This month, I have prepared some Christmas activities you can do with your students to build up their vocabulary. There is an interactive crossword and three different ways to do “secret friend”. The level and instructions are given for each activity. Have fun and Merry Christmas to you all!
ACTIVITY 1 – INTERACTIVE CHRISTMAS CROSSWORD
Level: B2
Instructions: Ask half the class (students A) to sit on one side of the room and the other half (students B) to sit on the other side of the room. Divide the students into pairs. Give each pair of students A Crossword A – answers and Crossword A clues (below). You need to separate the answers from the clues, i.e. cut on the dotted line. Now give each pair of students B Crossword B – answers and Crossword B – clues (below).
Explain to the students that they are going to write the clues for another pair from the other team to solve. They should write definitions of the words or a ‘fill in the gap sentence’ next to the number given on the Clues sheet. E.g. Crossword A, 4 DOWN: this is meat you commonly eat at Christmas or the t _ r k _ y was so big it took 4 hours to cook in the oven. The words they need to find the clues to are given on the Answers sheet. As the students are writing the clues, go round and help them with any questions they may have. Also check if the clues make sense.
When they have finished, ask a pair of students A to team up with 2 students B. They should exchange the Clues sheet. Ask them to solve the crossword. They can check their answers with the original Answer sheet.
Crossword A – answers
ACTIVITY 2 – ALTERNATIVE SECRET FRIEND
Here are three different ways to do a secret friend activity with your students for three different levels.
LEVEL – AI
INSTRUCTIONS: Ask your students to bring a cheap generic present, e.g. chocolate. Arrange enough chairs for the number of students in your class and put them back to back in two rows. Put a simple maths question under each chair and stick the answers to the questions on the presents (see below as an example). Explain to your students that they are going to play musical chairs. Play some music, and ask the students to go round the chairs in a circle. Take one chair away. Stop the song after a while so the students can sit down. The person who doesn´t have a seat should answer the question under the chair that was taken away and find his/her prize according to the solution. Play the music again and continue the game until everybody has a gift.
LEVEL A2
INSTRUCTIONS: Write your students´ names on slips of paper and ask them to pick a piece of paper. This is their secret friend. Ask your students to buy a cheap present for their secret friend. In the next lesson, explain to your class that you are going to play a game. Choose a person and blindfold them. Ask the person who picked the blindfolded student´s name to raise their hand. The blindfolded student should ask the class questions to find out who is going to give them a present. For example: “Is it a man?”; “Does he have dark hair?”, etc. The answers should be either yes or no. When the student has discovered who picked them, the blindfold can be removed and they receive their present. The activity continues until everyone has asked questions.
LEVEL B2
INSTRUCTIONS: Write your students´ names on slips of paper and ask them to pick a piece of paper. Ask each person to draw a picture of a present they think their secret friend would like, e.g. a guitar. When everyone has finished, put the drawings in the middle of the room. Ask each student to pick a picture they are attracted to. Select a person to start saying why they chose that particular picture. After they have explained, the student who did the drawing should say if that person is their secret friend or not. The drawing should be given to the real secret friend. Continue the activity until everyone has spoken.
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