It’s this time of the year when teachers of esl young learners put on their Christmas jumper and bring the festive spirit in the classroom. In the weeks leading up to Christmas the students celebrate the holidays and practise the language through fun Christmas activities and crafts.Making a Christmas Flipbook is easy and it can be used in various activities throughout the Christmas period. Students can learn Christmas vocabulary through pictures, practise prepositions and tenses or use it to tell stories and play games.
Materials
1. Fold the card paper (cover) and the coloured pieces of paper in half.
2. Place the coloured pieces of paper inside the cover and bind them using staples.
3. Now you have a kind of notebook.
4. Cut the inside pages into 5 equal segments. DO NOT CUT THE COVER.
5. This is the end result.
6. First start by adding the stickers. You can download the stickers below.
7. Write the Xmas words following the word order. Subject + Verb + object + prep + noun
Place another piece of paper underneath so that the ink doesn’t seep to the other pages as well.
8. At the end, the flipbook is going to look like that.
The aim of the activity is to promote students' fluency. So encourage your students to come up with funny sentences . However, do advise them to keep the word order.
Christmas Activities for Young Learners
A. Santa’s Party Go Crazy
Santa is having a party and each student uses the flipbook to form a sentence by saying what the character they have chosen is doing at the party.
E.g.: Rudolph / is kicking / Scrooge / in / the fireplace
The students are working in teams of 5 or more and they are standing in a row one next to the other.
The 1st student is saying his/her sentence to the 2nd student.
Rudolph is kicking Scrooge in the fireplace
The 2nd student has to say the sentence of the 1st student and his/her own sentence to the 3rd student
Rudolph is kicking Scrooge in the fireplace
Mrs. Claus is eating a star next to the Christmas tree.
The 3rd student has to say the sentence of the 1st and 2nd student and his /her own sentence to the 4th student
Rudolph is kicking Scrooge in the fireplace
Mrs. Claus is eating a star next to the Christmas tree.
The Snowman is eating a star behind the Christmas tree
The 4th student has to say the sentence of the 1st ,2nd and 3rd student and his /her own sentence to the 5th student
Rudolph is kicking Scrooge in the fireplace
Mrs. Claus is eating a star next to the Christmas tree.
The Snowman is eating a star behind the Christmas tree
The Elf is wrapping a present in the sleigh
The 5th student has to say the sentences of all four and his/her own sentence.
Rudolph is kicking Scrooge in the fireplace
Mrs. Claus is eating a star next to the Christmas tree.
The Snowman is eating a star behind the Christmas tree
The Elf is wrapping a present in the sleigh
The carolers are eating a pudding on the chimney.
Once the 5th student finishes, all members of the team have to sit down and shout “THE PARTY HAS FINISHED!”
The team that finishes first are the winners. If a student forgets the sentences, the others can help but ONLY by miming the sentences. If they talk, they have to start again.
B. What is my Christmas character doing?
Divide your learners into two groups A and B and ask each student to write a sentence using the flipbook. If you have a small class, ask them to write more than one sentences.
Then, tell them to change the word order and the order of the letters for each word (Anagrams).
Eg: sisk / derun / nasta / tlemistoe / keytur
Group A plays with the sentences of group B and vice versa
One member of each group comes at the front, he/she picks a sentence and tries to solve the anagrams and find the sentence. Once he/she does so, he/she needs to mime the sentence so that his/her team can find it. When they do, they need to write it in a mini board or on an A4 piece of paper.
Eg: Santa is kissing the turkey under the mistletoe.
The team that finds the right sentence first are the winners!
C. Who stole the presents?
While Santa was sleeping under the Christmas tree, someone stole the presents. Everyone is a suspect.
One of the students is Santa and he/she goes outside the classroom until the others decide who is the culprit. Once Santa comes back to the classroom, they are being interrogated by Santa and they have to say what they were doing while he was sleeping.
Eg: While you were sleeping under the Christmas tree, Santa, Rudolph was making a pudding under the mistletoe.
Students can also mislead Santa by accusing one another.
Eg: While you were sleeping, Santa, Rudolph was not making a pudding. He was talking to a snowman next to the fireplace.
Santa needs to decide who stole the presents.