I’ve got my Christmas jumper ready and so it really is the most wonderful time of the year! In this post I’m going to be going through all the Christmas classroom activities that I’ve got planned with my students.
A man on the moon
So, the first idea I have for you today is from a video called ‘A man on the moon’. This was a Christmas advert for John Lewis and every year they release an one that is based around the Christmas spirit . It is a story about a man on the moon and I’ll leave the link below. The way I use this in class is get the students to first think about:
- How the man got on the moon in the first place?
- What’s his life like living on the moon?
Then get the students to think about:
- What present would they give the man on the moon?
In previous lessons I’ve also asked the students to write a letter to him with all the questions they would ask somebody who’s been living on the moon. Sometimes, I play the role of the man on the moon and I receive the letters and come up with imaginative answers to all the questions. You could even have this role play between, not the teacher and the student, but between two students.
An extension to this lesson is having the students imagine that they have to go to the moon and think about all the things they would take. For example;
If I was going to the moon I would take my Christmas jumper, a bottle of water and some clean underpants!
A letter to Santa
The next activity I’m going to do with my younger learners this Christmas is obviously write a letter to Santa. Where I live in Spain we’re actually going to write a letter to the three kings. When the students have written their letters I also provide them with envelopes with Santa’s address. I then collect them at the end of the class and tell the students I’m going to send them to Santa.
These letters are a great opportunity to use not only the past simple but also the present perfect to talk about things that they have done this year that merit a present. For example;
So, this year Santa I’ve been very good and I’ve set up a YouTube channel which everybody loves so you should probably give me that new camera and maybe some lights and a new computer! Just those three things.
You can check out all my Christmas lesson plans for download right here.
Christmas around the world
There are lots of other Christmas celebrations that are taking place around the world so my third activity is to ask your students to search online for strange and wacky Christmas traditions. For example, in Japan where they go to KFC for Christmas, in Sweden they build a massive straw goat and in Norway they actually celebrate little Christmas which is on the 23rd of December. Ask them to talk about which is the strangest, the most interesting, the most peculiar, and even ask the students if they’d like to visit one of these countries to celebrate that tradition.
A Christmas Carol
The fourth idea is taking inspiration from Charles Dickens’ book ‘A Christmas Carol’. The reason why I use it in my class is that, within the book, you have the three characters, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. I usually show my students some clips from the film adaptations of the book so they get an idea of what the story is about.
- To practice the past: Ask students to remember a Christmas from the past and talk about your experiences on that day
- To practice the present: Ask about the Christmas that is coming up in a month or so
- To practice the future: Think about a Christmas in 20 years time, what will they be doing? Where will they be living? How will they be celebrating?
A gift
In my fifth activity, I love telling my students about the fact that the city of Oslo gives the people of London a Christmas tree every year. This Christmas tree sits in Trafalgar square. There is a video which I’ll post here that explains the reasons why the people of Oslo give England this Christmas tree. I get my students to pick a country around the world and think of a gift they could give to them. Try to ensure your students give lots of reasons and explore the differences between the two countries.
Secret Santa
Number six is an activity that I actually do with my friends and my colleagues which is secret Santa. If you’re not familiar with the way it works then I’ll explain here:
- Put all the student’s names in a hat
- Students come up one by one taking a name and keeping it secretAlternatively, to choose the students you could use a roulette wheel such as wheelofnames.com. Read my post on how this simple website can revolutionise your classroom.
- They then have to go out and find a gift that suits that person
- On the last day of class all the students come in and give their gifts to each student that they selected out of the hat a few weeks previously
I always ask my students the reasons for buying certain gifts because it gives me an insight into the relationships they’re building with their fellow classmates.
If you’re reading this early in the year, then check out my ideas for Halloween!
An Advent calendar
Activity number seven is a fantastic activity especially at this time of year, an Advent calendar! The way it works is that there is a little door to open for each day of the month leading up until Christmas and usually there is a chocolate behind there, what I do with my students is, instead of chocolate, I usually put some review questions for the language that we’ve been studying. This could be from a unit in the book. If you’re really organized, you can get the students to come up with 23 or 24 odd questions that they’d like to ask the class and put it behind each date.
Ben & Monty
The eighth activity and final activity that I do with my students is another Christmas advert. The name of the ad is ‘Ben and Monty’. In the video, Ben is a young boy and Monty is a penguin. I’m not going to tell you what Monty really is so you have to watch the video yourself, I’ll link it below.
At first, don’t let the students watch it, ask them to predict what they’re going to see in the video. I explain to the students there are two friends, one is called Ben, one is called Monty. They do everything together! I get the students to think about:
- What do they do together?
Get the students to think about their best friend what do they do together.
I then explain to the students that as we get near to Christmas, Monty becomes very sad. You get the students to think about:
- Why is Monty sad?
Then Ben gives Monty a present, get the students think about:
- What present does Ben give Monty?
Once the students have answered all these questions, they’ve imagined what the story is going to be about. This is the perfect time to watch the video. Get the students to compare their answers to the initial question from the beginning of the class with what happens in the video. I am warning you, it’s a very sad video! However, you’re not allowed to cry though, you’re the teacher!
Those are eight activities that I’ve got planned for all my classes leading up to Christmas this year. I hope you find them useful you can use them with your students or perhaps with your school this year. Let me know in the comments below if you do decide to use any of these ideas and tell me how it went.
Thank you for reading!