Oxford university press CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES - TEACHER’S NOTES 1
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
TEACHER’S NOTES
CHRISTMAS BATTLESHIPS (page 2)
Tell children that it’s a night before Christmas. Children are alone at home and they start looking for presents hidden by
their parents/ Santa Claus.
1. Children work in pairs. Give child A worksheet A and child B worksheet B.
2. Each student places ‘presents’ on his worksheet. Explain that unlike in the original battleships game each object can
take only one field in the grid.
3. Pre-teach : hit and sunk – trafiony i zatopiony, missed - pudło
4. Students play battleships to find their presents. They need to ask questions eg. Is it under a sofa? Is it on the
bookshelf? When they hear “ sunk’ they have to ask What is it? and they draw their present in the right field .
5. When the game is over ask children what they have got.
CHRISTMAS BINGO (page 3)
1. Give each child a copy of the Bingo worksheet with words from four categories PEOPLE/ANIMALS, ACTIONS,
THINGS and PLACES.
2. Tell the students to look at the list, read the words. Explain new vocabulary.
3. Tell the children to circle 5 words from each category.
4. Start the game by saying a sentence which consists of one word from each category eg. Mum is decorating Christmas
tree in the living room.
5. Students must cross out the words they hear (mum, decorate, Christmas tree, living room).
6. Choose one student to form the next sentence from the words from the worksheet and say it. The game continues,
each time a different student says a sentence.
7. The winner is the student who first crosses out 20 words which s/he circled at the beginning of the game.
CHRISTMAS FAMILY FEUD
This is an English version of the popular TV show Familiada. Before you start the game, think of a prize for the winners!
1. Divide students into two teams. Each team has to appoint its captain.
2. Start the game by asking the first question. The captains stand on two sides of your desk. They show they know the
answer by hitting the desk with their hand. Check their answers versus the ones on your sheet. The team that got
more points for their captain’s answer starts the game.
3. Ask the questions .Write answers on the board. Add –up points.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the most popular Christmas present?
games - 23
cars - 18
dolls - 14
sweets - 8
books - 6
2. What is children’s favourite Christmas snack?
sweets - 29
chocolate - 28
cakes - 19
gingerbread cookies - 18
oranges - 7
3. What is children’s favourite Christmas activity?
opening presents - 35
decorating Christmas tree - 27
eating sweets, gingerbread cookies, chocolate – 20
singing carols – 5
making a snowman - 3
4. What is the most expensive Christmas decoration?
Christmas tree – 22
lights – 20
bells – 17
angels - 12
candles - 9
5. What is the most popular Christmas colour (eg. for
decorations)?
white – 25
red – 23
gold – 18
silver - 16
green – 7
6. Who is the most popular guest at Christmas
dinner?
grandmother – 32
grandfather – 26
aunt – 14
uncle – 7
cousins - 6
2 CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES - TEACHER’S NOTES Oxford university press
HELP SANTA WITH HIS REINDEER (pages 4 - 7)
(a one lesson project)
Copy one Santa’s sleigh and 9 reindeer for each child or pair of children.
Oxford university press CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES - TEACHER’S NOTES 3
Introduction: Santa Claus is getting ready for his journey. His sleigh is filled with presents but he can’t find his
reindeer. They have all hidden themselves. They will only come out if Santa completes 8 tasks. Help him do the tasks -
one task for each reindeer.
Each child (or a pair of students) gets a picture of sleigh and Santa. On the board write the names of reindeer and give
each of them a number. Children do the tasks. For each completed task they get a picture of 1 reindeer which they stick
onto their picture and write his name underneath.
Each task comes on a separate sheet. After the students complete all the tasks they get a bonus – an extra reindeer.
This is Rudolf and children can draw his big red nose.
Tasks:
1. Ss use the letters to form the word CHRISTMAS
2. Ss write a Christmas shopping list
3. Ss plan a list of presents for a family from Oxford
4. Using given letters Ss write a Christmas card.
5. Ss read a text a and draw a picture on the basis of it.
6. Ss complete a letter to Santa.
7. Ss draw things to decorate Santa’s room.
8. Ss write out the names of things in the Advent Calendar.
CHRISTMAS 20 QUESTIONS (page 8)
1. Copy the worksheet and cut the words, put them face down on the desk.
2. Choose the first volunteer and ask him/her to come to the front of the class. The volunteer picks one card, doesn’t show it
anyone. S/he sits in front of the rest of the class.
3. The whole class can ask him yes/no questions eg. Can you eat it? The student in front of the class can only say yes/ no.
4. The aim of the game is to guess the word using not more than 20 questions (keep the record on the board).
5. If the class is in real trouble and can’t think of any more questions they can ‘buy’ a hint. The student in front can tell them
one sentence which might help but shouldn’t be too obvious eg. They have wings. The hints ‘costs’ 3 questions.
CHRISTMAS EVE PHOTOGRAPH (page 8)
1. Divide the class into two teams.
2. Give each team the same set of Christmas word cards. Students should shuffle the cards and deal them so that everyone in
the team has a few cards.
3. The cards can be displayed face up in front of each player.
4. Divide the blackboard /white board into two parts, assigning each part to a different team.
5. Explain that each part of the board is a Christmas photograph. You can even draw a frame to make it more real.
6. Start the game. Give a definition of one of the words from the set.
7. The students from each team who have a card with this word must run to the board and draw this thing. The picture should
be the first element of a Christmas photo. When they stand up and run they shouldn’t call out the name of the word in
English.
8. When the students finish drawing they must say one sentence about their word eg. If the word is CANDLE they can say: There
are five candles on the table. (Of course, the sentence they say must describe the picture they have drawn).
9. When they finish saying sentences give points: 2 points for the person who first finishes drawing, 1 point for the student
who finishes later. Give half of the points if there are major mistakes in the sentences.
10. Next, define another word and the students run and draw again. The game continues until all words are used up.
11. All new elements added to the photograph must fit the picture.
12. At the end of the game, count the points. The winner is the team with the highest score.
CHRISTMAS STORY (page 8)
1. Students work in pairs or groups.
2. Give each group a copy of a worksheet with the possible titles of the story and the list of the words (optionally you can write
it on the board). Give each group an A3 piece of paper and small pieces of paper.
3. Set the time limit eg. 20 minutes.
4. Students choose a title and write a short Christmas story. The story should be written on A3 pieces of paper.
5. Students should make a picture of each word from the list on an index card. The index card should be then stuck on the word
on the story board (A 3 piece of paper) with a sticky tape. The pictures must be stuck only at the top so that you can lift the
picture and read the word that it represents.
6. Display the works in the class.
7. As a follow-up, you can organise a competition. Each team reads other groups’ story. They get a point for every correct word
they ‘read’ from illustration. The team with the highest score wins.
CHRISTMAS MAZE (page 9)
1. Students work in pairs. Give each pair a copy of a worksheet.
2. Explain the rules: students must go through a maze of Christmas words from START(top left-hand square) to FINISH (right
bottom-hand square). Each time they can move from one word to another vertically, horizontally or vertically. Possible
moves from the present location:
NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE
NEXT MOVE YOUR WORD NEXT MOVE
NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE
The word which they choose next must fit into the next sentence. The list of the sentences is below the maze.
CHRISTMAS CROSSWORD – WHICH CLUE IS IT? (page 10)
1. Students work in pairs or small groups.
2. Give each pair/group a copy of a crossword and a list of clues.
3. Set the time limit.
4. Explain the aim of the activity. Students must work out which clue goes with which word and write the references on the
clue list eg. 1 DOWN.
5. When the time is over, check the answers with the class.
CHRISTMAS WORDS - WHERE DOES THIS WORD BELONG? (page 11)
1. Students work in pairs.
2. Give each pair a dice, counters, a copy of a board with words and an empty grid with categories.
3. Tell each student in a pair to take a marker/pen in a different colour.
4. Students place their counters on START. The first students rolls the dice and moves his/her counter in any direction on the
board. S/he marks the square where s/he lands with a cross in his/her colour and writes this word to an appropriate category
in the grid below.
5. Students can’t go though the same square twice in one move. Each time they can move from one word to another vertically,
horizontally or vertically. Possible moves from the present location:
NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE
NEXT MOVE YOUR WORD NEXT MOVE
NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE NEXT MOVE
6. The game continues with the next student rolling the dice.
7. You can’t cross the word which has already been crossed.
8. During the game set two dictionary times (1 minute long) when students can check the words in the dictionary or in their
books.
9. After a set limit of time, check the answers with the class. Each student gets a point for placing a word in a correct category.
10. The winner is the student with the highest score.