Christmas and New Year teaching ideas 2008
Monday, December 1st, 2008… are exactly the same as Xmas ESL ideas 2007 (haven’t written any special lessons on seasonal shopping in a worldwide depression yet, although I could use my grandfather’s story about his pet rabbit being served up for an East End Xmas lunch if I did), but at least that means this year I can get all the links out of the way in one post and so not repeat the TEFL equivalent of 6 weeks of nonstop Xmas carols like we had here in 2007. And here all the articles, teaching ideas and photocopiable worksheets are- a veritable Xmas feast, stuffed stocking etc etc to bring seasonal cheer to the last few weeks before the holiday without the need for sipping brandy between classes:
Articles and teaching ideas
Christmas vocabulary you can mime
Combining Xmas with a young learner syllabus
Doing something with Xmas songs
Putting the grammar back into Christmas
Games and other photocopiable worksheets
Future Perfect New Year predictions
New Year action and state verbs
New Year resolutions adverbs of frequency - going to for plans and learner training
Xmas first conditional superstitions bluff game - a classic, hopefully not ruined in my version
Christmas Adverbs of Frequency- Present Simple and lots of lovely (not stereotyped) cultural information
Christmas traditions passives bluff game
Xmas guess the country modals of deduction
Christmas Present Simple and Continuous mimes- contrasting routines and things happening now, with lots of nice Chrimbo vocab
Christmas Past Tense mimes - Past continuous when they finish miming and then tense review as they talk about their own experiences of those things
Will for future predictions Xmas
Xmas trivia number pairwork - good for Business English, Technical English and other ESP classes
Business English Christmas cards Do’s and Don’ts - imperatives and important cultural information
Describing Xmas foods bluff game - good for students who want to explain food from their own country to foreign guests, e.g. Business English students who often entertain clients
Going to Xmas mimes - for predictions with present evidence
Xmas party negotiations - the best ever game for the language of meetings and negotiations, as there is a clear winner, and some good Xmas vocab
Video Worksheets
Friends Series One New Year episode
Edward Scissor Hands- cute, seasonal, the easiest film in the English language, and full of lots of lovely reference expressions
The Life of Brian - as mentioned on a recent Dave’s ESL Cafe thread, only for veeeery high level and open-minded students
Xmas Song worksheets
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
The Christmas Song (”Chesnuts roasting on an open fire” etc)