Are you looking for a super fun and easy Halloween lesson plan? I’ve got exactly what you need! I have made a complete lesson plan for my students, regardless of what grade level they are in, and I would like to share it with you. You can pick and choose from it what you would like to use, and most of it is free. Maybe you don’t have time to do everything but still want to focus some time on the super fun holiday that is Halloween!
I personally love discussing the holidays of English-speaking countries with my students! It helps them understand those countries and their peoples better, and holidays are just great topics to talk about in the target language. Who doesn’t love a party? My students always enjoy learning about these types of holidays.
Want to get in the spirit right away? Grab my free Halloween discussion cards set here!
Halloween lessons
Want to skip ahead to a full plan for a lesson on halloween without reading this post? Grab the PDF of the plan by clicking here! So what do I do with my students?
Halloween speaking
Ask students to talk about Halloween. What do they know already? Use this free set of discussion cards to get them talking either in small groups (recommended) or as a whole group. Then ask a few of the questions in a plenary setting. Possibly draw a word web on the board to collect ideas. This way, students get to share what they already know as well as learn from their peers what they know.
Reading or Listening
Get students to read an article, depending on their level of English, or to watch a video. Possible articles are this one by History, this article by Brittanica, or the one from British Council with comprehension tasks. These are higher level articles. Or use this one by 5 Minute English that is much easier and contains a little quiz too.
Possible videos are this one by English Portal, which is at A1-A2 level; this video by LingPortal, or this one by National Geographic.
Two of the articles have tasks included. For the ones that don’t, create your own set of questions. Use the W and H question words to get you started (who, what, when, where, why, and how). Or get students to come up with questions for their classmates. That’s always a fun task too! Get them to think of questions, write them on a sheet, without giving the answers, and pass the sheet to a classmate for them to answer. Easy for you, fun for them! Reading and listening feature in all my Halloween lesson plans for sure!
Halloween vocabulary
Get students to complete a worksheet on Halloween vocabulary and check their understanding of the words. You could also just find pictures of Halloween-y things and help students understand their meaning. I’ve made this worksheet for my students, but there are probably tons of Halloween activity worksheets to be found online for free 🙂 Or you could play a vocabulary game with them! I made this dominoes game to practice word and picture matches.
Halloween writing activity
A Halloween lesson plan isn’t complete without telling ghost stories. Get students to write a scary story! I love seeing their creative juices flowing, and they are usually super good at writing stories! Do remind them that a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. If you need some fun writing prompts, check out these resources I created that are in my store. I’ve had great success with all of them in my different grade levels.
Looking for a fun Halloween activity online?
Play an online memory game! Click here to check out the one I made for my students in Google Slides ™.
These activities all make for wonderful Halloween lessons ESL students will love! Giving them things to do that require them to use all of their language skills will help them learn the English language better, as well as learn so much about this holiday. Its invaluable information and skills practice that they will truly enjoy, as do my students. Can’t wait for it to be Halloween! 🙂
Related articles:
Top 3 awesome Halloween writing prompts that students will love
Why these are the best autumn activities for your students
How to create the easiest and most fun lessons about Thanksgiving
