English for Conversations about TRADITIONS – Questions, Answers, Vocab

Do you have any interesting or unusual traditions in your country or culture?
This lesson will help you speak more confidently in real English conversations on the topic of traditions!

Questions about traditions in your country

Here are some questions you should be ready for on the topic of traditions:

• What traditions is your country famous for?
• What traditions are common in your country?
• Are there any traditions in your country that might seem unusual to outsiders?
• Are there any traditions in your country that people no longer follow?

Talking about annual traditions

Some traditions or rituals (like eating birthday cake) only happen once a year. In natural English, we often use these phrases to talk about these:

In my country,

• we often
• people often
• it’s traditional to
• it’s customary to
• one of our traditions is to
• one of our customs is to
• one thing we like to do is
  
  • eat pancakes on Pancake Day.
  • leave an empty stocking or sock out for Father Christmas.
  • sing songs called “carols” at Christmas.
  • give and receive Easter eggs at Easter time.

Talking about traditional expectations

In every national culture, people need to obey certain rules, like taking your hat off in church.

In real spoken English, we use several different ways to express these rules:

Whenever you visit someone’s house in my country,

• You’re supposed to..
• You have to..
• You’ve got to..
• You’re expected to..
• It’s usually polite to…
  • take your shoes off before you go inside.
  • bring them some flowers or a bottle of wine.
  • give them a compliment.
  • say how much you like their house.

Describing a traditional activity: stages

Follow the examples in the steps below to describe a tradition in your own country:

1. Say what it is

First, say what the tradition is:

• Well, in the UK we do something called maypole dancing.
• Well, one thing we do in the UK is something called maypole dancing.

2. Explain briefly

Then explain quickly when, where, and how you do it.

• We do it in the spring and it involves dancing around a pole.

3. Give details

Some traditions can be hard to understand as they are often unusual. Try to explain details about your tradition in short sentences to make it clearer:

• Well, if you can imagine, there’s this tall pole in the middle of a field.
• ..and, the pole’s got kind of coloured ribbons on top of it,
• ..and you have to dance around the pole while you’re holding the ribbons.

4. Follow up

Finally, remind us why you do this tradition:

• It’s just a traditional way to welcome the spring.

Bring it together

This is the full answer:

Well in the UK we do something called maypole dancing. We do it in the spring and it involves dancing around a pole. Well, if you can imagine, there’s this tall pole in the middle of a field,
..and,.. the pole’s got kind of coloured ribbons on top of it, ..and you have to dance around the pole while you’re holding the ribbons. It’s just a traditional way to welcome the spring.

Talking about strange or unusual traditions or customs

Unusual traditions can be hard to explain in English. To make this easier, you can talk about them in three stages. Learning common patterns will also help you build your own sentences:

1. Introduce the tradition

First, say what the tradition is:

• This custom might seem a bit strange to outsiders, but we like to fly kites.
• I guess this might seem a little unusual to some people, but we like to sing songs about cheese.
• Well, this might not make much sense, but we often like to play a game called “pooh sticks”.

These sentences follow a NEGATIVE + BUT + POSITIVE pattern:

It might seem bad, BUT (actually), it’s good.

2. Give details

Then explain how it works:

• So, you have to stand on a small bridge over a stream, and one person drops his or her stick over one side of the bridge to see how it takes to get to the other side
• Well, each person has his or her own kite, and they let it go and try to make other people’s kites fall out of the sky
• You know, we get together, someone gets out a guitar, and we all just start singing along to the music.

These sentences follow a CLAUSE + AND + CLAUSE pattern (compound sentence). This pattern is very common when we tell stories or say what happened in natural spoken English:

Subject + action, AND subject + action:
We get together, and we start singing.

3. Follow up

Now, make a final statement to finish up with:

• It does sound a little odd, but for us, this is something completely normal.
• I know it sounds really weird, but it’s actually great fun!
• I guess it does sound a bit disgusting, but it actually tastes lovely!

NOTE: All of the sentences above follow a NEGATIVE + BUT + POSITIVE pattern.

Bring it together

Your final answer could look like this:

This custom might seem a bit strange to outsiders, but we like to fly kites. Well, each person has his or her own kite, and they let it go and try to make other people’s kites fall out of the sky. I know it sounds really weird, but it’s actually great fun!

Talking about traditional gifts

Giving presents (gifts) is an important tradition in many countries. Follow these steps to talk about giving traditional gifts in your culture:

Say what the gift is

First say what the type of gift is. You can explain more later:

• Easter eggs are a kind of traditional gift that we give each other at Easter.

Give details

Then explain what these gifts are and what they look like:

• Basically, easter eggs are just big chocolate-shaped eggs. They’re covered in shiny foil, and they’re hollow.

Follow up

Now give some extra details about how you give these gifts:

• We don’t all give each other Easter eggs, but most children get them at Easter.

Bring it together

Easter eggs are a kind of traditional gift that we give each other at Easter. Basically, easter eggs are just big chocolate-shaped eggs. They’re covered in shiny foil, and they’re hollow. We don’t all give each other Easter eggs, but most children get them at Easter.

Why do you do it?

Here are some more ways to explain WHY you follow certain traditions:

• I think we do maypole dancing to kind of welcome the spring.
• I think it’s a way of celebrating the start of spring.
• I think Easter eggs represent new life.
• I think we give each other Easter eggs because eggs represent new life.
• I’m not sure but I think the egg is important in the ………….. faith / religion.
• I think we do …… for religious reasons.

How old is it?

You can say HOW OLD you think your tradition is like this:

• I think …….. is quite an old tradition
• As far as I know, it’s something we’ve been doing for centuries
• I don’t know how old it is, but I’d guess maybe a few hundred years
• It’s a tradition that the first settlers brought to our country

Traditions: useful vocabulary and collocations for speaking

Phrases

Here are some useful phrases which can help you introduce traditions:

• It’s traditional to.. make pancakes.
• it’s a tradition to.. give each other presents.
• One important tradition is to.. exchange gifts.
• According to tradition, you’re supposed to.. shake hands with your parents.
• Tradition dictates that ..the bride should not meet the groom on the morning of a wedding.

Collocations

Many English words (e.g. adjectives and nouns) form “pairs” called collocations. We often use these word pairs when discussing traditions:

• follow / observe a tradition
• a common tradition
• a long-standing tradition
• a popular tradition
• an unusual tradition
• a national tradition
• traditional clothing / outfit
• traditional activities
• traditional food / meals
• traditional customs
• traditional games
• play traditional games
• do traditional activities
• eat traditional foods
• wear traditional clothes / clothing / outfits