Halloween and Día de Los Muertos bring out the thrill of October and November, making these months the perfect time to inspire your language learners with the spooky, the strange, and the supernatural! Holidays like these are rich with themes of mystery, fantasy, folklore, and even science fiction—creating endless possibilities for immersive and engaging language activities.
In this #TESOL Webinar, Shelly Sanchez Terrell shares creative activities and resources designed to get your students excited about English in an unforgettable way. Explore these “Wicked English” activities, and discover how you can add a festive twist to language learning!
Why Celebrate Halloween and Día de Los Muertos in the TESOL Classroom?
These celebrations are steeped in history, cultural traditions, and vocabulary that enrich language learning. Halloween themes encourage storytelling, imagination, and critical thinking. Día de Los Muertos, with its vibrant traditions, introduces students to Mexican heritage and opens discussions about honoring ancestors. Together, these holidays provide ample opportunities to engage students in meaningful and memorable ways, making language acquisition not just effective but also a lot of fun.
Wicked English Activities for Language Learners
1. Spooky Storytelling with Props
- Objective: Improve speaking, vocabulary, and creativity.
- Materials: Mini props (e.g., small pumpkins, plastic spiders, masks, etc.), flashlight, Halloween music.
- Activity: Divide students into groups and give each group a set of Halloween props. Set a spooky scene with music and dim lighting, then challenge each group to create a short ghost story using their props. Encourage students to incorporate Halloween vocabulary like haunted, ghost, witch, and zombie.
2. Monster Match: Vocabulary Bingo
- Objective: Enhance vocabulary recall and listening skills.
- Materials: Bingo cards with Halloween-themed vocabulary.
- Activity: Provide each student with a Bingo card filled with Halloween words like cauldron, vampire, eerie, and cobweb. Call out definitions, and students must find the correct word on their card. You can add extra fun by letting students call out “BOO!” when they get Bingo.
3. Halloween Movie Clips for Listening Practice
- Objective: Practice listening comprehension and new vocabulary.
- Materials: Short clips from Halloween-friendly movies (e.g., It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown).
- Activity: Choose a few short, age-appropriate Halloween movie clips. After watching each clip, ask students questions about the characters, plot, and specific phrases they heard. Discuss Halloween traditions or emotions in the scenes to build cultural awareness.
4. Creating Día de Los Muertos Altars and Writing Epitaphs
- Objective: Increase cultural knowledge and practice descriptive writing.
- Materials: Photos, flowers, candles, sugar skull templates, and cardboard.
- Activity: Teach students about Día de Los Muertos by creating a small altar with symbolic items. Ask students to write short, creative epitaphs for fictional characters, practicing descriptive language and humor. Discuss how this Mexican tradition celebrates life, not death, and explore the symbolism of marigolds, sugar skulls, and papel picado.
5. Witches’ Brew: Spooky Recipe Writing
- Objective: Practice procedural writing and descriptive vocabulary.
- Materials: A cauldron (or large bowl), plastic eyeballs, gummy worms, green food coloring, water, etc.
- Activity: Students work in teams to invent a spooky recipe for a “witches’ brew,” complete with eerie ingredients. For example, “Add three slime-green bat wings and a pinch of fairy dust.” This exercise encourages creativity and helps students use descriptive words to make the recipe both gross and fun!
6. Costume Role-Play Interviews
- Objective: Improve speaking skills and self-expression.
- Materials: Halloween costumes or props.
- Activity: Assign each student a character (witch, skeleton, pumpkin, etc.) and have them introduce themselves in character. They should describe their costume, likes, and dislikes as their character might, and participate in a “Halloween Interview,” asking and answering questions in character.
Bonus Resources for Teachers
- YouTube Recording: Watch this TESOL webinar for a full walkthrough of the activities and extra tips from Shelly on how to engage your students this Halloween!
Watch the Webinar on YouTube - Printable Vocabulary Sheets: Download themed worksheets featuring vocabulary lists, fill-in-the-blank sentences, and picture prompts for Halloween and Día de Los Muertos.
- Recommended Books & Stories: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, La Llorona, and classic ghost stories introduce spooky themes while building comprehension skills.
Tips for Success
- Make It Age-Appropriate: Adjust the spooky level based on your learners’ ages and comfort levels.
- Use Visuals: When discussing cultural traditions, visuals like photos, altars, and colorful Día de Los Muertos decorations make concepts easier to understand.
- Encourage Discussion: Ask students to share their own holiday traditions and how they celebrate at home.
- Focus on Fun!: Halloween should be a time to laugh and enjoy learning. Be sure to keep the activities lighthearted and student-centered.
Let the Halloween magic inspire your classroom with these creative language activities. This October, your language learners will build English skills while delving into a world of folklore, fun, and fantasy—perfect for making unforgettable learning memories!
Happy Halloween, and keep it wicked in your TESOL classroom!
To learn more about integrating technology to support English language learners, attend our TESOL webinars at 4pmET/9pmUK.
