5 short Christmas actvities
Teaching tip
1 Christmas word maker
On the board write MERRY CHRISTMAS. Tell students to find as many words as possible with three letters or more. They can only use each letter once. Examples: has, ties, rich, steam, teach. Give students five minutes and then see who has most words.
2 On the first day of winter
Ask students about the kind of things they see in winter. For example, snow, ice, scarves, Christmas markets, frost.
On the board write: On the first day of winter I saw… Start the game by saying: On the first day of winter I saw a snowflake. The first student then adds a second item, for example: On the second day of winter I saw a pair of skis and a snowflake. The second student adds a third item, for example: On the third day of winter I saw a roast chestnut, a pair of skis and a snowflake. Carry on around the class until everyone has added something to the list. Then everyone says the list together.
3 New Year’s resolutions
Ask students to think of someone famous and write their name on a slip of paper. On the board write New Year’s Resolutions and ask students about resolutions that they have made or they know other people have made.
Ask the students in turn to read out the name written on the slip of paper. Everyone tries to think of a good New Year’s Resolution for that person.
4 Christmas cards
Give each student a piece of plain A4 paper. Show students how to fold the paper into a card the size of a postcard (fold down the middle and then fold down the middle again). Elicit words about Christmas and write them on the board, for example: Christmas tree, holly, robin, Father Christmas, presents, candles, snow, icicles.
Ask students to write Happy Christmas on the front of their card and then to draw something Christmasy from the example words on the board.
Inside the card, each student writes a short Christmas greeting to the student sitting on their left: To Dirk, Wishing you a very happy Christmas, Best wishes for 2019! From Uli.
5 Vertical Christmas.
Ask students to write CHRISTMAS vertically down the middle of a piece of paper.
Students write possible presents across the word CHRISTMAS, see example below.
Encourage creativity! Students talk in small groups about the lists of presents and discuss whether they would like to receive them.
