Welcome back to Learn Academic English where I teach intermediate and advanced level English
today I'm going to be talking about the 4th of July and the reason that I'm talking about this
holiday is that this holiday is coming up and it can be very useful for English learners to know
a bit about American culture if you're an English learner who's living in the United States
it might be very helpful for you to understand how Americans celebrate holidays and if you are
not living in the U.S. but you're interested in American English it also can be useful for you
to know more about the culture first let's talk about the name of this holiday the 4th of July
has an official name which is Independence Day but we also usually call this holiday the 4th of July
we also refer to it as July 4th or a short form which is the 4th so a few weeks before the holiday
comes we might ask people what are you doing for the fourth and in that case we are referring to
the Fourth of July notice that we do use the ordinal number fourth and so we say the Fourth
of July or July 4th when we see people on this day we might say to them “Happy Independence Day”
or more commonly “Happy 4th of July” and you'll notice that the colors that represent this holiday
are red white and blue because of course those are the colors of the U.S. flag the Fourth of July
is a federal holiday and what that means is that people have the day off of work and
government offices and public offices are closed so that means that post offices
public libraries and those kinds of government-run or public offices are closed for the holiday
if you work in another type of business like a store or a restaurant um it's possible that it
will be closed for this holiday but also workers get a paid day off some restaurants and shops and
other businesses will stay open on the 4th of July or they will have shortened hours but it
is a federal holiday what about the history of this holiday well basically this holiday
celebrates when the United States became independent from Great Britain on July 4th
1776 the Declaration of Independence was drafted which declared independence from British rule
so how do Americans usually celebrate this holiday well this celebration usually includes three
important things fireworks a parade and a barbecue for example an American family might celebrate the
holiday this way they might go to a parade and usually the parade goes through the main street
in their town or their neighborhood and they might do that in the morning on the Fourth of July
then in the afternoon they will probably have a barbecue with family friends or even neighbors
and that usually takes place in their backyard or maybe in a local park and then finally they will
celebrate the holiday in the evening with fireworks and fireworks can be either at a
large fireworks show or in front of your house on the street some towns also have large Independence
Day celebrations like an outdoor concert or some other large public event and usually
towns and cities will have fireworks shows that are available for the public to attend
so when we think about the food for this holiday you're going to notice that the food is really
nothing special and it really signifies that kind of outdoor casual summer type of celebration
so because we have a barbecue we usually will have hot dogs and hamburgers maybe barbecued steak or
barbecued chicken we also have salads potato salad a green salad and coleslaw which is made with
cabbage and for dessert we usually will have ice cream because this holiday happens in the middle
of summer so it's usually very hot or popsicles sometimes people will make a special Fourth of
July themed cake that would be decorated with red white and blue and most Americans will drink
lemonade or soda sparkling water or beer on this holiday and as I mentioned this holiday really is
a very casual holiday so you'll notice that people won't get dressed up in fancy clothes they won't
spend hours and hours preparing the food it really is meant to be a relaxing day when we celebrate
the independence of this country but you know not a big fancy event um so for clothes people will
maybe wear red white and blue clothes or even like a shirt with an American flag but most people just
wear typical casual summer clothes and the food is also very casual but definitely the feeling of the
day is patriotic many people will think about the principles that this country was founded on like
freedom and democracy and at many public events you will notice that there will be patriotic songs
including the national anthem finally let's talk a little bit about fireworks at home
so I live in Sacramento, California and this city there are fireworks going off for days and days
and days before the holiday and it's important to know that some of those fireworks are legal
and some of them are not legal and so if you are here in the United States you will see
different types of fireworks celebrations at people's homes but what usually happens is
that American families will buy some small safe fireworks that stay low to the ground
those include sparklers that kids like to play with and they will use those fireworks in front
of their home with friends or family or neighbors but because this country has different states
the law is different in different states and so the types of fireworks that are legal in
one state can be different from the fireworks that are legal in another state so here in California
we don't have many fireworks that are legal it's possible to buy just very small fireworks for
about one week before the holiday but the state of nevada is nearby and in Nevada they sell a
lot of larger fireworks so some people here will actually drive to nevada buy fireworks and then
come back but that is not legal and they can face up to a $50,000 fine and the local police actually
encourage people to report illegal fireworks I hope that this little review of the Fourth
of July helps you to understand a bit more about American culture I would love to know about your
country does your country have a special day that you celebrate your country's independence
or you celebrate something else about your country let me know in the comments below and if you found
this video helpful please don't forget to give it a like thanks so much and I'll see you soon!