Do you need a fun, engaging Halloween lesson for your students on October 31st? Try this lesson that includes games, conversation, and listening practice through a Halloween video.

The worksheet can be downloaded here.

(Note: The discussion questions at the end are aimed at higher level or older students, but the games and video can be used with any level or age.)

1. First, have students get into pairs and make a list of the different things you might see on Halloween night. Then the teacher writes Halloween on the board and one student from each pair comes up and writes one or two of their words around the word Halloween. Go through the words they’ve come up with and check that they understand the meaning by asking questions like, “What can you do with a pumpkin?” or “What color is a skeleton?” (5-10 minutes)

2. Make sure that on the board, students have added the words candy, pumpkin, bat, costumes, wig, pirate, cat, alien, skeleton, witch, ghost, mummy, zombie, vampire. Ask students to add these words to their lists as well. Put these lists to the side. (5 minutes)

3. Play back to the board with the words on the board. Split the class into two teams. Have a student from each team come to the front and face their backs to the board. The other students in the class help them guess a word that you circle, but the students cannot speak, only mime. The first student to guess the word you’ve circled earns their team a point. Repeat. (10-15 minutes)

4. Next watch this clip from Garfield’s Halloween. Tell students as they watch to mark the things on their list that they see in the video. At the end, ask students what they checked off. (5 minutes)

5. Ask students what Garfield and Odie are going to do on Halloween night. (Answer: Trick or Treating)

6. Watch the video again. This time fill in the lyrics for the song. (5 minutes)

7. If your class is the singing type, you can try singing the song. If not, proceed to the next step. (Optional: 5 minutes)

8. In partners, ask and answer the discussion questions. (10 minutes)

9. Ask a few students for their opinions on some questions and give any feedback necessary.

And that’s it! It’s a super simple, low-prep lesson. If you don’t want to print anything, you can just project the lyrics and discussion questions on the board. Have a happy Halloween in your ESL class!

If you enjoyed that lesson, try out these ESL discussion questions for kids!