Happy New Year!

How did you ring in 2017? People have different New Year’s traditions around the world. The video zooms in on a famous one.

Read the following words and phrases and their definitions.

• annual - happening once a year
• nationwide - all over the nation or country
• possum - buidelrat
• get the ball rolling - get an activity, process, event, tradition, etc. started
• de-calibrate - lose calibration (exact adjustment) and therefore become less accurate
• eventually - in the end; at some later time
• fast-forward - move forward through time quickly
• opt for - choose for

First read the assignment. Next watch the video. Take notes to help you do the assignment.

1. Name three North American New Year’s Eve traditions.


2. When did the Royal Navy start using the ball on a flag pole to set their clocks?


3. Who started the tradition of celebrating New Year’s Eve on Times Square?


4. In what year was the first New Year’s Eve ball dropped on Times Square?


5. What was different in 1942 and 1943? And why?

Extra listening assignments (A2)

Click here for a previous video plus assignment on the celebration at Times Square.

Watch this, this or this previous video plus assignments on New Year’s resolutions (and how to keep them).