250 Years of U.S. Democracy: The Boston Tea Party

On 16 December 1773, an event took place that went on to spark the American Revolution: citizens of Boston, Massachusetts, dumped hundreds of crates of tea into the sea to protest against British "taxation without representation". This December, the city is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

This article paired with two videos for different levels aims at helping pupils understand what the Boston Tea Party really was as well as its short-term and long-term consequences for the U.S. and Great Britain: the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence.

These activities will also be a good means of revising the past tenses along with the structures to express obligation and (im)possibility.

What’s more, the celebration being on Dec 16^th– i.e. the last week before the Christmas break – this could be a great way to end up this quite tiring period while having the students learn about the history of the U.S.!

The B1+ level would work well with Shine Bright AMC File 13 The Land of the Free.

Vocabulary and grammar

talking about past situations (preterite)
describing a situation: be + V-ing present
spelling of independence
dates and numbers (King George the third)
link words (cause/consequence/aim): because, since, as /as a consequence, therefore, consequently/to, in order to, so as to ..
obligation, possibility/impossibility: have to + BV, could(n’t) + BV, be allowed to…
the difference between birthday and anniversary