ESL New Year Reading Comprehension Passage

New Year Parties

Most people celebrate the New Year, and many of them do that by attending a party. Some parties may be small while others will be quite big. Some parties will be at a person’s home while other might be outside in a city center.

The simplest and smallest New Year parties are those that a single family will have in their own house. This is where the parents and children will just spend time together. Some years a family will spend time like this and then in other years they will go to other types of parties. Often the family at a house party will eat a meal together and then wait for midnight. While waiting they play games, watch television, or talk to each other.

Another type of party will be where someone will invite a group of friends to their house for a celebration. This will be a bit of a bigger party, and depending on the size of the house ten to thirty people may attend. If there are not many people at the party they may sit down and eat a formal meal, while for a bigger party it will be a buffet where people stand up and help themselves to food. Often the people who come to the party will each bring something to share that everyone can eat.

The biggest parties that happen are public parties in the middle of some cities. For these parties, groups of friends will spend the evening and night outside, often visiting several different pubs and bars. They might have a drink in one pub and then walk to another pub where they will have another drink. When it is getting close to midnight most of the people will finish their drink in the bar or pub and go to some central point in the city. At this place there will be a big countdown to midnight and the start of the New Year. After midnight the people will then either go home or go to a nightclub so they can celebrate for even longer.

As people get older the type of party they attend may change. A young person may go out to a big city center party while an older person may just want to spend time at home with their family.

ESL New Year Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension questions that go with the above reading passage.

1) Who attends the smallest type of party?

2) When a part has a buffet, who supplies the food?

3) Who most often attends city center parties?

4) When people go to a city center party, what do they do all night

5) How do people know when it is midnight at a city center party?