Christmas lesson plan

“Merry Christmas!”

Special lesson Level 1 Age 3-5

Lesson plans for ESL kids teachers

Special lesson

Christmas

In this lesson, students are introduced to some common Christmas vocabulary, learn a Christmas carol, read a story about [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us], make decorations and play lots of fun Christmas games.

Members get accompanying flashcards, worksheets, songs and readers.

This is a full course lesson plan.

Materials:

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Age: 3-5 years
Time: 40 mins – 1 hour
Objectives: Recognize and identify 6 Christmas words and sing a Christmas carol.
Structures: “Merry Christmas”, “What color is it?”, “Who is this?”.
New vocabulary: [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us], Rudolph, sleigh, presents, decorations, wreath, Christmas tree.

Lesson materials

Flashcards:

Christmas flashcards: [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us], Rudolph, sleigh, presents, decorations, Christmas tree

Printables:

Santa maze worksheet
[hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] gets stuck reader worksheet

Songs:

Hello song
Goodbye song
We wish you a merry Christmas (adapted)

Readers:

[hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] gets stuck

Supplies:

name tags for each student
a glove puppet
[hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] crayons / pencils
pots of paint, trays and construction paper / card (to make the handprints)
glue
small [hide_on_uk]candies[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]wrapped sweets[/hide_on_us]
wrapping paper
cushions (1 per student)
device to play the songs on

Notes:

In this lesson, students are introduced to some common Christmas vocabulary, learn a Christmas carol, read a story about [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us], make decorations and play lots of fun Christmas games.

Lesson procedure:

Warm up and maintenance:

1. Greetings
Greet the students by name as they enter the classroom and gesture for them to sit down (on cushions if you have them) in a fan-shape around you.

2. Name tags
Before class, prepare some blank name tags (stickers or pin-on tags) and some cards, each with a student’s name written on clearly – students will use them to copy their names onto their name tags. Sit down with your students and lay out the name cards in front of you. Pick up each card and encourage the student to recognize his/her name. Do this for everyone.

Finally, have everyone take out a crayon or pencil and copy their name on their tags and stick them on.

Introduce glove puppet - greetings and introductions activity

3. Glove puppet greetings
Bring out your glove puppet bag and have everyone shout “Hello!“ into the bag until he wakes up and jumps out of the bag. Then model talking to the glove puppet …

Teacher: “Hello”, What’s your name?”
Puppet: “My name is…”.
Puppet: “How are you?”
Teacher: “I’m fine, thank you”.

… and then have the puppet say hello to each student and ask them the same questions. Then have the puppet ask any other questions practiced in previous lessons. Finally, go around saying “Goodbye” and “See you” before going back into the bag and back to sleep.

4. Sing the “Hello song”
Sit in a circle and sing the song (clap along or pat knees).

Lyrics for the “Hello song”

Hello, hello,
How are you today?
Hello, hello,
How are you today?

I’m fine, thank you,
I’m fine, thank you,
I’m fine, thank you,
And how about you?

Hello, hello,
How are you today?
I’m fine, thank you,
And how about you?

Gestures for the “Hello song”

These are quite straight forward. First time you play the song do the gestures and encourage everyone to do them with you.

Wave as you sing the “Hello, hello” parts.
Gesture to others as you sing, “How are you today?”
Point to yourself as you sing, “I’m fine, thank you”
Hand gesture towards another student as you sing, “And how about you?”.

[hide_on_uk]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_uk]

[hide_on_us]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_us]

5. Homework check
Check each student’s homework that you set in the last lesson. Ask each student some questions about their homework worksheet (e.g. “What’s this?”, etc.), give lots of praise, and then put some kind of mark on the homework sheet (e.g. a sticker, a stamp or draw a smiley face).

Finally, tell your students to put their homework back into their bags.

6. Do “Exercise routine” activity
Say the following and have the students follow your lead:

“Stand up” (Teacher stands and so does everyone else)
“Hands up / hands down” (do 4 or 5 times)
“Jump” (4 or 5 times)
“Kick” (4 or 5 times)
“Run! / Stop!” (4 or 5 times)
“Turn around! / Stop!” (4 or 5 times)
“Wiggle” (a few seconds)
finally “Sit down”.

New learning and practice:

1. Set the scene for Christmas
Sit everyone down and show a flashcard picture of [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us]. Elicit who it is (“Who is this?”). Explain that today we are going to have a Christmas lesson because it’s nearly Christmas!

Put on some Christmas carol background music to create a Christmas atmosphere. If you have a [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] hat or even outfit, this is a great time to put it on!

2. Review [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] with paint
We’re going to start with a fun, and messy, craft activity. You are going to use paint in the next step of the lesson, so let’s review the [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] using your paint pots.

Take out a paint pot and elicit the [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us]. Then take a tray and pour the paint into the tray. Do the same for the other [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] and have students take turns in helping you pour out the paint into different trays.

3. Start making Christmas wreath decorations
Now we have our paint ready to use to make some Christmas wreaths! Get some large pieces of construction paper or card. Then get everyone to dip their hands into the paint trays and press onto the card to make handprints. It’s probably a good idea to have newspaper to cover the tables.

This will be lots of fun and probably very messy! Then take the card away and leave to drive – we’ll come back to these later in the lesson!

4. Teach and practice Christmas vocabulary
Today, we are going to learn the following words: [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us], Rudolph, sleigh, presents, Christmas tree, decorations. The last word we have just learned. Use our flashcards or pictures. Hold up each picture and chorus x3.

Next, play the following flashcard games:

Flashcard touch: Lay the flashcards on the floor. Tell the students to put their hands in the air. Then Teacher calls out a flashcard (e.g. “Christmas tree!”). Students have to touch the card as quickly as they can. Play for a few rounds until you have done all of the flashcards.
Missing flashcard: Tell the students to close their eyes. Take away a flashcard and tell the students to open their eyes again. Ask, “Which picture is missing?”. Students have to shout out the missing flashcard. Play a few rounds.

Note:

For larger groups, divide your students into groups of 6-8 and play the games in their groups.

5. Read classroom reader “[hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] gets stuck”
Before class, download and print off the reader “[hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] gets stuck”. As you go through each page, point to the pictures and let your students shout out what they can see and think is happening:

Teacher: Who is this? (pointing at [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] and Rudolph on page 1)
Students: [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] and Rudolph!
Teacher: Yes, that’s right! (reading from the story) “It’s Christmas Eve night. [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] and Rudolph are flying in their sleigh.” What [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] are [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us]’s clothes?
Students: Red!
Teacher: That’s right. [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] always wears red. (turning the page) … Oh look! What is this boy doing?
Students: He’s sleeping!
Teacher: Yes, that’s right! Look, how many stockings does he have?
Students: 2!
Teacher: Yes, 2! He has 2 stockings for his presents from [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us].
etc.

Get the students really involved in the story by asking lots of questions (e.g. eliciting the objects and their [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us]) and even getting everyone to speculate about what presents the boy and girl have under the wrapping paper.

There is also a reader worksheet to use with the story. Have your students put the numbers on their worksheets as you read through the story. Then go through the answers as a class.

Alternatively, watch our video version of the reader (Internet connection required).

6. 5-minute play time
This is an optional segment that can be part of all your lessons at this level. Allow your students to play with any games or toys you have. If possible, use large tubs or boxes to hold the toys and bring them out for a few minutes each lesson. Tubs filled with animals, plastic fruit, building blocks, kitchen sets, plastic food, cars & vehicles, Mr. Potato Head dolls and so on.

Note:

This would also be a good time to prepare the wreath decoration as the paint should have dried by now. Cut out all the handprints, ready for the final step!

7. Complete the Christmas wreath decorations
Let’s finish the wreath. If you haven’t already, cut out the handprints. Next, either glue them together in a circle shape or glue onto a ring made from card. Depending on the number of students you have, you can make one large wreath or many wreaths.

Finally, hang the wreath / wreaths up on display for all to see.

8. Sing “We wish you a merry Christmas”
Most Christmas carols use a lot of difficult vocab or vocab which isn’t used in modern English anymore. This doesn’t make it easy for teaching lower-level English learners! However, we can adapt songs to fit the vocab you are teaching. In this case, we have adapted the carol “We wish you a merry Christmas” for our students.

Before playing the song, line up the flashcards on the floor or the board. Then, play the song and teacher sings and touches each flashcard as the vocab word is sung, to show everyone how the song goes. Encourage your students to join in. It may be worthwhile slowly running through the song without the music first.

Then everyone sings the song together.

Lyrics for “We wish you a merry Christmas“

Chorus:
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy New Year.

Verse 1:
Santa and Rudolph,
Will fly in their sleigh,
We’ll open our presents,
And have a great day!

Chorus

Verse 2:
Our Christmas tree’s up,
With decorations,
We’ll eat a roast turkey,
And Christmas pudding.

Chorus

Verse 1 again

Chorus

Verse 2 again

[hide_on_uk]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_uk]

[hide_on_us]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_us]

Note:

We also have an adapted version of the carol “Jingle bells” which you may want to use instead of or as well as “We wish you a merry Christmas”.

You can play / download Jingle bells on our songs page.

9. Play “Flashcard pass the parcel”
All kids love this game! Before class prepare the parcel. Make sure you have enough [hide_on_uk]candies[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]wrapped sweets[/hide_on_us] for each student and a picture / flashcard of the Christmas vocab for each student. The idea is for each layer of the parcel to have a [hide_on_uk]candy[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]sweet[/hide_on_us] stuck to vocab picture (e.g. [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us], Christmas tree, etc.). When each wrapping paper is removed the student will have to correctly say the word of the picture in order to keep the [hide_on_uk]candy[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]sweet[/hide_on_us]. Wrap up the first [hide_on_uk]candy[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]sweet[/hide_on_us] / picture and then for each layer add another picture / [hide_on_uk]candy[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]sweet[/hide_on_us].

Play the game sitting in a big circle. Play Christmas music and have everyone pass the parcel around the circle until you stop the music. The student unwraps the first layer and has to say the word for the picture to get the [hide_on_uk]candy[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]sweet[/hide_on_us]. Keep going and make sure every student has a chance to remove a layer and get a [hide_on_uk]candy[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]sweet[/hide_on_us].

10. Play “Hide [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us]”
Let’s end with a quick, fun game. If you have a [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] doll or decoration, this is great – if not, a [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] flashcard is fine. Show everyone the [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us]. Then tell everyone to close their eyes – hide [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] somewhere in the room (e.g. in a cupboard, behind a table, etc.).

Then tell everyone to open their eyes and look for [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] by saying, “Find [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us]!”. Encourage everyone to get up and look around – it won’t take long for everyone to get the idea. The first person to find [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] wins a prize (e.g. a sticker or a candy) and then they can hide [hide_on_uk]Santa[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Father Christmas[/hide_on_us] for the next round. Play until everyone has had a go.

Wrap up:

1. Assign homework: “Santa maze” worksheet
Hold up the homework worksheet – this is a fun maze activity. Model by pointing to Santa and then drawing a route out of the maze collecting all the toys as you go – [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] them in each time you get to them.

Give out the worksheets and say, “Put your homework in your bags” and help them to do so – this is important as they will probably want to start working on them right away.

2. Say goodbye to the glove puppet
Take out the bag again and get everyone to wake up the glove puppet by shouting its name into the bag (e.g. “Cookie Monster!”). Bring out the puppet and go through the same routine – go to each student and say hello, ask their name and the say goodbye / see you. Then put the puppet back in the bag (back to sleep).

3. Sing the “Goodbye song”
Sit together in a circle and sing and clap along.

Lyrics for the “Goodbye song”

Goodbye, goodbye,
See you again.
Goodbye, goodbye,
See you again.

It’s time to go,
It’s time to go,
It’s time to go,
See you next time.

Goodbye, goodbye,
See you again.
It’s time to go,
See you next time.

Gestures for the “Goodbye song”

These are quite straight forward. First time you play the song do the gestures and encourage everyone to do them with you.

Wave as you sing the “Goodbye, goodbye” parts.
Hold your hand above your eyes (as you would when you are looking into the distance and keeping the sun out of your eyes) and look at another student as you sing, “See you again”.
Tap watch (or imaginary watch) and then point to the door as you sing, “It’s time to go”.
Point towards another student as you sing, “See you next time”.

[hide_on_uk]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_uk]

[hide_on_us]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_us]

4. Do “Quick check” and say goodbye
Time to leave the class. Make sure everything is put away and the students have gathered their belongings. Have them line up at the door and place yourself between the door and the students.

For each student hold up a Christmas flashcard and ask, “What’s this?”.

When each student responds correctly let them leave. If they make a mistake, have them go back to the end of the line – they will have to try again once they reach the front!