Christmas Fun: Pack 1 (A1+ to A2-)

Objective & content

A Christmas pack for pupils aged 11 to 13, from A1+ to A2-, built to be fun and quick. It brings together nine resources: a projected team quiz (15 questions on songs, films, food and Santa), a one-page mini escape game, four puzzles (Christmas films in emojis, a crossword with photo clues, a word search with a secret message, a logic puzzle), a reading about Christmas in Australia at three levels, a listening sheet about the first Christmas card with its audio file, and 24 "Would you rather?" speaking cards. Each activity fits on one A4 page, sometimes with a key page after it. The pack page gives a running order for two lessons, plus the quiz as a reward.

Pedagogical guide

Every activity gives pupils a quick, visible reward: a lock that opens, a secret message, a joke printed upside down, a score out of 10. The English stays simple (mostly the present simple, with a few past simple forms in the listening, the reading and the logic puzzle), so the whole class can take part. The resources also link to each other: the word search hides the greeting of the first Christmas card, which the listening sheet then explains, and the speaking cards ask about a hot Christmas on the beach before the reading on Australia. The pack is about the holiday (food, films, cards, presents, Santa), with no religious content, and the speaking cards are "imagine" questions, so every pupil can join in. Each resource has its own page with its answer key: open it from the pack.

Suggested procedure

1. Lesson 1 (about 50 min): Would You Rather cards as a warm-up (10 min), then the word search (15 min), then the listening sheet (20 min), then the emoji films (5 to 10 min).
2. Lesson 2 (about 50 min): the reading at three levels (20 to 25 min), then the crossword or the logic puzzle (15 to 20 min), then Santa's Locked Workshop (10 min).
3. The reward (20 to 25 min): project the Christmas Quiz in the last lesson before the holiday, in 2 to 4 teams.
4. One lesson only: cards (10 min), listening (20 min), escape game (10 min), emoji films (10 min).

Adaptations

[S] Give the Support (A1+) reading and read it aloud once. Play the listening a third time, with pauses. Write a word bank on the board for the crossword, and let pupils do the emoji puzzle and the escape game in pairs or teams.

[A] Give the Stretch (A2+) reading and the logic puzzle (A2-). Ask for two reasons with each speaking card, and put a timer on the escape game.

Materials & prerequisites

The printed pages you choose (each comes in colour and in a low-ink version), a projector for the quiz, and speakers for the listening, whose audio file you download from its resource page. Print the cards on card if you want to use them again. Pupils should know simple Christmas words, colours and numbers.