Thursday, December 11, 2025

Blogmas day 20

Who loves cookies?

Here is an activity with a delicious cookie recipe. The paragraphs are jumbled, have your students put them into the correct order and bake the cookies at home!

Click here to get it!

Blogmas day 19

I love stories, so here is another idea. You can use a story dice online or make one with your students!

Here are some ideas!

Find an online story dice here!

Step-by-step procedure

1. Roll the dice

You (or the student) click to roll the dice.
Show the icons on screen.

2. Brainstorm vocabulary (1–2 minutes)

Ask students to quickly list words or expressions related to the icons.
Example:

🎁 present → “wrap,” “unbox,” “surprise,” “give”
🎅 Santa → “deliver,” “chimney,” “get stuck,” “reindeer”

This activates relevant language before producing the story.

3. Build the story

Choose one of these formats:

A. One-sentence-each (group version)

Student 1 starts the story.
Student 2 continues.
Each must include one icon.

B. Solo storyteller

The student tells a whole mini-story using all icons.

C. Timed storytelling

Give them 2 minutes to prepare a short narrative.

D. Puzzle mode

You give the story start and end; students fill in the middle using the icons.

📌 Example student-friendly prompts

A1–A2 Levels

“First, there was…”
“Then…”
“After that…”
“In the end…”
Simple phrases, simple past, lots of adjectives.

B1–B2 Levels

“While Santa was…” (Past Continuous)
“She had already…” (Past Perfect)
“Suddenly…”
“Luckily…”
More complex sequencing and connectors.

C1 Levels

Ask for a fully developed short narrative with:

Setting description
Cause and effect
Tension and resolution
Humour or twist ending

🎅 Fun Variations

1. The Grinch Variation

Every story must include a problem caused by an unexpected “Grinch moment.”

2. Genre Roulette

Roll dice AND roll a genre:

horror
comedy
sci-fi
fairy tale
mystery
Students must adapt the story to the genre.
(Great for your Star Trek-loving side if you want a “Christmas in space” theme!)

3. Grammar Challenge

Before rolling, assign a tense they MUST use:

Past Perfect Continuous
Used to / Would
Third Conditional
Passive voice

4. Chaotic Version (very fun)

Roll three more dice halfway through.
Students must suddenly change the story to include new elements.

5. Whole-Class Storyboard

After telling the story, students draw (or make a digital comic strip) of the events.

🌟 Why this activity works

Encourages spontaneous speaking
Helps with narrative coherence
Makes grammar meaningful, not mechanical
Boosts creativity
Reduces anxiety — the dice “decide,” not the student
Works for any age and any level
Perfect for holiday lessons with little prep

How about writing a story with your students? Use story bird to create comics, picture books, poems and so much more. Students can share their stories or even print them and give them to their parents as a Christmas present!

Find the website here!

Blogmas day 17

AI wrote the text after instructions

❄️ Festive Scavenger Hunt – Full Activity Guide

🎯 Aim of the activity

To encourage students to use descriptive language, practice functional phrases, and speak spontaneously—while having fun with a Christmas theme.

📝 How it works

You prepare a list of holiday-related items that students must find either around their home (online lesson) or in the classroom. The items don’t need to be explicitly “Christmas objects”—they can be anything connected by colour, shape, smell, texture, or symbolism. This makes it accessible for all levels and avoids cultural pressure.

✨ Example item prompts

Instead of saying “bring a candle,” you phrase it so they must interpret the clue:

Find something that smells like winter.
Bring something red that isn’t clothing.
Find something that makes a sound.
Bring something you would give as a last-minute gift.
Find something that reminds you of home.
Find something tiny enough to fit inside a Christmas stocking.

These types of clues invite creativity, which leads to more natural speaking practice.

🗣️ What students do

Each time they bring an item back, they must describe it using guided language. For example:

A1/A2 levels:
“This is a red candle. It smells like cinnamon.”
“It is soft and small. It’s a toy.”
B1/B2 levels:
“This reminds me of winter because…”
“I chose this object because…”
“If I had to put it in a stocking, I would choose…”
C1 levels:
“This object symbolizes…”
“I associate this with the holidays due to…”

You can add extra language challenges—e.g., they must use one adjective, one preposition, or one connector in their description.

🎅 Variations to make it even more fun

1. Timed Challenge

Give students 30–45 seconds per clue. The urgency makes the activity energetic and playful.

2. Photo Version

If they can’t move around, students take quick pics with their phone and share them on screen.

3. Team Battle

In breakout rooms or groups, each team finds and describes items. You keep score for creativity or accuracy.

4. Grammar Twist

Each clue corresponds to a tense:

“Find something you have never used before.” → Present perfect
“Find something you used to love as a child.” → Used to
“Find something you will probably throw away soon.” → Future forms

5. Story Builder

After collecting all items, students use them to create a chaotic Christmas mini-story.

🎁 Why this activity works so well

It feels like a game, not a lesson.
It encourages authentic, unprepared speaking.
It allows shy students to express themselves through objects.
It adapts to all proficiency levels.
It brings movement into screen-based lessons, keeping energy high.
It creates a warm, festive atmosphere without relying on heavy cultural content.

Blogmas day 16

Do your students like music? How about singing?

Use Lyrics training for great listening activities, Christmas songs, why not?

Students choose the correct word in the lyrics. There is a choice mode or a written mode, and also levels of difficulty!

Enjoy!!!

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

It's tiiiiiime (day 13)

A wonderful activity for children and adults as well (they want to do kid stuff too, believe me!) is making cards.

You can go all the way and bring cartons and let the students draw their own cards or you can use these links to download ready-made patterns and wishes!

British Council flash cards

isl collective

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

It's tiiiiiime. (day 12)

Did you know that Krampus is punishing bad kids in the German-speaking world? While St. Nikolaus is rewarding the good ones with presents?

Here is a reading activity in both German and English

Click here!

It's tiiiiime! ( day 11)

Who is Barbara? Who is Lucia? Why are they important to the German-speaking world?

Here are some reading activities in both German and English (level B1) that you could use with your students

(ideas are mine - text written by AI)

Click here to get the activities

It's tiiiime! (Day 6)

A wonderful game to play in class, but you can play it with your private students and online students as well! All you need to do is describe a word or a phrase with your hands and body! It's so much fun! Especially when the Christmas days are coming. It could be a great activity for your last lesson before the holidays or on your School Christmas party!!!

Here are some cards from ISL Collective!

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/grammar-topic/word-classes/christmas-activity-charades-games/102354

It's tiiiime!! (day 10)

My all-time favourite Christmas story is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I read the book eery year and I watch all the movies that have to do with this story!

But how about reading time in class?

I have found a wonderful simplified version of the story that you can do in class, and you can also find activities on the site as well!!

Here is the link!

https://www.ego4u.com/en/read-on/literature/christmas-carol

It's tiiiime (day 9)

Have you ever played pictionary?

The idea is to draw a word and the other peiple in the group have to guess! IF you have a class you can do that on the board, if you have a private student, you can take turns and write on the notebook or on your whiteboard.

Here is a link with some Christmas words you could use!

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/vocabulary-practice/pictionary-picture-dictionary-or-picture-matching/christmas/christmas-pictionary/62153