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Skills: Listening and speaking
Grammar focus: Vocabulary
Level: Elementary
Age: Children (7 – 9 years old)
Time: 60 minutes +
Materials: Flashcards for Halloween vocabulary (you could make these yourself using an image search website), balloons (white/orange/other colors as needed), markers, candies, jars.
- Activity 1: Vocabulary Presentation
1. Elicit from the students the symbols they know that are related to Halloween.
2. Show the flashcards to the students one by one, and elicit from them the correct word for each picture. If students do not know the vocabulary, tell them the correct word and ask them to repeat it.
3. Display the flashcards on the board.
- Activity 2: Repeating Vocabulary
1. Ask students to say the name of each flashcard changing their voices and facial expressions.
e.g. Say the words as though you are a witch.
Say the words as though you are a vampire.
Say the words as though you are a ghost.
- Activity 3: Memorizing Vocabulary
1. Display all the flashcards on the board.
2. Ask students to name each flashcard.
3. Turn back the first flashcard, ask students to name all of them, including the first one that is backwards.
4. Turn back the second flashcard, ask students to name all of them, including the first and second flashcards that are backwards.
5. Continue until all flashcards are backwards.
- Activity 4: Halloween Walk
1. Draw a line on the floor and ask students to stay behind it.
2. Draw a parallel line some meters ahead.
3. Ask students to move in different ways:
e.g. Walk like a spider.
Fly like a witch
Walk like a skeleton.
Float like a ghost.
Walk like a monster.
Fly like a bat.
Walk like a black cat.
- Activity 5: Ghost Balloons
1. Ask each student to blow up a white balloon.
2. Ask them to draw the facial features that are missing for a ghost e.g. Draw two eyes. Draw a mouth.
Variation:
1. Instead of using a white balloon, students can use an orange balloon and transform it into a Jack-o-lantern.
2. They can also use any color of balloon and draw a face for a witch on it.
Follow up:
1. This is a good opportunity to revise the name of facial features and colors.
2. The teacher can ask questions like:
a) What facial features a ghost has?
b) What facial features does a ghost not have?
c) Which facial features does a witch have that a ghost doesn’t have?
d) What color is the ghost?
e) What color is Jack-o-lantern?
f) What color is your witch?
- Activity 6: Candy Jar Guess
1. Collect different sizes of jars.
2. Put candies in the jars and get the students to guess how many there are in each jar.
3. Special Halloween-shaped candies would be great.
Follow up:
1. The teacher can easily link this activity to math by asking questions such as:
a) Why do you think there are more candies in this jar?
b) Why do you think there are fewer candies in this jar?
c) If you have to divide the candies of this jar with your classmates, how many candies will each one receive?
2. The teacher can create many math problems with the candies in the jars e.g. Adding up all the candies, dividing the candies among the girls/boys.
