1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
It’s that time of the year when an oversized rabbit with loppy ears and a pink Easter basket comes hopping into homes at night, leaving baskets of candy and painted eggs for well-behaved boys and girls.
But why a bunny, and why eggs?
Listen to John and Dave talk about Easter, Easter eggs, and the Easter Bunny.
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
Dave: Easter is this Sunday. What are you going to do?
John: I was thinking about an Easter egg hunt.
Dave: Oh yeah, do you still do those?
John: Yeah, every year.
Dave: Ah, I love Easter egg hunts. I haven’t done one since I was, like, ten. My parents used to hide the plastic eggs with candy and money in them around the house.
John: Do you know where that tradition came from?
Dave: Easter egg hunting?
John: Mm hm.
Dave: I don’t know. I don’t even know how the rabbit got associated with Easter.
John: Yeah, because that has nothing to do with the meaning behind Easter.
Dave: Is Peter Cottontail, is that an Easter story?
John: I don’t think so. How does that rhyme go? Here comes Peter Cottontail.
Dave: Hopping down the rabbit trail.
John: The rabbit trail.
Dave: We used to do, like, putting out the carrot the night before Easter, similar to putting out milk and cookies for Santa.
John: Oh, you did.
Dave: We’d put a carrot out for the Easter bunny.
John: Oh, we never did that. But I remember being a little scared when I was a kid and thinking about this bunny rabbit coming into our house, with big ears. That always kind of freaked me out.
Rabbits and eggs are symbols of wild libidos and fertility, and together they are an important part of Easter celebrations in countries around the world.
In Britain, one tradition is to roll decorated Easter eggs down steep hills. In the U.S., a famous tradition is the egg-rolling event at the White House on the Monday after Easter. Dozens of children push eggs with spoons across the lawn, racing toward the finish line.