Tonight we begin a new series: the great holidays of the United States. And the biggest summer holiday of all is the Fourth of July, Independence Day: the birthday of the country.
Learn from Songs · Festivals: American Holidays · Part 1 of 3 · A1–A2
Independence Day: The Star-Spangled Banner
Part 1 of the American Holidays series: the Fourth of July, with fireworks, parades, flags and picnics, and the national anthem of the United States. Dates and ordinal numbers (the Fourth of July, the first, the second), numbers and colours (thirteen red and white stripes, fifty white stars), can see / can hear, and holiday words, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
A birthday? With a cake?
SOPHIA
With fireworks, Marcos! And parades, flags, hot dogs and picnics. Our song is the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, about a flag seen at dawn after a long night of battle.
DEMETRIA
Stars and stripes! I know that flag.
Before you listen: the song
The United States, the Fourth of July
On 4 July 1776, thirteen British colonies in America signed the Declaration of Independence and became the United States of America. Every year on the Fourth of July, Americans celebrate their country’s birthday. There are parades with bands, picnics and barbecues in parks, games, and at night big fireworks. People wear red, white and blue, the colours of the flag.
The American flag is called the Stars and Stripes. It has thirteen red and white stripes, one for each of the first thirteen states, and fifty white stars on a blue square, one for each state today.
Our song: in 1814, during a war with Britain, a lawyer called Francis Scott Key watched British ships attack Fort McHenry in Baltimore all night. In the morning he could see the American flag still flying, and he wrote a poem about it. It was sung to an old English tune, and in 1931 it became the national anthem. Its words are old and difficult, so we read them with a glossary below.
A birthday is a good day to remember where you come from.
The Star-Spangled Banner (first verse)
Francis Scott Key (1779–1843)
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Words in the poem
dawn: the first light of the morning
hailed: greeted, saluted
twilight: the light just after sunset
gleaming: shining
perilous: very dangerous
o’er: over
ramparts: the walls of a fort
gallantly: bravely, proudly
streaming: flying in the wind
glare: a strong, bright light
proof: something that shows it is true
banner: a flag
star-spangled: covered with stars
yet: still
Listen: the anthem
PHILO
Listen to the anthem. Is it fast or slow? Happy or proud? Read the first verse below: what can the singer see at dawn?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A.
🎆 Listen to the song: “The Star-Spangled Banner” (words by Francis Scott Key, 1814).Find a recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Francis Scott Key.Read the lyrics →
Dates and ordinal numbers
MARCOS
The Fourth of July. The first of May. The twenty-fifth of December. My birthday is on the second of March.
SOPHIA
Ordinals: first, second, third, fourth, fifth… twentieth, twenty-first. Say: the Fourth of July or July the Fourth. Write: 4 July or July 4.
Numbers and colours
DEMETRIA
The flag has thirteen red and white stripes and fifty white stars on a blue square.
SOPHIA
Number + colour + noun: thirteen red stripes. Careful: thirteen (13) and thirty (30); fifteen (15) and fifty (50).
Can see, can hear
PHILO
I can see the fireworks! I can hear the band! Can you see the flag? Yes, I can.
SOPHIA
can + see / hear / smell for what we notice now. Holiday words: a parade, a band, a flag, fireworks, a picnic, a barbecue, a hot dog, a holiday, a birthday.
Sophia’s comparison: festivals of freedom
PHILO
Our festival of freedom is Passover: every year we remember how our people left slavery in Egypt. We eat special food and tell the story to the children, so that every generation remembers.
SOPHIA
And the Athenians still celebrate the day they defeated the Persians at Marathon, which kept their city free. Free peoples love to remember the day they became free.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| first, second, third, fourth | ordinal numbers for dates | the Fourth of July |
| thirteen / thirty, fifteen / fifty | numbers | thirteen stripes, fifty stars |
| number + colour + noun | describing | thirteen red and white stripes |
| can see / can hear | noticing | I can see the fireworks! |
| parade, fireworks, flag, picnic | holiday words | There’s a parade in the street. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. When is Independence Day?
2. What happened in 1776?
3. How many stripes does the flag have?
4. How many stars?
5. Who wrote the words of the anthem?
6. What did he see in the morning?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. Independence Day is on the of July. (4th)
8. My birthday is on the of March. (2nd)
9. The flag has stripes. (13)
10. There are stars. (50)
11. I can the fireworks!
12. Can you the band? Yes, I can.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “Independence Day is on the four of July.”
14. “The flag has thirteen red and white stripes.”
15. “I can to see the fireworks.”
16. “There are fifty stars on the flag.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Birthdays. Ask your partner: When is your birthday? When is your country’s national day? Answer with ordinal numbers.
Talk. 1. What is your country’s national day? What do people do? 2. Describe your country’s flag. 3. Do you like fireworks?
Write (60–80 words). A Fourth of July party. Describe the party: what you can see and hear, the date, the flag, and the food.