Need a Thanksgiving lesson? Here’s my #1 tip for teaching a WL during the holidays

Incorporating the holidays into curriculum can be challenging - it feels out of place, it doesn’t feel connected to the rest of my curriculum, how can I provide enough repetitions while also not spending too much time on it. On the other hand, the holidays can be fun and we might as well capitalize on the energy our students have.

My #1 tip for incorporating the holidays into your instruction:

Make a connection to something you are already teaching.

I know that might seem like an obvious suggestion but it really is the way to feel like you are still on track with your curriculum.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to discuss preferences. It often works out in my curriculum that around Thanksgiving I am beginning my unit on describing preferences. We talk about what Thanksgiving foods we like, dislike and prefer. We play this or that and can rank our favorite Thanksgiving foods. It feels very relevant to the kids but keeps us in the target language and provides many repetitions of preference words.

A weekend chat in the days before the break talking about what activities students are going to do on Thanksgiving will provide lots of repetitions of the near future. A weekend chat after the holiday about what students did will provide lots of repetitions of the past tense. Telling the story of Thanksgiving will provide past tense repetitions and story telling vocabulary (first, next, then, so). It would also provide meaningful context to Thanksgiving words like Pilgrim, harvest and Native American. You could compare Thanksgiving traditions past and present - what people did and ate for the first Thanksgiving vs. 1800s vs. today or what Thanksgiving was like for you and for your students when you were younger vs. now. What did you used to eat and what do you eat now? Where did you eat and where do you eat now? Did you used to cook or have to do the dishes?

It’s all about how can you spin the discussion to allow for more repetitions on a topic or skill you are already trying to teach in class.

Check out my post on using Christmas stories to teach grammar! And get a copy of one of my stories FREE!

I hope this is helpful! Wishing you and your students a happy Thanksgiving🦃!

Sincerely,

Robyn