Want to know what to do to teach a Thanksgiving lesson ESL students will love? Then stick around! I’ve had great success with this lesson on Thanksgiving that always helps my students understand the holiday as well as practice their language skills! I love teaching about the holidays of English speaking countries and this one is no different. Let me tell you all about it.
The goal of teaching Thanksgiving to ESL students for me is twofold: I want them to learn about the culture of English speaking countries, and I want them to practice their language skills and build vocabulary in the process. This is also what makes it so fun. Learning about holidays is a great way to engage your students! Mine always love hearing about what other people celebrate and how they do it.
Fancy a Thanksgiving freebie before you continue reading? Grab this free sample of my vocabulary worksheet by clicking here! Then check out the rest I have to say below..
ESL Thanksgiving lesson plan
So what does every ESL lesson on Thanksgiving need? In my opinion it’s a couple of things:
- Speaking
- Reading
- Listening
- Writing
- Vocabulary
Speaking
I’m always saying this, I know that, but I really love getting my students to talk in the target language! That’s why I use sets of discussion cards in my small groups, and students have to use those to have conversations about Thanksgiving. I ask questions such as:
- Why do people celebrate Thanksgiving?
- What foods do people eat at Thanksgiving?
- What do you know about Thanksgiving?
Now, this is just to activate their prior knowledge about the holiday, which they might or might not have. You could also have students practice this language skill at the end of the lesson. This would be once they have learned about the holiday itself and can answer these questions themselves. I created a set of them that you can check out by clicking here!
Listening & Reading
My students so enjoy watching videos, so I always indulge them. This video by Learn Bright is about the first Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving traditions. Another one by Ingla-Terra is a bit shorter and also fun.
To a lesser extent, students like to read things about holidays. This text by History is harder, but good for your older students. The same goes for his article by Nat Geo Kids. This one by EC English is easier (and has a quiz included), and so is this last one by Ducksters.
After both listening to a video and reading a text you can ask students comprehension questions, which you’d have to come up with yourself. Alternatively, you can ask students to come up with questions for their classmates to answer.
Thanksgiving ESL worksheets
If students don’t know the vocabulary that is used in connection to Thanksgiving you could also do a task on that. You could ask them to match Thanksgiving words with their pictures to reinforce their meaning. For this purpose I made a cut and paste worksheet, as well as task cards you could scatter across the room for a more engaging time. Check both of them out HERE!
ESL Thanksgiving games
Another fun way to reinforce Thanksgiving vocabulary in your students is to play vocabulary games! I love games that make words visual for students, because this will help them understand meaning and retain it much better. For this reason, I love a game of dominoes in which the tiles have a picture on one side and a word on the other, and students have to match all the tiles. Memory is another game I love because of the visual visuals. And what kid does not like to play a game during class time? Click here to check out some vocabulary games!
Writing about Thanksgiving
And then last but not least, I end a lot of my lessons with a writing task, because I love to see my students’ writing.. This allows them to show me what they have learned in the lesson, as well as show off their writing skills. And you know I love to see the progress they’re making all the time! To this end, I use a set of writing prompts that will get them to put their thoughts on paper. Check them out HERE in my store!
So this is what my ESL lesson Thanksgiving edition looks like! It’s always a fun time in which students learn a lot. They come away with more knowledge of, mainly American and Canadian culture, and they will have practiced their language skills to the max in the process. I can’t wait to teach this one this year! I hope you’ll join me!
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