After recycling my yearly Christmas blogpost for the last few years, I decided it was time to make a new one. As a result you now have 18 ideas. Enjoy!
Idea 1: Lyrics Training, Christmas songs and mini-whiteboards
Create an account on Lyrics Training. Load up the website. Give out a set of mini-whiteboards. Pick a song, set your difficulty level. Decide on write mode and choice mode (write means writing full words and choice is a selection from four). Project the video on the screen and hit play. Students write the words when the music stops, show their answers and keep a points tally. Ones I have used in previous years.
Santa Claus llegó a la ciudad Enzo- Laura Pausini version
Feliz Navidad si tu quieres – Enzo
Mi burrito sabanero – Juanes – more on this one later.
You can find others just by typing in Navidad / Noel / Weihnachten or Christmas related words.
Idea 2: The Christmas Quiz is the vehicle for teaching about Christmas.
I’ve seen a lot of Christmas quizzes like this one by Alex Rose on TES. My personal favourite is this one although now it will cost you the wallet destroying sum of £1. It’s a bit shorter and cultural knowledge is dropped in with the answers.
Idea 3: Plan to reuse them every year.
I now have Christmas, Easter and day of the dead PPTs with all of the following in. Yes, it makes for a large file size but at least it is all in one place and easy to load up. It took me 8 years of teaching to think this up but it works now. The resources that go with the PPT are all in the same folder.
| Year 7 | Lesson 1: Cultural talk, Christmas Quiz + Worksheet. Lesson 2: Burrito Sabanero. |
| Year 8 | Lesson 1: Navidad Mexicana. Lesson 2: Lyrics Training lesson (see above). |
| Year 9 | Lesson 1: Lyrics training lesson (see above) or Todo lo que quiero eres tu Lesson 2: El Gordo |
| Extras | Christmas Calligrams Writing a letter to santa Spanish Christmas info |
Idea 4: Mi burrito sabanero (or similar in German/French)
Most UK primary school kids have come across the song “little donkey”, and if they haven’t then they are missing out/lucky (delete as applicable). I like to think that “mi burrito sabanero” in Spanish is the equivalent!
Do now: 12 words on screen. 8 from the song, 4 not but similar sounding. Students work them out or look them up. Avoid “Belén” as to some teenagers, apparently it sounds quite rude…learnt that one the hard way.
Listen 1: Students listen to the song and identify which ones they hear in the song.
Listen 2: lines from the song mixed up on screen / on paper. Students number them in the order they hear them.
Listen 3: Gap fill
Listen 4: With video containing lyrics to check answer.
If i have heard the song too many times in that week then listen 1 moves straight to listen 3.
Idea 5: Class discussion sentence builder 1
Set up a single powerpoint slide with: “What is the best Christmas film?” in your target language.
| Opinion phrases | Name of Film | Simple reasons | Agree/disagree phrases |
| I love | Home Alone | I like the story | I agree, it’s fantastic |
| I like | Muppet Christmas Carol | it makes me smile/laugh | I disagree it’s terrible |
| I enjoy | it makes me feel christmassy | I haven’t seen it |
Consider it a sentence builder with reactions added at the end.
Students discuss in pairs and then pick a few to listen to.
Idea 6: Class Discussion Sentence Builder 2
I’ll be honest here, I got to 8 ideas when writing. So, take the idea above and change “best” to “worst” and alter opinion phrases and reasons.
Idea 7: Penguins (Spanish only)
Yep, you read that right.
One whole lesson ready to go. Neil Jones’ Madagascar Penguins is a great “off the shelf” lesson that is fun, enjoyable, Christmassy and goes down well with most groups i have done it with. If you are in the kind of school that doesn’t allow films then maybe try adding it to the scheme of work first.
Idea 8: Activity around a short film (French only)
Courtesy of Josiane Cullis on TES. Le Loup qui n’aimait pas Noel is a lesson based around a short film and with plenty of activities including pre and post listening tasks.
Idea 9: German Christmas Digital Escape Room
I wish I could make something like this but Ann-Kathrin Latter definitely has some skills. This German Christmas Digital Escape Room looks great fun, is beautifully presented and I can see it going down well with Years 7,8,9.
Everyday MFL 