If you want to have a quieter activity to do related to Thanksgiving, consider making your own puzzle. For example, this listening comprehension one seen below. Or, even better, elicit Thanksgiving-themed words from your students and write them on the board.

• Even if you’re not musical (like me), there are lots of great songs and chants on YouTube so not to worry!
• Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 20 years to students in South Korea and Canada.
• If your students know a decent amount of Thanksgiving vocabulary, you could consider playing charades with them.
• Keep on reading for all of my favourite ESL Thanksgiving activities and games.

It’s super easy to plan an entire lesson based on a reading passage about Thanksgiving. In this case, find or write a conversation between two people talking about Thanksgiving traditions in their family. It’s easy to make your own game in just a few minutes.

• In this case, you’d want to show students a flashcard with Thanksgiving vocabulary on it.
• How did the custom of eating turkey come about, especially since it probably wasn’t eaten at the first Thanksgiving?
• In the end, students could make a video, lead a class discussion, give a presentation or do something else to share what they’ve learned.
• She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

Speaking Activity: This or That (10 minutes)

She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications. She’s taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource. Did you try out one of the activities on this list, or do you have another go-to source? It really is that easy to have better English lessons. Listen to the book while you exercise, or take it to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go.

Then, teach the history and culture of Thanksgiving and explore if they have a similar holiday in their country. Thanksgiving for ESL learners can be tough to explain to people who’ve maybe never heard of this holiday. There are a number of common questions that people have about teaching Thanksgiving for ESL students.

Hide paper turkey feathers around the classroom, each with a vocabulary word or phrase related to Thanksgiving. If you’re the crafty type (or have students who are), consider doing a fun art project. Just ask my students and they’ll tell you that I love surveys, board games and running dictation! It’s easier than you might think to plan an ESL conversation lesson for just about anything, including this holiday. Hot potato is one of the best ESL vocabulary games that I know of! If they don’t, then do an activity where your students can learn this vocabulary.

Have you ever noticed that students often mindlessly read this without really paying attention to what’s in it? Total beginners would just have to name the picture, while higher-level students could make a complete sentence that includes the word. If you haven’t tried out some of this kind of teaching, Thanksgiving may be the best place to start! If you’re looking for some new ideas for ESL Thanksgiving Activities, then you’ll want to consider task-based learning seriously.

Thanksgiving Idioms Words, Terms & Phrases for Thanksgiving

If your students know a decent amount of Thanksgiving vocabulary, you could consider playing charades with them. You can make up a Thanksgiving-themed one for your students, but you may have to pre-teach them some vocabulary. But, it can be an interesting class to have students think about their lives and what they have.

Thanksgiving Day

In this case, they’d use a frozen turkey, but this isn’t necessary. Then, on each part of the wing, they can write something that they’re thankful for. Or, two people having a conversation about some favourite memories. Perhaps it’s someone talking about their upcoming plans.

History of Thanksgiving in the United States

This question encourages students to share their own cultural traditions related to giving thanks or harvest celebrations. The history of Thanksgiving is that it originated as a harvest festival. Do you have any more suggestions for ESL Thanksgiving vocabulary? Create Thanksgiving-themed mad libs with missing words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) for students to fill in. A plastic turkey or odd-shaped object works just as well.

#9 Thanksgiving ESL Game: Hot Potato

After the prayer is finished, people start passing around the food and helping themselves to the dishes on the table. The head of the house often carves the turkey, and the rest of the family sits down to eat when all of the food is ready and set on the table. People usually prepare a wide variety of foods including turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, green beans, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month. Many countries have a day of Thanksgiving sometime during the year.

If you’re looking for a complete ESL Thanksgiving Lesson, then these games and activities probably aren’t what you need. Of course, it’s possible to do this kind of activity with any other holiday, including Easter or Halloween. These Thanksgiving listening tasks are designed for A1–B1 ESL learners and can be used as part of holiday lessons, warm-ups, or digital assignments. What’s your go-to ESL Thanksgiving activity, game or worksheet that you like to use with your students? Do you want to try out these fun online Thanksgiving games? The Thanksgiving turkey is a symbol of the main dish served during the holiday feast and is often the centerpiece of the meal.

Instead, you could find out what their local holiday is for giving thanks or the fall harvest. After all, to them, it’s just a normal work daman game login or school day. This helps students to activate any prior knowledge they may have about Thanksgiving vocabulary.

It can be an interesting class for the students to do some ESL Thanksgiving activities to share a little bit of what this holiday means to them. Students watch a short video and then answer multiple-choice questions to test their listening comprehension and holiday vocabulary. Perfect for A2-level ESL learners, this activity helps students understand how Thanksgiving started and how it’s celebrated today. She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world. The key to interesting, engaging English lessons is a wide variety of activities and games and this book will help you do just that.

Give students a blank bingo grid, and they can make their games. Plus, your students will certainly encounter some new vocabulary words that they’re never seen before (Gobble, gobble!). Keep on reading for all of my favourite ESL Thanksgiving activities and games. When you teach a language, you’re teaching a lot of vocabulary and grammar. These tasks help students practice listening comprehension, vocabulary, and pronunciation while celebrating Thanksgiving.

One of the best ways to teach new vocabulary to kids is through songs. If you teach more advanced learners, you could have a small group discussion (for a larger class) or a class discussion about Thanksgiving. Maybe a family eating a turkey dinner or something similar. In this case, you’d want to remove key Thanksgiving vocabulary. I don’t blame my students because I’ve usually given them no reason to pay attention.

As the name implies, Thanksgiving is a time when most people reflect on what they’re thankful for. Thanksgiving is a popular holiday in the USA and Canada, and many countries around the world have a roughly equivalent holiday as well (Chuseok in Korea for example). Not just teaching a language, but showing students what life is like in their countries. Improve your skills through exercises, quizzes, and games. By the 20th century, Thanksgiving included parades and football games, with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade starting in 1924. Sarah Josepha Hale, a determined magazine editor, campaigned for a unified national holiday.

Students will have fun learning English while feeling the cozy Thanksgiving spirit. English Listening activities for Thanksgiving. Join thousands of English learners and teachers who get free tips, lesson ideas, and language insights straight into their inboxes. Today, it is a cherished occasion for family gatherings and reflection.

You’ll have to teach students the basic rules first and get your hands on a football but then get outside and have some fun. If you’re able to take your students outside, then consider playing some flag football. It’s a random kind of game that students love.