Christmas Lesson Plan Ideas

Video Clip Vocabulary

What is it? I don´t know.
- YouTube STEVE AND MAGGIE: - bow
- tractor
Opening, Unboxing Christmas Surprise Presents | Toys - teddy bear
for kids with Steve and Maggie | Wow English TV - (Lego) train set
- jumper
https://youtu.be/WtrRaZ9wvB0
Can you hear anything?
I can´t hear anything.
Can you… ?
- hear
- smell
- taste
- dance
- sing

Additional vocabulary:
-It´s Christmas Day!
-Do you like Christmas?
- Of course, I do!
-present
-Christmas tree
-Which present should I open first?
-A Christmas present for me!
Where is it?
-It’s inside the box.
-It´ s a Christmas Day and I´ve got a
new…(something)
-What´s in here?
-I don´t know.

*Entrance Routine:
Sing a ‘Stand in Line’ song and wish the children a “Merry Christmas!” as they come in!

*Warmer Ideas:
Activity Materials Energy
Level
Touch: -flashcards/ -low/
Ask the children to touch what you say. For example, touch a body realia (any moderate
part, a flashcard, an object, something that starts with (phonetic object in the
sound), something (colour), etc. Praise them if they are correct, if class)
they are incorrect ask them to try again. You can play as a class or
have the children take turns one at a time.

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Hand up if/ Stand up if/ Sit down if -none -low/
Tell the children to "Hand up/Stand up/ Sit down if you are wearing moderate
(colour)." If the child is wearing the colour you chose, they must
raise their hand/ stand up/ sit down.
Variation:
Have the children make the action based on emotions, likes and
dislikes, or what they are wearing. For example, "Hand up if you like
chocolate."

Roll and Do: -none -moderate

Re-introduce the numbers on the dice. Have the children take turns
rolling the dice. Count the dots aloud and instruct the children to do
an action the same amount of times as shown on the dice.

*Intro:
Watch the video clip–encourage the children to join in with the drilling and singing. If appropriate,
pause the video and allow the children to verbalise what they see.

*Re-Intro and Drill:

Use the WattsEnglish Christmas flashcards to re-introduce and drill a selection of vocabulary from
the video. Which lexical units and how many you introduce depends on the age and ability of your
students. For Kindergarten classes or new students, we’d recommend introducing and drilling no
more than 5 new items of vocabulary per lesson. Whereas for older students or students who are
revising these words, then re-introducing and re-drilling all the flashcards in one lesson might be
appropriate.

Ways to drill the language:

Try to use mimes with each drill to make the process playful, fun and to help the children remember
the words more easily. Quiet and loud drills and funny voices would also work well with this topic.
Here is the active language to drill based on the video clip: ‘What is it?’ ‘I don´t know.’ ‘Oh, look at
that. It´s a (tractor)’. For advanced children include: ‘Where is it?’ ‘It’s (inside the box).’

*Younger children could focus on just the nouns–‘It’s a (tractor). It’s a (teddy bear).’
*Older children that are comfortable speaking English can drill and practice both grammatical
structures, ‘What is it?’ and ‘Can you (hear anything)?’ ‘Can you (sing)?’ Start by drilling ‘What is it?’
until the children are comfortable with the vocabulary. Once they are comfortable introduce “Can
you dance?’ by printing extra flashcards and having the children mime the flashcards and respond
appropriately.

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Ways to introduce and drill the language:

Activity Materials Energy

Level
Pass the Stocking -flashcards -low/
Have the children sit in a circle. Give one child a stocking with - stocking moderate
flashcards inside. When the music plays tell the children to pass the - music
stocking around the circle. When the music stops, the child holding
the stocking can take out one flashcard. Introduce and drill the
flashcard.

Magic Box -flashcards - low

Put the flashcards in a Christmas present box. Say the chant 'eeny, -present box
meeny, miney, moe' or a similar chant to pick a child. The selected
child must pick a flashcard out of the box. Introduce the flashcard and
drill with the children. Encourage them to vocalize the flashcard with
you, for example "It's a (jumper).”

Christmas Mystery Card -flashcards -low

Prepare the Christmas Mystery Card from the printable -Christmas
resources (or if you’re feeling creative, you can make your own!). You Mystery Card
might want to laminate the mystery card so you can use it again in
future. Take the opportunity to (re-)drill ‘It’s a tractor.’ Ask the
children to close their eyes while you place one of the flashcards
behind the Mystery Card. When you say “open your eyes” the
children can look through the hole and try and guess what picture is
on the flashcard.

*TPR ideas (non-verbal):

Activity Materials Energy

Level
Octopus Throw: -flashcards -high
Quickly re-drill the target language, if necessary. Stick the -ball or soft toy
flashcards on the board. Mark a spot on the floor in front of the
board with a piece of paper or something for the children to
stand on. Have the children line up on the opposite side of the
classroom to the board. Have the first child to stand on the mark
on the floor and give them a ball or soft toy. (in this game we
used a squishy octopus toy). Name one of the flashcards using
the grammatical structure. When you name the flashcard, ask the
child to throw the toy at the flashcard. Give each child three
turns, if they hit the correct card, reward them with a high five. If
they miss all three times, shake their hands and say "Nevermind,
try again next time!"

Find it Fast -flashcards (one -moderate

The idea of this game is simply that children must find the or two of the
flashcard showing the target language. Flashcards are placed face same set)
down, and children must turn over one card at a time in search

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for the target language. If the flashcard is incorrect, they must
put it face down again, and try another card. Two children play at
a time, and the idea is to find the correct flashcard the fastest.

There are many variations to this game:

-children can play in teams or two children can be selected at
random
-for a higher energy game, flashcards are placed at one end of
the classroom and the children start at the other end
-for a lower energy game, children can be seated around the
flashcards
-can be played with one set of flashcards or two sets, and review
flashcards can be added for increased difficulty.

Run If: -flashcards (at -high

Quickly re-drill the target language, if necessary. Using two sets least two copies
of flashcards, give each child a flashcard and have them sit down of every
behind it. Make sure two children have matching flashcards. Sit flashcard)
on the opposite side of the room. When you call their flashcard,
they must run to you, give you a high five and run back to their
flashcard. The first child back to the starting point sitting properly
wins a point.

Variation for large groups:

You can play in the same way or give 3-4 children the matching
flashcards to keep children involved (instead of only 2 children).

*GP ideas (verbal/written):

**Remember that the students probably won’t be ready for GP games in the first lesson if this is
new language. If the language is known, then GP games could be appropriate.**

Activity Materials Energy

Level
Flashcards Pogo -flashcards -high
Split the class into two teams and spread the flashcards from the -stopwatch
unit face up in a line on the floor. Show the children that one at a
time they must jump from one flashcard to the next, naming
them as they make their way down the line. When the child
completes all the flashcards, the next child can begin. Tell the
children you will time their team and the fastest team is the
winner.

Stand in Line (Dominoes): -flashcards (two -low

Create dominoes using pictures of the vocabulary instead of copies of every
numbers. Split the class into teams and give each team a set of flashcard for
dominoes. The teams race to put the dominoes in order with each team)
each team member holding a domino. Ask the teams to go down -word cards

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the line naming their domino to see if the order is correct.
For older children:
You can use word cards instead of flashcards to practise whole
word recognition skills.

Memory Chant - flashcards -low/

Put multiple flashcards in a row on the ground or on a moderate
board/wall. Tell the children they must remember what flashcard
is where. Together as a class, have the children verbalize in full
sentences what each flashcard is, in order. Remove one flashcard
to test the children's memory. Together as a class, verbalize the
flashcards including the missing card. Continue removing
flashcards and verbalizing the order until all the flashcards have
been removed.

*Exit routine:
Sing a ‘Stand in Line’ song. Then give each child a colouring sheet (see the printable resources) then
wish each other a “Merry Christmas!” on leaving the classroom.

We hope that you find these ideas useful and that you have lots of fun in your Christmas lessons!