Learn English Through Stories 🎄 English Reading Practice (An English Story about CHRISTMAS TREES)

A lot of students have asked me where the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree came

from.

So that's what we'll review today.

We'll look at an article about the tradition of Christmas trees, and you'll learn about

this.

But you'll also expand your vocabulary, learn important grammar concepts, and also improve

your pronunciation.

Welcome back to JForrest English, Of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

First, I'll read the headline How did Christmas trees start Art?

And We have a beautiful Christmas tree in this picture.

Do you have a Christmas tree in your home?

Share that in the comments.

All right.

So first let me ask you, what is the verb tense of this headline?

How did Christmas trees start?

What's the verb tense?

Well, the verb tense is the past simple, and we know that because of this important word

did, which acts as the auxiliary verb that you need to ask a question in the past simple.

So to answer the question, you would say Christmas trees started the past simple, and then you

would give your answer, which is exactly what we'll find out in this article.

Before we learn about the tradition of the Christmas tree, let me review some common

Christmas vocabulary, Larry.

So let's start with stockings.

That's what you see hanging here.

And you put out your stocking, and then you fill it with small presents, chocolates, even

some fruit as well.

And then you open it on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

If you have a fireplace, you would hang your stockings above the fireplace.

If you don't have a fireplace, then you can put them anywhere or you can even put them

under the Christmas tree.

Now hear what you see along the fireplace mantle.

This is called Garland, Garland, and on the Christmas tree this string of beads this is

also called Garland.

Cause Garland is the term for a decorative string.

So here is very common to have plants as Garland, but on a Christmas tree is common to have

beads.

But these balls, those are simply called ornaments ornaments.

And you put your Christmas ornaments on your Christmas tree.

And then finally, the most common plant for Christmas in North America is the poinsettia.

So every house will have at least one, often more than one, Poinsettia.

Red is the most common color and is very popular to give these as a present as well.

Now I summarize everything in a free lesson PDF so you can look for the link in the description.

Let's continue.

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had

a special meaning for people in winter.

There is a name for plants and trees that remain green all year.

Do you know what the name of that category of plants or trees is?

Evergreens.

Evergreen.

So we have the word green and is plural because I'm talking about all of them.

So as a category, evergreens and ever, because they're always green, forever evergreens.

Now let's talk about advent.

This is the beginning of invention of you're probably more common with the word invention.

Oops, I spelled it wrong in vention of or arrival of something.

But if you don't want to talk about something necessarily being invented, maybe just someone

arrived or something arrived or something started, you can use Advent instead.

But notice it's the advent of.

And then whatever starts or arrives or begins the advent of Christianity.

All right, let's continue on.

Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce

and fir trees, so these are all examples.

They're types of trees, and they're actually types of Evergreen trees.

So all of these fall under the category of evergreens.

All right, Notice here, just as people today decorate, is this a noun or a verb?

This is a verb because they're doing the action.

It's an action, so it's a verb.

People decorate now because it's a verb.

You could say she decorates because in the present simple you need to add that's she

decorates her tree on December 24th, which is Christmas Eve.

Most people do not decorate their trees on December 24th, just an example.

But notice here well ornaments, all of these, the Garland, the ornaments, the trees, the

poinsettias, these are all examples of decorations.

So all of these would be considered the category of decorations.

And you can say Christmas or holiday seasonal decorations.

Decorations because there are decorations for Christmas, there are decorations for Easter.

There are decorations for fall for other purposes as well.

So all everything you see in this picture is under the category of decorations.

That's the noun.

And then the verb is decorate.

Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce

and fir trees, many ancient people hung Evergreen boughs over their doors and windows.

Ah, so here we see our Evergreen.

And now you know 3 examples of evergreens.

Do you have Evergreen trees in your city?

Your city?

If you do, and you know what type they are, let us know in the comments.

Now notice the pronunciation here.

Did you hear what I said?

Bow.

Bow.

So the verb right now, this motion when you bend your head, maybe if you were meeting

the king or queen, you would bow to them.

That is the same pronunciation.

So the spelling of that is BOW, bow, bow to bow, to bow.

And that's how you pronounce this.

Now a bow, what is this?

You generally only hear it around Christmas or the winter season because it's a large

branch branch of a tree.

So that is a bow.

And you generally hear about it during Christmas, during winter, because people will decorate

their homes with boughs.

So right here, this is Garland.

It looks like it's not real, it's fake, it's artificial.

But you could also put a real branch of an Evergreen tree, and a bow is a large branch

of a tree.

So instead of this artificial, this fake Garland, you could decorate our verb.

You could decorate with bow, so boughs would be under the category of Christmas decorations.

OK, but you'll only see this word around Christmas.

In North America at least, ancient people hung Evergreen boughs over their doors and

windows, and in North America we still do this.

But generally, instead of boughs, which is a large branch of a tree, we hang Reese, which

is that branch of a tree, but in a circular, A circular shape.

And it can be real, or it can be fake, artificial, and is very common to hang Reese on your door.

In fact, it's common to even have spring Reese with flowers, summer wreaths, fall wreaths.

Wreaths aren't just for Christmas or winter, but in North America you will see the most

Reese hung on doors in winter during the Christmas season.

So do you hang a wreath in your home or on your door?

Share that in the comments, too.

In many countries it was believed that evergreens we keep away, witches, ghost evil spirits

and illness.

So that explains why why ancient people hung them, hung the boughs over their doors and

windows.

And I know this is the past and they're talking about the ancient people not a practice today

because they said it was believed now because they use was as the past.

Simple.

I know this is talking about the past and they mentioned ancient people, so I understand

this was a tradition of ancient people.

This isn't a widely held belief in North America today, and this is not why we hang boughs

or wreaths or Garland today.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition.

Students from Germany, Did you know that?

Did you know that your country started the Christmas tree tradition in North America?

I did not know that until I read this article.

So all my students from Germany put I'm from Germany.

I started the Christmas tree in the chat in the comments.

Let's look at this expression to be credited.

Notice the Ed on credited with.

And then if you have a verb, you need a gerund verb.

You could also have a something, so a noun.

And we use this expression when you want to say that someone is responsible for something

or doing something.

But we use this with positive things, with good things.

So for example, Sally is credited with increasing our sales.

Now this is a positive thing when your sales increase.

So way to go Sally.

Now you could also say to use credit, the word credit, but in a different way.

The credit goes to Sally.

Now because this is in the present simple and credit is ** *** it, it's it.

As a subject, we need to add that ES to the present simple.

The credit goes to Sally.

I also sometimes hear the credit belongs to Sally.

You could use that as well.

But I think I hear goes more more frequently.

The credit goes to Sally.

Sally is credited with increasing our sales, and in this case, the credit goes to Germany.

Go Germany.

All right.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it.

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Now let's continue with our lesson.

Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles

if wood was scarce.

All right, so this is an alternative to a Christmas tree.

They built Christmas pyramids.

I actually have seen some Christmas pyramids outside homes as Christmas decorations.

What about you?

Have you ever seen a Christmas pyramid?

And again, my students in Germany, is it still common to build Christmas pyramids?

OK, our verb decorate this time in the past, simple and scarce to be scarce.

When something is scarce, it means there isn't a lot of it.

It's in short supply and because of that is considered very valuable because it's scarce.

For example, during the war food was scarce.

I remember my grandmother, who lived through a war, always talking about how simple things

like butter, sugar, we're very scarce now.

Also, if you read the news, any kind of economic news, they frequently talk about scarce resources.

So those are things that are a natural environment, that are limited in supply.

And there are things that we need to live, like clean water.

We have to protect our scarce resources.

Let's continue.

Most 19th century Americans found Christmas trees and oddity.

Let's talk about oddity.

And oddity is something that is strange or unusual.

So notice in the past, in the 19th century, Americans, So people here in North America,

they thought Christmas trees were strange, were unusual.

Clearly that's not the case today, thanks to Germans.

All right, but notice here an oddity, because this is a noun, A noun.

So if you use oddity, it has the same meaning as strange.

But grammatically it's different because strange, unusual.

These are adjectives, and because of that they don't take articles.

But oddity is a noun, so you need an article, an oddity, and you need an because the pronunciation

is with a vowel, an oddity oddity.

The first records of Christmas trees being cut for display comes from the 1820s in Pennsylvania's

German community.

I guess there was a large German community in Pennsylvania.

That is not something I knew, although trees may have been a tradition there.

There meaning Pennsylvania in the German community there even early, earlier, sorry, even earlier,

so earlier than 1820s, so maybe 1810s.

And notice when you add an S it means the entire decade of 18202122 all the way to 1829.

So instead of listing all the numbers 1820 to 1829, you can just add that US and it means

the entire decade and decade means 10 years.

So entire decade, which is 18, 20 to 1829.

This would be the 1820s.

All right, let's continue as early as 1747.

So quite a lot earlier than 1820.

As early as 174047, Germans in Pennsylvania had a community tree in the form of a wooden

pyramid decorated with candles.

So again, we're seeing this wooden pyramid instead of a Christmas tree.

All right, In 1747 or as early as, Let's talk about as early as when you use this, you're

saying this is the earliest possible time, but later is possible too.

So 1747 is the earliest time, but it could have been 1748 or 17491755 for example.

We use this quite a lot when you're making plans and arrangements.

I can meet you as early as 8:00 AM.

So this means that I can meet you at 8:00.

But it also suggests that I can meet later too.

So you might reply back and say how about 9:30?

Or how about 10?

This is just the earliest time.

It doesn't mean that I can only meet at 8.

Let's continue by the 1890s.

Christmas ornaments.

We already talked about ornaments above Christmas ornaments.

Remember, these are a form of decoration.

We're arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the

US.

So here's Christmas tree popularity before 18, before the 1890s.

And remember, we now know that this is the entire decade.

But then it was on the rise or on the rise.

So it's popularity was on the rise.

So it's just another way of saying rising, rising was rising around the US.

Now we use rising and not raising rising because there is no object.

The action is being done to the the now.

The popularity was rising, rising on the rise around the US.

So you could say right now my fluency is on the rise and the credit goes to J.

Force English.

Woohoo.

I would love it if you say this.

I know this is kind of long.

You could just say this part.

My fluency is on the rise, but I always like when you practice other expressions that we

learned.

Remember this one?

The credit goes to J.

Force English.

So put this in the comments.

I would love that.

That could be your Christmas gift to me.

All right, let's continue.

It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans

liked their Christmas trees to extend from floor to ceiling.

Actually this is an interesting point because when I share pictures of my Christmas tree,

which is probably 7 feet tall, I would say a lot of students say, wow, your Christmas

tree is so big.

But for me, being in North America, to me it isn't big because everyone in North America

has Christmas trees six or seven feet high, maybe even higher.

But it's interesting because I guess in in Europe or other parts of the world they have

smaller trees about four feet high.

So let me know in the comments, and this is interesting for everyone to learn about, How

high are the Christmas trees in your area usually?

And if you don't put up a Christmas tree, that's OK You don't have to answer that part.

But in North America, I would say 6 feet, 7 feet is about average.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments.

OK, so again, we have our verb decorate.

This time it's in the gerund form.

Because this is an expression we have when you see someone or a group of people doing

something, so doing that's our verb.

You replace it with any verb and you can put it in the ING form because it's an action

in progress.

Actually, that reminded me of this very popular Christmas song, which I don't know the name

of the song.

It might just be I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus and notice we have I saw Mommy.

This is obviously a little kid singing this song kissing Santa Claus and is cute because

it suggests that this kids father dressed up like Santa to deliver the presents for

this little boy or little girl.

And then he saw his mom and dad kiss, but the dad was dressed like Santa Claus.

So it's a very cute song.

You can listen to it.

I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus and now you understand the grammar because we have see

someone doing something.

OK, so I'll highlight that for you.

So you remember, there are trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while many German Americans

continued to use apples, nuts and marzipan cookies.

Wow, I have never put fruit, nuts or cookies on my Christmas tree, ever.

Or and I've never seen anyone do that.

So again, my German students or anyone else, have you ever put fruit, nuts, or cookies

on your Christmas tree?

Let me know in the comments.

That sounds like an oddity to me.

Remember that sounds strange to me.

That sounds a little strange to put apples, nuts and cookies on a Christmas tree.

I can't even picture it because going up here, this is generally what a North American Christmas

tree looks like.

You have a string of Garland and you have some balls which are ornaments, and then you

have the lights and then you have a star or an Angel or a candle at the very top of the

Christmas tree.

So this is exactly what a Christmas tree in North America looks like.

I cannot imagine apples, nuts and what was the other one?

Cookies on a Christmas tree.

What an oddity.

And that's why it's so fun to learn about other cultures and traditions.

Stringed popcorn was added after being dyed bright colors.

Actually, I have seen stringed popcorn on Christmas trees in North America.

So this one I have seen Okay.

Electricity brought about Christmas lights.

When something brings about something, it just means it causes it to happen.

You hear this a lot with government initiatives.

The new policy brought about tax savings.

So the new policy resulted in or the new policy caused the tax savings to happen.

So electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to

glow for days on end.

I love Christmas lights.

With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having

a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

So that is how the Christmas tree started.

Thank you Germany for bringing the Christmas tree to North America.

I certainly couldn't imagine Christmas without a Christmas tree and is so much fun to decorate

the Christmas tree with my family.

So thank you again and I hope everyone enjoyed learning about Christmas tree traditions,

even if you don't have that tradition.

And feel free to share a tradition that you have because I'd love to learn about your

traditions as well.

Now what I'll do is I'll read the article from start to finish and this time you can

focus on my pronunciation.

How did Christmas trees start?

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remain green all year had a

special meaning for people in winter.

Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce

and fir trees, many ancient people hung Evergreen boughs over their doors and windows.

In many countries, it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits

and illness.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it.

Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles.

If wood was scarce, most 19th century Americans found Christmas trees and oddity.

The first records of Christmas trees being cut for display comes from the 1820s in Pennsylvania's

German community, although trees may have been a tradition there even earlier.

As early as 1747, Germans in Pennsylvania had a community tree in the form of a wooden

pyramid decorated with candles.

By the 1890s, Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany, and Christmas tree popularity

was on the rise.

Around the US, It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height,

while Americans like their Christmas trees to extend from floor to ceiling.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments,

while many German Americans continued to use apples, nuts and marzipan cookies.

Stringed popcorn was added after being dyed bright colors.

Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to

glow for days on end.

With this Christmas, trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having

a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

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