowerPoint Games (especially for my Saudi friends!)

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Copyright 2005 by Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty