1А. Read the article and complete the paragraph plan.
Valencia, Spain, is a town of under a million people, but from 15th to 19th of March it is full of visitors; almost three million of them! The reason is Las Fallas, which means ‘the fires’ in Valencian. This is the local festival that celebrates the end of winter.
Preparations for the festival last for over six months, as hundreds of people are busy constructing extremely big floats, called «ninots». When it’s close to the time of the festival, they place the «ninots» at different places around the city.
When the festival begins, the city becomes one big, celebratory street party! Happy people in funny-looking, colourful outfits or traditional costumes spend the days and nights exploding smoke bombs and firecrackers and dancing to loud music. There are also very beautiful fireworks displays every night. The festival ends on the night of 19th March, when people burn the «ninots».
Las Fallas is truly an amazing celebration, which leaves anyone who has attended the festivities exhausted, but happy they were part of the fiesta.
1В. Read the article again and find words or phrases describing:
People’s clothes: funny-looking, colourful outfits or traditional costumes
Feelings: exhausted, but happy
2. Replace the highlighted words/phrases in the text with the ones below, as in the example.
• stunning • cheerful • festive • huge • crowded with
3А. Think of a popular national or local celebration in your country and make notes under these headings:
3В. Now, use these notes to write a short paragraph (60-70 words) describing what happens during the day of the event.