The festive season can be a great opportunity to teach new content and vocabulary in class, whilst recapping on what students have been learning throughout the term. Natilly Macartney suggests some fun activities to get children practising their festive vocabulary.
December is the most enjoyable time of the year to be teaching children, and thanks to Disney and Justin Bieber, many young students have a head start and already know a few festive related words. Therefore, a fun way to start off a festive class is to elicit some vocabulary by dividing students into two teams and seeing which team can give the most words in one minute.
You can present basic seasonal vocabulary such as, gift, party and decorations with some festive flashcards. I like to make my own flashcards by mounting a picture on card and writing the word in bold on the other side. I introduce the pronunciation of the word first, then the children repeat it, and then I show them its form. It is important to show the word’s form because it will help the children visualise it, and make it easier to recall. When introducing new vocabulary try and stick to a limit of eight words in one class. It is hard to choose, but any more than eight and children will find it too difficult to remember them all. Warning! There is one English word that no flashcard can teach, and it is such a shame because it is a real cracker. Until I taught English in France, I did not appreciate how ‘very British’ the humble cracker is. I took some crackers into my school to show the children and they had never seen anything like it. They were amazed by the small gift inside and the loud pop it made when you pulled it. It was a great way to share some British culture in the classroom.
Whilst presenting flashcards ask lots of questions, and if the children do not understand your question, for example ‘what sound does Santa make?’ you can miscall it by saying, ‘does Santa make a meow sound?’ The children will be quick to correct you. Flashcards can easily become a routine in the classroom, so keep them fun and engaging by playing lots of games. You can give some children in the class a card and then all the students look around the room and try to remember who has each card. Then the children hide their cards and you ask, ‘where is the tree?’ and the children point to whoever has the tree. Of course teachers are very forgetful, so after the first few words encourage the students to ask where cards are.
Finally, I want to share with you one of my most successful class activities EVER! Last Christmas I painted a giant Santa and then I cut it up in to several pieces. I asked the children to cover their eyes and I stuck the pieces on the board. Then two children came to the front and put the Santa together with the help of their classmates. Afterwards, the children made sentences by drawing up on all the vocabulary and structures they had learnt throughout the term, for example, ‘Santa wears a red hat’. As well as teaching new content, this time of year is also the perfect opportunity to recap previous content and help you plan your lessons for the upcoming year.