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MOTHER'S DAY & FATHER'S DAY VOCABULARY (ESL)

level: Beginner/Intermediate (A2/B1)

Mother's Day and Father's Day are celebrated in many countries to honour parents and their contributions to family life. This exercise covers the vocabulary for both holidays.

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1. Mother's Day is a holiday, celebrated in many countries around the world, that honors mothers and (motherhood/moms).

2. Traditionally on this day, mothers receive a (bouquet/collection) of flowers, a gift, a greeting card, or a combination of these things.

3. According to a recent survey, in the United States, Mother's Day is the most popular day to dine (outside/out) in a restaurant. Taking one's mother out to a restaurant (senses/seems) to be a very popular present.

4. The holiday exists thanks to the (efforts/action) of Anna Jarvis, an American woman who campaigned to create a special holiday for mothers. She was (success/successful), and this version of the holiday later spread to other countries.

5. Father's Day is a (relatively/relative) recent holiday. In the United States it was only officially recognized in 1972.

6. Soon after the (creativity/creation) of Mother's Day (1922), a woman named Sonora Dodd promoted the idea of a national holiday to honor fathers.

7. Dodd's idea had (limited/limiting) success at the time, but eventually it (went/caught) on and became an official holiday.

8. These days fathers usually receive typically (masculine/muscular) gifts such as electronics and tools, as well as greeting cards.

9. An even more (recent/recently) holiday is "National Grandparents Day", which only obtained official (status/state) in the United States in 1978, and in Canada in 1995. Sadly, in North America this holiday is not as popular as Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Mother's Day & Father's Day Conversation Questions 1. How do you celebrate Mother's Day or Father's Day in your family?
2. What is the best gift you have ever given or received for one of these occasions?
3. How would you describe the most important qualities of a good parent?
4. Are Mother's Day and Father's Day celebrated in your country? When and how?
5. Do you think these holidays have become too commercial? Why or why not?
6. What is something you learned from a parent or parental figure that has stayed with you?

Did you know? The modern Mother's Day was founded by Anna Jarvis in the United States. After her own mother died in 1905, Jarvis campaigned for an official holiday to honour mothers. It was first celebrated in 1908 and became a U.S. national holiday in 1914. Ironically, Jarvis later came to deeply regret the commercialisation of the holiday she created, spending much of her later life fighting against the greeting card and flower industries.

Father's Day was inspired by Mother's Day and first celebrated in 1910 in Spokane, Washington, organised by Sonora Smart Dodd in honour of her father, a Civil War veteran who raised six children alone. It became a U.S. national holiday in 1972.