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Why
are these important for learning English?
The United States is a
nation of immigrants who have brought many stories and
traditions with them to this country. Some of these are so famous that most Americans simply expect
others to have heard them. In fact, newspapers, movies, and other popular media will
often mention a character, a story, or a person as if it were
simply another word in English. For example, when a sports team
is described as being a Cinderella, they assume that their
readers know who Cinderella was, and that she magically went
from a very difficult life to a life full of love and riches. By
calling a sports team a "Cinderella," they are saying
that the team "magically" went from not knowing how to
win to quickly becoming a champion. This is just one
of many examples of the vocabulary that comes from the shared
knowledge of the most famous stories, characters, and people
that are known throughout the United States. Not all of the
words that people use will be found in the dictionary, but they
will make sense if you learn the background knowledge of the
popular culture.
These stories don't
represent all of the cultures that make up the United States.
There were many great stories and traditions that did not make
this list. Instead, they are simply the most famous ones that
are referred to again and again.
Special thanks to Planaria
Price of Evans Community Adult School (www.realistically-speaking.com)
who taught me this idea and inspired this collection.
Nursery
Rhymes
Children’s
Songs
·
Alphabet
Song
·
America
·
Eency Weency Spider
·
Hokey Pokey
·
It's Raining, It's Pouring
·
London Bridge is Falling Down
·
Mary Had a Little Lamb
·
Old
McDonald had a Farm
·
Over the River
·
Rock-a-bye,
baby,/In the tree top...
·
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
·
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
·
Yankee Doodle
Children’s
Jokes
There
are thousand of jokes that children love to tell each other.
Many of the most popular ones can be found here
, here
and here.
·
Why did the
chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.
·
Knock Knock
jokes
Traditional
Fairy Tales and Stories
These
stories are traditional folktales and fairy tales that have been
told again and again in many cultures, each having a slightly
different way of telling them, but the basic idea remains the
same.
·
Aladdin
And The Magic Lamp
·
Beauty
And The Beast (many other versions here)
·
Chicken
Little (New stories that refer to Chicken Little: here,
here,
here,
here,
and here)
·
Cinderella
(many
other versions) (References here,
here,
here,
here,
and here)
·
Emperor’s
New Clothes (Many
Versions)
·
Goldilocks
and The Three Bears (cultural references here)
·
Hansel
And Grettel
·
Jack
And The Beanstalk
·
Little
Red Riding Hood (cultural references here
·
Princess
And The Pea (cultural references here
and here)
·
Rapunzel
·
Rumpelstiltzkin
·
Snow-White
·
Stone
Soup (many
versions of the story) (cultural references here,
here, here,
here, and here)
·
The
Boy Who Cried Wolf (cultural references here,
here,
and here)
·
The
Frog Prince (cultural references here,
here
, and here)
·
The
Goose With The Golden Egg
·
The
Lion And The Mouse
·
The
Sleeping Beauty
·
The
Story Of Chicken-Licken
(Cultural reference here)
·
The
Three Little Pigs (many
other versions)
·
The
Tortoise and the Hare
·
The
Ugly Duckling (cultural references here)
·
The
Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing (many references here)
For
More Traditional American
Folklore, click here. and here
and here
Popular
children’s
picture books
100
Picture Books Everyone Should Now (According to the New York
Public Library)
Several
Books that I am surprised were left off the list:
-
Cat
In The Hat by Dr. Seuss
-
Green
Eggs And Ham by Dr. Seuss
-
Tikki
Tikki Tembo
-
Strega
Nona by Tomie de Paola
-
The
Giving Tree by Shel Silvestein
-
The
Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Popular
Children’s Chapter Books
·
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis
Carrol
·
Charley and the Chocolate
Factory
·
Charlotte’s Web by E.B.
White
·
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
·
Little House on the Prairie by
Laura Ingalls Wilder
·
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
·
Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
Popular
Books that Teenagers and Young Adults Read in School
·
12 Angry Men
·
1984 by George Orwell
·
Animal Farm by George Orwell
·
Brave New World by Aldous
Huxley
·
Don Quixote by Miguel
Cervantes
·
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
·
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
·
Lord of the Flies by William
Golding
·
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
·
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
·
Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare
·
The Adventures of Huckleberry
Fin by Mark Twain
·
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
·
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
·
The Scarlet Letter by
Nathaniel Hawthorne
·
To Kill a Mockingbird by
Harper Lee
·
Treasure Island by Robert
Louis Stevenson
101
Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers
Movies
For
more movie help, go to Movie Guide for ESL students and teachers
|
Animated
Movies
(these
movies all came
from traditional stories)
|
Family
Movies
|
Scary
Movies
|
|
·
Bambi
|
·
E.T.
|
·
Jaws
|
|
·
Cinderella
|
·
It’s A Wonderful
Life
|
·
Psycho
|
|
·
Peter Pan
|
·
Robin Hood
|
|
|
·
Pinocchio
|
·
Star Wars
|
|
|
·
Sleeping Beauty
|
·
The Sound Of Music
|
|
|
·
Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs
|
·
The
Wizard Of Oz
|
|
Popular
Fictional Characters: Who are they?
(compiled
from this list and
this list)
|
·
Alice
in Wonderland
|
·
Bambi
|
·
Barbie
and Ken
|
·
Batman
|
|
·
Big
Brother
|
·
Big
Foot
|
·
Bugs
Bunny
|
·
Captain
Ahab
|
|
·
Captain
Kirk and Mr. Spock
|
·
Cat
in the Hat
|
·
Charlie
Brown
|
·
Cinderella
|
|
·
Cupid
|
·
Don
Juan
|
·
Don
Quixote
|
·
Dorothy
(Wizard of Oz)
|
|
·
Dr
Frankenstein's Monster
|
·
Dr
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
|
·
Dracula
|
·
Ebenezer
Scrooge
|
|
·
G
I Joe
|
·
Godzilla
|
·
Hamlet
|
·
Hansel
and Gretel
|
|
·
Harry
Potter
|
·
Hercules
|
·
Jack
Bauer
|
·
James
Bond
|
|
·
Jim
Crow
|
·
Joe
Camel
|
·
John
Doe/Jane Doe
|
·
Kermit
the Frog
|
|
·
King
Kong
|
·
Loch
Ness Monster (Nessie)
|
·
Luke
Skywalker
|
·
Mermaids
|
|
·
Mickey
Mouse
|
·
Nancy
Drew
|
·
Oedipus
|
·
Pandora
|
|
·
Paul
Bunyan
|
·
Peter
Pan
|
·
Pied
Piper
|
·
Pinocchio
|
|
·
Prince
Charming
|
·
Robin
Hood
|
·
Robinson
Crusoe
|
·
Romeo
and Juliet
|
|
·
Santa
Claus (St Nick)
|
·
Sherlock
Holmes
|
·
Smokey
The Bear
|
·
Spiderman
|
|
·
St.Valentine
|
·
Superman
|
·
Tarzan
|
·
The
American Cowboy
|
|
·
The
Easter Bunny
|
·
The
Little Engine That Could
|
·
The
Marlboro Man
|
·
The
Simpsons
|
|
·
The
Stork
|
·
The
Tooth Fairy
|
·
Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
|
·
Trolls
|
|
·
Ugly
Duckling
|
·
Uncle
Sam
|
·
Uncle
Tom
|
·
Unicorns
|
|
·
Winnie
the Pooh
|
·
|
·
|
·
|
Family
Games
|
Board
Games
|
Cards
|
|
·
Backgammon
|
·
21
|
|
·
Boggle
|
·
Concentration (Memory)
|
|
·
Catch-Phrase
|
·
Crazy Eights
|
|
·
Checkers
|
·
Gin
|
|
·
Chess
|
·
Go Fish
|
|
·
Chinese Checkers
|
·
Hearts
|
|
·
Clue
|
·
Old Maid
|
|
·
Cranium
|
·
Poker
|
|
·
Dominoes
|
·
Rummy
|
|
·
Life
|
·
War
|
|
·
Memory
|
|
|
·
Monopoly
|
|
|
·
Operation
|
|
|
·
Pictionary
|
|
|
·
Risk
|
|
|
·
Scrabble
|
|
|
|
·
Sorry
|
|
|
|
·
Uno
|
|
|
|
|
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American
History and Government
·
The
US 50: A Study Guide to the 50 States of the United States
·
U.S.
History lesson plans for instructors
·
A
short History of America in pictures
by Robert Crumb
·
Freedom:
A History of the U.S.
·
HistoryBuff:
A collection of historical newspapers and facts about the United
States
·
U.S.
History
·
Picturing
America: Memorable
Images of the United States
·
America’s
Story from America’s Library
·
Immigration:
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: A webquest of U.S. immigration
·
Immigration
·
Office of Immigration Statistics:
Statistics
·
Immigration:
More links then you would ever want on U.S. immigration
·
Legends
of America
·
History of Japanese American Internment:
A | More | Perfect | Union
,
Farewell to Manzanar and
Face to Face
Famous
People
·
100
Most Influential People of 2008 (According to Time Magazine)
·
100
Most Influential People in American History (According to the
Atlantic)
·
100
Most Influential Religious People (According to Adherents.com)
·
100
Most Influential People in World History (According to author
Michael H. Hart)
Holidays
·
11
Federal (Government) Holidays
·
A
guide to the history of major national and religious U.S.
Holidays
|
