5 Easter Games and Activities for Your ESL Class
Easter Bunny Says
Simon Says is a classic Total Physical Response, and one that young students enjoy, so why not play it for Easter but with a twist? Or with a hop, rather? Some of the instructions may be:
– Easter Bunny says hop left/right!
– Easter Bunny says touch your bunny ears (make sure they touch the right ones!)
– Easter bunny says shake your cotton tail!
– Etc..
This is a great way to review the part of the body and introduce new Easter-related vocabulary.
2. Easter Faces
This is a fabulous way to review face vocabulary and put their listening comprehension to the test. This activity requires some previous preparation at home. First, you’ll have to prepare some eggs. Make a hole on either end of an egg, blow out the inside, and rinse. In class, give each of your students an egg and tell them to get their markers ready. Give them step by step instructions on what they have to draw:
– Draw two big eyes.
– Draw a big nose.
– Draw a smiling/frowning mouth.
– Draw eyebrows/glasses over the eyes.
– Etc…
Walk around the classroom and check to see if they followed your instructions correctly.
3. Roll the Easter Dice
Roll some custom made dice for a fun speaking task! Print out two copies of this dice template. On each side of each dice write the usual one to six numbers plus a different word – include as many Easter-related words as you can, but add some interesting ones: bunny, eggs, basket, hunt, break, spring, hop, etc… Each student rolls the dice and has to say a sentence using the two words they rolled – if they succeed they get the number of points they rolled (the two numbers added). You may choose to make it a bit more challenging for older students. Give them more difficult words to use, or tell them they have to make short story based on those two words. The best story wins!
4. Easter Egg and Spoon Race
A classic among relay races, you may choose to adapt this one to suit your students’ ages. You may use uncooked eggs, hard-boiled ones, plastic eggs, or even chocolate eggs. Divide students into two teams. Each team member races to the finish line. The winning team has to come up with ten Easter-related questions that the losing team has to answer.
5. Wordy Easter Egg Hunt
Do you feel that sometimes your students lack the words to say what they want to say? Here’s your chance to provide some through an Easter egg hunt. First, write Easter related words in small slips of paper. Place each slip inside a plastic egg. Hide the eggs throughout the classroom or outside, if you can, and invite your students to participate in this exhilarating egg hunt. Once they’ve collected them all, they open their eggs and take out the slips of paper. Their task is to write a story using the words they found in their eggs.
For Beginners
With beginners who are not considered young learners, you will be able to do more activities such as include a writing exercise in your lesson plan. After introducing key vocabulary, an Easter song would be a great listening exercise. Many ESL teachers have posted Easter songs online so you are free to use those in your lessons or make your own. Depending on the age of your students, you may decide to have them complete a fill in the blank worksheet during the song or learn the lyrics so that they can sing a long. Talk a little bit about the meaning of the song and check the answers as a class if you created a worksheet. Asking questions about the song and your Easter introduction will be a good comprehension check. At the end of the lesson an Easter theme word search or crossword puzzle would be excellent for extra vocabulary practice.
For Intermediate/Advanced
Intermediate and advanced learners will be able to handle the introduction of more challenging vocabulary but since this is a cultural lesson, try to limit yourself to about ten new words. Depending on the age of your students, you may decide to use a story or an article for a reading activity. Ask students to read silently and then take turns reading sentences aloud. The topic will depend on your students but the history of the holiday or a short fictional Easter story might be appropriate. Talk about the pronunciation and meaning of any unfamiliar words and phrases. As a follow-up you can prepare a worksheet for intermediate learners or conduct a discussion with advanced learners. For a short writing activity you can ask students to summarize the article in their own words or write a brief essay about a related topic. As a final vocabulary review, give students an Easter themed crossword puzzle to end the class on a fun note.
Source: www.busyteacher.org
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