Writing Christmas Greeting card

Do you hear bells ringing?

Are the chestnuts roasting?

That’s right. I’m talking about Christmas! And whether or not it’s a white Christmas, it’s a good time to celebrate.

We’ve put together ten fun and festive activities that do both, allowing you to celebrate the holidays with your students while still giving them valuable language practice.

1. Write Greeting Cards

Nothing shows love at Christmas like a basket full of Christmas cards. The holidays are often the one time of year we hear from long ago friends and distant family. Writing greeting cards also happens to be a great activity for ESL students. It is flexible and can be tailored to any level student.

After you watch the special, give your students a list of the events in the short in random order and have groups sequence them according to the show.

9. What’s Your Tradition?

With holidays come traditions. Take some time to share one of your holiday traditions with your students and perhaps introduce them to a new aspect of U.S. culture.

Then invite students to share a holiday tradition of their own in either a discussion group or as a short presentation. Not only will your students get listening and speaking practice, they will also develop an appreciation for the cultures of their classmates.

10. Secret Santas

If your students aren’t already familiar with it, tell them about Secret Santa gift exchanges. Then let students participate in their own imaginary gift exchange.

Write down each student’s name on a small slip of paper, and have each member of the class draw a classmate’s name. Instead of purchasing a gift for their person, your students should write three clues about a gift that they would purchase for that person, if they were exchanging gifts.

Have students write the name of their imaginary recipient on their clues and then collect them. One at a time, read the clues and have the recipient guess what the present is, before the gift giver reveals what the present actually is.

Holidays are a great time to celebrate while still developing language skills. Try these activities and have the best of both worlds this Christmas!

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