Are you struggling to motivate your teens before their holiday break? During this time of year, students get very excited about spending time with family and friends and exchanging gifts, sharing traditions, listening to holiday music, and watching their communities light up with holiday decorations. Embrace the spirit of the holidays and keep your students engaged with holiday themed activities. Below are various free online web tools and sites for teens to improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills and celebrate the winter holidays. For more ideas on how to teach about Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and other December holidays, check out our webinar recordings, Celebrating December Holidays and holidays.
To learn more about integrating technology to support English language learners, attend our free Friday webinars.
Holiday Sites and Apps
- Check out these holiday themed writing prompts by Anthippi Harou.
- Students can use the Magisto app (iOS/Android) or Kizoa (web) to create a holiday slideshow with music and their photos.
- Students can send personalized e-card greetings with Red Stamp and Sincerely Ink. Both are accessible via the web and Android and iOS devices.
- Students can create and send animated holiday greetings or digital presentations with EduBuncee.
- Get students to practice their pronunciation and learn vocabulary with interactive holiday videos at English Central.
- Students can join this Christmas Karaoke Voicethread or visit the Lyrics Training site and learn English with holiday music videos.
- Check out Guess the Wordle and get students to guess what these popular Christmas carols are based on the word cloud clues.
- Students will have fun making a music video of themselves and four friends with Elf Yourself.
- Teens will enjoy creating a fun holiday video with JibJab. They can add an image of themselves and their friends and family.
- Students can play Pass the Paper and learn Christmas Carols.
- Breaking News English has 101 holiday related discussion questions.
- ESOLCourses has holiday related quizzes, videos, and more.
- Find more ideas in these posts- 50 Holiday Related Activities For The ELT Classroom by EFL Classroom, Celebrating December Holidays by Cybraryman, and Resources to Learn About Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah by Larry Ferlazzo.
Check out the Teaching with Technology Certification course we offer online.
Live TESOL webinars are presented every Friday at 4 PM EST or New York time with Shelly Terrell. TESOL Lectures are open to the public, so feel free to invite a friend. To enter a TESOL Webinar, click here https://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell/. Next, click Enter as a Guest, type your name, and click Enter Room.
Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/ball-bauble-christmas-claus-15560/