The Tet holiday
Vocabulary
| guess | going to | guess what |
| festival | between | tell/told/told |
| range | greeting | old/older/oldest |
| mark | envelope | wide/wider/widest |
| arrival | spring (2) | important/more important/most important |
| receive | pack (2) | traditional |
| alter | worship | come/came/come |
| grave | ancestor | around the corner |
| sign (3) | respect | homeland |
| loaded | prepare | traditional |
| clean | occasion | buy/bought/bought |
| include | dish (2) | holiday (2) |
| tight | decorate | indispensable |
| fall (3) | blossom | around (2) |
| apricot | custom | practice (2) |
| peach | date (3) | celebration |
| wish | contain | big/bigger/biggest |
| local | goal (2) | good/better/best |
| elders | upcoming | on behalf of |
| guy | trouble | forget/forgot/forgotten |
| hope | reunion | achievement |
| pagoda | inspiration |
Video: The Tet Holiday
Transcript
Hello everyone. I’m Nhu Quynh from IELTS Fighter.
And guess what?
Today I am going to tell you about one of the oldest, biggest, traditional festival in Vietnam. And it also has the widest popular range which is the Tet Holiday.
So Tet marks the arrival of spring, and it’s also the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture, and its date fall between late January or early February.
When Tet comes around the corner, most Vietnamese people often return to the families, to visit the family members, or to worship at the family altar, or to visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland as a sign of respect.
Therefore Tet is also an occasion for family reunions.
Many Vietnamese people prepare for Tet by buying new clothes, cleaning their houses and cooking some traditional, special, holiday food, which includes gio, xoi, canh mang and an indispensable dish — which is banh chung.
Banh chung is tightly packed with sticky rice, meat and mung bean fillings wrapped in dong leaves.
Traditionally every house is decorated by yellow apricot blossoms in the southern and central parts of Vietnam, and peach blossoms in the northern part of Vietnam.
Many customs are practiced around Tet. Children often receive red envelope which contains money from their elders after giving them traditional Tet greetings.
During Tet days, people often visit their relatives and families to wish them all a happy New Year.
Local pagodas are also very popular spots as well, as people go there and wish for a better year to come to the families.
Tet is the occasion that people can actually forget about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year.
On behalf of IELTS Fighter, I wish you guys a year fully loaded with happiness and may this year bring new goals, new achievements and new inspirations in your life.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Questions
Tet Holiday, The New Year. The main idea or theme of this video is traditional Vietnamese cuisine (food). True or false?
Valentine’s Day. Is Tet celebrated from the 31st of December to the 1st of January?
Maslinitsa. During Tet, classmates and school friends celebrate together. Is this right or wrong?
Carnival. How do families prepare for Tet?
Easter Holiday. For the Tet feast, people eat roast turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Is this right or wrong? Do they use knives and forks?
Mother’s Day. Families decorate their homes with Christmas trees. Is this correct or incorrect?
Summer Vacation. Do people exchange gift of toys and clothes?
Labor Day, International Workers’ Day . We celebrate New Years in my town, city, region and country. Yes or no? How do people celebrate New Years?
Halloween. Are there large winter holiday markets and festivities?
Thanksgiving Day. Do you have a favorite color?
Christmas. What might happen in the future?
New Years. What could or should people do?
