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Additional Lessons |
 About These
Lessons
The following classroom lessons are great for students
who want additional listening and reading practice. |
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Travel America -
Beginner
Level. Do you love America and American
English? Learn before you travel. Facts and other
cool stuff about your favorite U.S. state. Great
English reading practice.
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 Travel
America - Texas
(Beginner -
Reading)
Learn some interesting facts and read interesting
stories about Texas. |
 Texas
The Republic of Texas achieved its independence from
Mexico in 1836, the same year as the famous siege of
the Alamo in which pioneers Jim Bowie and Davy
Crockett were slain. The "Lone Star State" was the
28th state to join the Union, admitted in 1845. The
name Texas is a Spanish name, which comes from an
Indian word meaning "friends" or "allies." Texas is
the second-largest state in the Union in area, after
Alaska. Although it has a wild, frontier history,
today Texas is a major producer of oil and has
important centers of industry and finance. A Texas
state historian has said that the state flower, the
bluebonnet, "is to Texas what the shamrock is to
Ireland." |
Texas
State Flag
The Texas state flag is the 1839 National flag of
the Republic of Texas, which features the famous Lone Star
(also seen on the Texas state seal and the U.S. mint's
commemorative quarter for Texas). The red, white, and blue
of the state flag of Texas represent bravery, purity and
loyalty.
Six different national flags have flown over Texas
representing the countries which have ruled it (France,
Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States
of America, and the United States of America). Texans
proudly wave all six official flags for public displays and
expositions.
A rarely-mentioned seventh flag flew over the new Republic
of Texas for three years, beginning in 1836. The flag had a
blue field with a single gold star in the center, fashioned
after the flag of the short-lived Republic of West Florida.
That flag symbolized independence and was later used by the
Confederate States of America as the "Bonnie Blue Flag;" the
lone star remains on the official Texas flag of today (the
gold star now white). |
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Source:
State Symbols USA |
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 Texas
State Facts
Picture: state seal of Texas |
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State Capital |
Austin |
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Nickname |
Lone Star State |
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Motto |
Friendship |
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Statehood |
December 29, 1845 (28th) |
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Origin of Name |
Based on a word used by Caddo Indians meaning
"friends" |
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Largest Cities |
Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, Austin |
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Border States |
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma |
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Area |
261,914 sq. mi.; 2nd largest |
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State Bird |
Mockingbird |
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State Flower |
Bluebonnet (lupinus) |
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State Tree |
Pecan (carya illinoensis) |
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State Song |
Texas, Our Texas |
 Travel and
tourism site for Texas - This state travel and
territorial tourism site provides ideas for your vacations,
meetings, and more. |
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Texas Stories |
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Los Matachines de la Santa Cruz
The people wearing those beautiful costumes in the photo are doing a
type of dance that has been done for more than a century. The
dancers are part of "Los Matachines de la Santa Cruz," a traditional
Mexican dance group that is active in Laredo, Texas. Many of the
dancers are actually descendants of former dancers who are
continuing this old tradition, which has existed for more than 100
years.
The group specializes in a type of religious dance-drama called
matachine that honors the Holy Cross and the Virgin Mary --
important symbols for Catholics and other faiths. The dance begins
by removing the cross from its normal resting spot in a chapel and
placing it on a wheeled pedestal outdoors. A drum and an accordion
start to play. Dancers wearing brightly decorated velvet skirts
perform in front of the cross. They carry carrizos, six-inch
sections of bamboo that make a unique musical sound as they dance.
The dance is part of a traditional fiesta that includes feasting,
prayer and displays of textiles and folk literary arts. |
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Texas Rose Festival: A Legacy of Roses
Have you ever heard the expressions "Smelling like a rose" and
"Everything's coming up roses?" They mean that something good has
happened, because roses are so beautiful and smell so good. Have you
ever smelled a rose? They are fragrant, colorful flowers with thorny
stems and exist in many varieties.
Texas is known for its roses. Since 1933, the Texas Rose Festival in
Tyler has celebrated the beauty and scent of roses. Inspired by a
new agricultural industry, civic-minded leaders and the women of the
Tyler Garden Club created the Texas Rose Festival to promote the
rose industry, build tourism, celebrate volunteerism, and instill
community pride. The four-day festival offers a Queen's Coronation,
a Rose Show, a Queen's Tea, and a Rose Parade.
After a plague wiped out the area's peach crops, rose growing in
Tyler began on a small scale in the early 1900s. Rose plantings
increased each year, and business boomed.
Tyler roses are famous. In 1968, Tyler "Apache Belle" roses were
given to Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson, and
they now grow in the White House Rose Garden. |
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Buccaneer Days in Corpus Christi
Every year the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, is captured by
dangerous pirates!
But these pirates are actually hired by the city to help celebrate
Buccaneer Days -- the opening days of the summer beach season in
Corpus Christi. Buccaneers are pirates who used to sail in the Gulf
and attack Spanish ships, other merchants and settlements in the
area during the 1600s. Today, the Buccaneers sail in, capture the
mayor and force him to walk the plank as he announces the arrival of
Buccaneer Days!
Held for over 60 years, Buccaneer Days now draws more than 1.2
million people to its 24-day celebration. Fun-filled days of rodeos,
races, rides, and carnival games help raise funds to finance
scholarships and many other civic programs. In addition, a national
orchestral music festival brings the participation of more than
6,000 children. |
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Juneteenth Celebration
Do you know what Juneteenth is?
It is the name for a holiday celebrating June 19, 1865, the day when
Union soldiers arrived in Texas and spread the word that President
Lincoln had delivered his Emancipation Procalamation. News traveled
so slowly in those days that Texas did not hear of Lincoln's
Proclamation, which he gave on January 1, 1863, until more than two
years after it was issued!
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within
the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." Thus,
the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied
only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery
untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted
parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern
control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union
military victory.
Although Juneteenth has been informally celebrated each year since
1865, it wasn't until June 3, 1979, that Texas became the first
state to proclaim Emancipation Day (Juneteenth) an official state
holiday. But it is much more than a holiday. Juneteenth has become a
day for African Americans to celebrate their freedom, culture, and
achievements. It is a day for all Americans to celebrate African
American history and rejoice in their freedom. |
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Athens Fiddlers Contest and Reunion
Have you ever seen a fiddle? A fiddle is an early version of the
violin -- it is a medieval European instrument with a neck, a
rounded shape and three to five strings with tuning pegs on the
front or back to tighten or loosen the strings. The girl in the
photo is only 8 years old, but she plays the fiddle well enough to
be in the Athens, Texas, Fiddlers Contest and Reunion.
The people of east Texas love a good fiddle tune. That's why so many
of them gather every year for this event. The reunion is a chance
for fiddling friends to catch up with each other, and the contest is
a chance for fiddlers to show their stuff. Contestants range in age
from 11 to well over 65. They are judged on their style and skill,
and, most important, on how closely they re-create old-time fiddle
music -- the music that gave courage to starving troops of soldiers
at Valley Forge during the American Revolution, earned devoted
admirers like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, and today
continues to delight millions. |
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Sam Houston and the Battle for Texas
Independence
"Remember the Alamo" is a well-known phrase. Do you know what it
means?
Sam Houston had already served in the U.S. House of Representatives
and as governor of Tennessee when he moved to Texas in 1832. At the
time he arrived, Texas was part of Mexico and the site of rising
tensions and violent disturbances between Mexican authorities and
Anglo settlers from the United States. Voicing his support for a
separate state of Texas, Houston emerged as a leader among the
settlers. In 1835, he was chosen commander in chief of the Texas
army.
The Alamo was an 18th century Franciscan Mission in San Antonio,
Texas, which was the location of an important battle for Texans
fighting for independence from Mexico. In 1836, a small group of
Texans was defeated by Mexican General Santa Anna.
When Houston received word of the defeat at the Alamo, he was
inspired to begin a month-long retreat to regroup and replenish the
Texas army's strength. Remembering how badly the Texans had been
defeated at the Alamo, on April 21, 1836, Houston's army won a quick
battle against the Mexican forces at San Jacinto and gained
independence for Texas. Soon after, Houston was elected president of
the Republic of Texas. He continued to serve as senator and governor
after Texas became part of the United States in 1845.
Sam Houston died in 1863 in Huntsville, Texas, where a 67-foot-tall
memorial statue of him now stands. After a lifetime of service to
his country, the event for which he is most well known is his role
in the independence of Texas. |
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The History of the Salt Grass Trail Ride
You might not think that an 88-year-old woman could handle a 70-mile
trail ride, but that's exactly what Atha Marks Dimon did in 1999
during the Salt Grass Trail Ride in Texas.
By going on the ride Atha was following in her father's footsteps
many years earlier. In the 19th century, pioneer cattlemen herded
their cattle to Houston up from the salt grass pastures on the Gulf
Coast of Texas, where their cattle had been grazing and fattening
up. Times change, and since 1900, cattlemen have not needed to herd
their cattle across the open land; instead they use trains.
In 1952, four old-time cowmen decided to stage a re-enactment and
joined a group of people on the first Salt Grass Trail Ride. One of
those four cowmen was E.H. Marks. In 1999, Marks's daughter, Atha
Marks Dimon (at the age of 88), her daughter Athene, her grandson
Boyd Vaughan, and great-grandson Reagan Vaughan, rode the Salt Grass
Trail -- 70 miles from Brenham to Houston -- in memory of the
original cattlemen.
The people that have gone on the trail ride include bankers, fire
fighters, even middle school students. The trail ride has caught on,
and now more than 6,000 riders participate. |
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Source:
Library of Congress |
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 National
Forests, Parks, and Monuments of Texas
The following is a description of national
forests, parks, and monuments in the state
of Texas. If you plan to visit or live in
Texas for awhile then you should definitely
plan to visit some of these fantastic
places. |
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National Forests |
 Angelina
Primarily longleaf, loblolly, and shortleaf
pine, the forest includes two wilderness
areas and borders the Sam Rayburn Reservoir.
The forest provides habitat for the
endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and
wintering habitat for bald eagles. |
 Davy
Crockett
Located where the southeastern pine forests
meet the blackland prairies of central
Texas, Davy Crockett National Forest's Big
Slough Wilderness consists primarily
hardwood forest. A recreation area surrounds
Ratcliff Lake, which covers 45 acres (18
ha). |
 Sabine
Sabine National Forest borders the western
side of Toledo Bend Reservoir and has 28 mi
(45 km) of trails. The forest's only
wilderness area is the Indian Mounds
Wilderness. Old-growth forest can be found
in the wilderness and at Mill Creek Cove
along the reservoir's shores. |
 Sam
Houston
Part of the Lone Star Trail travels through
Sam Houston National Forest, which borders
parts of Lake Conroe and Lake Livingston.
The Little Lake Creek Wilderness is the only
wilderness area in the forest. |
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National Parks |
 Big
Bend
Named for the prominent bend in the Rio
Grande along the U.S.–Mexico border, this
park encompasses a large and remote part of
the Chihuahuan Desert. Its main attraction
is backcountry recreation in the arid Chisos
Mountains and in canyons along the river. A
wide variety of Cretaceous and Tertiary
fossils as well as cultural artifacts of
Native Americans also exist within its
borders. |
 Guadalupe
Mountains
This park contains Guadalupe Peak, the
highest point in Texas, as well as the
scenic McKittrick Canyon filled with
bigtooth maples, a corner of the arid
Chihuahuan Desert, and a fossilized coral
reef from the Permian era. |
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National Monuments |
 Alibates
Flint Quarries
Alibates was the quarry site for
high-quality, rainbow-hued flint that was
distributed throughout the Great Plains in
pre-Columbian times. It is jointly operated
with the Lake Meredith National Recreation
Area and includes the ruins of several
Plains Village Indian dwellings. |
 Military
Working Dog Teams
The monument, located at Lackland Air Force
Base, the home of the U.S. Department of
Defense Military Working Dog Program, honors
the efforts and sacrifices of military
working dogs in the service of the United
States. |
 Waco
Mammoth
The Waco Mammoth National Monument is a
paleontological site and museum in Waco,
Texas, United States where fossils of
twenty-four Columbian mammoths (Mammuthus
columbi) and other mammals from the
Pleistocene Epoch have been uncovered. The
site is the largest known concentration of a
single herd of mammoths dying from the same
event, which is believed to have been a
flash flood. A local partnership developed
around the site after the initial bone was
discovered. |
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Travel America |
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Big Bend National Park
(Beginner - Listening,
reading)
A video lesson which shows you an interesting place in America.
The English is
spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Great English listening and reading practice.
This video is all about Big Bend National Park. |
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
(Beginner - Listening,
reading)
A video lesson which shows you an interesting place in America.
The English is
spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Great English listening and reading practice.
This video is all about Guadalupe Mountains National Park. |
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Travel
America
Do you love America and American English? Learn before
you travel. Facts and other cool stuff about your
favorite U.S. state. Visit the Fun Easy English Travel
America pages. Read about the beautiful National
Forests, Parks, and Monuments. Great English reading practice. |
 Drive America
Planning to drive in America? Learn the rules and
regulations. Great English reading practice. |
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