Guided Composition: A Festival in My Village – JSS1 English Lesson Note (Second Term)

A festival composition is a piece of writing that describes a community event: when it takes place, why it is held and what people do.

• Model passage: describes the Village Festival of a village in Ha Nam, Vietnam.
• When: every two years, on a full moon day in February.
• Three parts: lifting the palanquin with lion dances, traditional games, and a meal with prizes and folk songs.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. state when and why the Village Festival in the passage takes place;
2. name the three parts of the festival;
3. describe the boat race in their own words;
4. explain how the passage is organised from the introduction to the end;
5. compare the festival in the passage with a festival in their own village.

What are the key words in the passage?

Key words are the new or special words a student must understand before reading the passage.

• Festival: a special celebration held by a community, often once a year or at set times.
• Palanquin: a covered seat or platform carried on poles by people in a ceremony.
• Procession: a line of people moving together in an orderly way during a ceremony.
• Communal house: a building where the people of a village meet.
• Tradition: a custom passed down from older people to younger people.
• Harvest: the gathering of crops when they are ripe.
• Folk songs: old songs of a community, passed on by the people.

What does the model passage say?

The model passage is a composition on the Village Festival, written by a student from Ha Nam, a province in the north of Vietnam.

Introduction

I was born in Ha Nam, a province in the north of Vietnam. I am always proud of my hometown, with its hard-working and kind farmers. I feel most proud of my village because of the many traditional festivals that take place every year. One of the most important festivals in my village is the “Village Festival”.

The Village Festival takes place every two years to remind people in the village of the god of the village, who built the village. People often call the god of the village “Thanh Hoang Lang”. This festival takes place on a full moon day in February. There are three parts to the Village Festival.

Part 1: lifting the palanquin and lion dances

The first part of the festival, in which children are the most eager, is lifting the palanquin and the lion dances. On the day of the Village Festival, children often get up early and wear beautiful clothes. Then they go to the communal house of the village to wait for the palanquin. About 7 o’clock, all of the people in the village gather on two sides of the road to see the palanquin pass.

It is believed that children who go under the palanquin on this day will have good health and will study very well. At 8 a.m., the palanquin starts being raised from the village to the village. The palanquin is raised by eight people. Old people in traditional costumes always go in front of the palanquin, and they walk and spread things like coins and pink candles.

My grandma told me that people who pick the pink candles are very lucky. They often put the candles in front of their children’s bed. It is thought that the light of the pink candle will make their children more intelligent and healthier. Therefore they try to get the pink candles.

Lion dances also follow the palanquin. The procession lasts for more than an hour.

Part 2: traditional games

After the procession, people in the village (the old, the young and the children) move quickly to the river to see the next part of the Village Festival, called “traditional games”. Traditional games are the most interesting part of the Village Festival, so villagers always wait for this activity. There are a lot of traditional games in this part, such as boat race, tug of war and wrestling.

One of the most interesting games in the Village Festival is the boat race. Five teams represent the five villages. It is a very proud thing for any village to win the competition. Therefore, every village chooses the strongest man to join the boat race.

In this game, competitors sit on an imperial boat, which has the form of a dragon decorated with different colours. The captains, who stand at the head of the boat, order their team to sail the boat quickly. As soon as the sound of the drum starts, the team begins sailing as fast as they can.

Along two sides of the river, viewers shout encouragement for their home team. The louder the yelling and shouting of the fans is, the more quickly the competitors sail. People who watch from the two sides of the river run after the boat to encourage their team.

The team that sails to the finish the most quickly will be the winner of the game. It is a big pride of the village when its team gets the first prize. Besides the boat race, most people in the village also watch traditional games like tug of war, rice cooking and wrestling. The activities of the traditional games finish at about 1 p.m.

Part 3: the meal, the prizes and folk songs

The last part of the Village Festival is celebrated in the communal house yard after the traditional games. When the traditional games finish, villagers gather in front of the communal house yard to eat a traditional meal and to see which teams get prizes in the traditional games.

From early in the morning, women in the village prepare the materials needed to cook the meal. Women in the village who are good at cooking are often chosen to cook for the Village Festival. At about noon, all the food is shown carefully and spectacularly on the tables in the communal house yard.

On Village Festival day the communal house becomes more crowded. This is a special occasion for people in the village to meet and talk together about their work as well as the harvest. First, the leader of the village announces the results of the traditional games held in the morning. Most people are waiting to hear which teams win the first prize.

It is the pride of the village that wins the first prize. The winners in the traditional games last year will award the prize to the winners this year. Then people sit on their seats and eat the meal, talking happily as they eat.

After the meal, people gather to hear the women in the village sing folk songs. The Village Festival lasts until early in the evening.

Why the festival is still celebrated

Despite the impact of industrialisation, the Village Festival is still celebrated as the cultural and traditional beauty of my village. It reminds the young generation of tradition and originality.

What are the main facts in the passage?

The main facts answer the questions what, where, when, why and how the festival is held.

What are the three parts of the Village Festival?

The Village Festival has three parts, which follow one another through the day.

How is the boat race played?

The boat race is a game in which teams from five villages sail dragon-shaped boats to see which reaches the finish first.

• Teams: five teams, one for each of the five villages.
• Competitors: each village chooses its strongest man to join.
• Boat: an imperial boat in the form of a dragon, decorated with different colours.
• Captain: stands at the head of the boat and orders the team to sail quickly.
• Start: the team begins sailing as soon as the drum sounds.
• Fans: viewers on both sides of the river shout and run after the boat.
• Winner: the team that reaches the finish most quickly wins the first prize.

How is a festival composition organised?

A festival composition is organised in an introduction, a body and an ending.

1. Introduction: the writer names the place and the festival, then says when and why it is held.
2. Body, part 1: the first activity of the day, with the time and the people involved.
3. Body, part 2: the next activity, described in more detail (the boat race in the passage).
4. Body, part 3: the last activity, such as the meal, prizes and songs.
5. Ending: the writer says why the festival is still celebrated today.

What language features should students notice?

Good festival compositions use the right tense, time words and linking words.

• Simple present tense: used for a festival that happens regularly, as in “The festival takes place every two years.”
• Time words: “at 8 a.m.”, “after the procession”, “at about noon” and “until early in the evening” show the order of events.
• Linking words: “then”, “first”, “after”, “besides” and “therefore” join ideas.
• Describing words: “beautiful clothes”, “traditional costumes” and “decorated with different colours” help the reader picture the scene.
• Feelings: “proud” and “eager” show how people feel about the festival.

What are some festivals in Nigeria to write about?

Nigeria has many festivals that students can use for their own composition.

• New Yam festival: celebrated in many communities, including Igbo communities, at the start of the harvest.
• Osun-Osogbo festival: held in Osogbo, Osun State.
• Argungu fishing festival: held in Argungu, Kebbi State.
• Durbar: a procession with horse riders, seen in parts of northern Nigeria.
• Eyo festival: a masquerade procession in Lagos.

How can students plan their own festival composition?

Students plan by answering the same questions the passage answers.

1. Choose a festival in your village or town.
2. Write down its name, the place, the time of year and the reason for it.
3. List the activities in the order they happen.
4. Add times, colours, clothes, food and feelings to each activity.
5. Write an introduction, one paragraph for each part, and an ending.
6. Read the work and correct spelling, tense and punctuation.

Evaluation

1. When does the Village Festival take place, and why is it held?
2. Name the three parts of the festival.
3. Describe the boat race in your own words.
4. Why do people try to pick the pink candles?
5. Form a group of five, study the passage carefully, and compare it with the village festival of your village.

Assignment

Write a composition of three or four paragraphs on a festival in your own village or town. Say when it takes place and why it is held, then describe what people do in each part of the festival.