Classroom tips: 12 days of Christmas

Iram Ahmed
Young children stood in a row clapping and celebrating with a christmas tree in the background

With the holiday season approaching, it’s good to add some fun into teaching to keep your students engaged and motivated. We’ve created 12 simple classroom activities and tips that you can carry out with your primary class to encourage them to be good.

Classroom tips for the lead up to the holidays
Play
Privacy and cookies

By watching, you agree ɫèAV can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

Day 1

Santa’s watching

Fact: Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas – whatever we call him, many countries around the world have a tradition that naughty children will only receive coal, twigs or even onions. But do children always know how to be good?

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Catch students being good

Watch out for good behavior and praise it when you see it - much more effective than dealing with problems as they arise.

Day 2

Christmas countdown

Fact: Advent calendars count down the days to Christmas, and for children that usually means gifts! But is the festive period all about presents?

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Kindness calendar

Challenge students to carry out one act of kindness every day in December. They can plan this on a blank calendar and tick the kind acts as they complete them.

Day 3

Season’s greetings

Fact: Did you know that greeting students individually at the door improves learning and engagement?

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Holiday password

Have a holiday-themed password for children to give as they enter the classroom. Students choose a new password every lesson.

Day 4

Frosty the Snowman

Fact: The largest snowman in the world was actually a snowwoman. and had trees for arms.

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Concrete poems

A concrete poem written in a shape that reflects the topic of the poem, for example a poem about a snowman written in the shape of a snowman. Challenge your students to write their own concrete poems about Christmas (or a current holiday for them).

Day 5

DIY decorations

Fact: Chinese New Year is the most important winter festival in China. Like Christmas, one of the main activities is putting up paper decorations.

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Collaborative tree

Each child draws around their hand, cuts it out and either draws a picture or writes a sentence about themselves. The whole class makes a display out of the handprints.

Day 6

Star students

Fact:Stars feature in many Christmas traditions. For example, in Poland, the Christmas eve feast only starts when the first star appears in the night sky.

Classroom application

Classroom tip: 2 stars and a wish

Give focused feedback on written tasks by identifying two positive aspects of work and one area to work on. Works great for peer assessment too.

Day 7

Perfect presents

Fact: Everyone loves getting presents. In Liberia, instead of Santa bringing toys, you’ll find Old Man Bayka, who walks the streets asking for gifts!

Classroom application

Classroom tip: My gift to the world

Brainstorm things students can do to help make the world a better place, such as volunteering at a local charity or planting a tree. Challenge them to do one thing as a holiday gift to the world.

Day 8

Festive feasts

Fact: Famous fried chicken in Japan, caterpillars in South Africa, hot tamales in Venezuela and oysters in France. Christmas dinners vary greatly as you move around the world.

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Recipe for success

Students can make their own Recipe for Success by thinking about what they need to be successful in the new year.

Example (to be designed to look like a child wrote it):

  • 1 cup of doing my best
  • ½ cup of ideas
  • ¼ cup of smiles
  • 2 tablespoons of teamwork
  • 3 teaspoons of listening to the teacher

Day 9

Holiday traditions around the world

Fact: Festive saunas in Finland, roller skating in Venezuela and Christmas cobwebs in Ukraine, no two countries celebrate Christmas in exactly the same way.

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Venn Diagrams

Students choose 2 countries and research how they celebrate during wintertime. They record their findings as Venn Diagrams. They record the different traditions of the two countries in the sections on the left and right. Anything they have in common goes in the middle.

Day 10

The excitement of Christmas

Fact: Anticipation plays a big part in the excitement of Christmas. Will Santa come? What presents I get? Who will win the annual family game of charades?

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Big questions

Start lessons by posing big questions to engage students’ natural curiosity and motivate them to find answers. Open questions work great, such as How do animals communicate? or What makes someone a hero?

Day 11

Holiday cheer

Fact: Forget the Grinch, the festive season is a time for feeling good and spreading happiness.

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Compliment corner

Allocate a space in the classroom as the compliment corner – a notice board or a big piece of paper. Students can write compliments to each other on sticky notes and put them on the board. Such as ‘I love the pictures you drew of your favorite hobby’, or ‘You’re so good at singing’.

Day 12

New Year’s resolutions

Fact: The start of a new year is a great time to focus on self-improvement, but only 8% of people are successful in sticking to their resolutions.

Classroom application

Classroom tip: Self and peer reflection

At the end of each lesson, ask students to reflect on their learning. Support students by providing sentence stems such as I learnt…I enjoyed …I’m good at…To improve I will…I didn’t understand…

Make these activities your own and adapt them to your class. They should help you turn the lead-up to the holidays in the classroom into an exciting one for your students and almost make them forget they're learning at the same time.

For more inspiration and general activities for your primary learners, try reading5 quick and easy ESL games for teaching young learners.If you're looking for inspiring and engaging English courses for young learners check out our range:

Young learners courses

More blogs from ɫèAV

  • Office works stood in a cubicle and in a hallway talking

    Goal setting: A path to achieving team fluency

    By Samantha Ball

    Reading time: 5 minutes

    We know businesses that invest in skills development are more likely to retain top talent, and see many other benefits as well. Upskilling your team's English proficiency can have a transformative effect on the business, leading to new opportunities, growth, and a more engaged workforce. However, implementing a corporate language learning program can be challenging. Using traditional goal-setting frameworks can support you and your team on this journey. Here's how:

  • two colleagues working outdoors talking to eachother over a laptop and paperwork

    The role of English proficiency in a global organization

    By Samantha Ball
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    To compete in the modern business space, many organizations are shifting to a more global way of working.

    The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation and globalization across industries but, as many businesses look now to sustaining future growth, the question is: what powers a successful, global organization?

    Why English proficiency is key to unlocking international success

    According to ɫèAV’s 2022 Power Skills Survey, one of the biggest factors in effective workplace globalization is the use of English as a common language. The report states “Adopting a common language and ensuring that the entire workforce can access it has become more important than ever before.”

    It points to statistics from rising economies in Southeast Asia, showcasing the strength of English use and their respective booming industries:

    • In Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy in terms of GDP, the service sector employs nearly half of the country’s local workforce.
    • In Thailand, nearly 60% of the country’s GDP is generated by tourism and export-oriented production. Vietnam, one of APAC’s fastest-growing markets and a rising manufacturing powerhouse, counts the US among its top trading partners.
    • The Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, a key pillar of the country’s economy, employs 1.3 million people.

    The power of effective communication

    ɫèAV’s 2022 Power Skills Survey is a drop in the ocean of reports hailing effective communication as one of the top factors to both personal and business success. Good communicators have been linked to higher performance in school, at work and in their personal lives. It is no surprise then that good communicators are highly sought after by talent recruiters.

    With many businesses moving to hiring outside of traditional location boundaries, more languages are inevitable in the workplace. So, can good communication transcend language barriers?

    As the statistics gathered by the Power Skills Survey show, there is evidence that sharing one common language, and therefore enabling more effective communication, can improve business opportunities, workforce growth and ultimately the economy. In the survey report, Norlida Azmi, Group Chief People Officer at Axiata, said:

    “Communication is a critical skill that sets the foundation for not only leadership competencies, such as people management and coalition building, but also for wider and effective stakeholder management in the ecosystem – communicating with our shareholders, customers and the communities that we operate in.”

    English: the official language of business

    While communication for globalization can look different for different markets, the English language is recognized as the prevailing choice for multinational companies. The Harvard Business Review says:

    “The need to tightly coordinate tasks and work with customers and partners worldwide has accelerated the move toward English as the official language of business.”

    So, with businesses now fighting to grow in a global marketplace, unlocking the power of the English language is crucial to success.

    Assessing English proficiency within your organization

    The survey shows that many organizations have work to do in this area, even if they view strong English proficiency as extremely important to their roles. It details the current state of assessing candidates’ English language proficiency and the percentage of organizations that have strategies in place to upskill their employees English proficiency. Both leave room for improvement.

    According to the survey, the number one way talent acquisition managers test English language skills is at the interview (58%), although 37% aren't measuring English language skills at all. This can be problematic later down the line, as not all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) will be accurately represented in an interview.

    Meanwhile, 27% of businesses use computer-based tests and 14% use paper-based tests to assess English language proficiency. By getting standardized test results, talent managers can more accurately assess if candidates’ English proficiency is suitable for the role, making for more confident and successful hires.

    Strategies for English upskilling

    Talent managers can also pass on these insights to learning and development managers to help them implement effective English language upskilling programs. While this investment can empower employees to perform better in their new role, it may also improve employee retention and even lead to succession and impact business growth.

    Whether organizations choose to hire new talent with higher levels of English proficiency or invest in learning and development programs to build their employees’ language skills, there are tools available to help.

    ɫèAV Language Solutions for Work enables talent and learning and development managers to fast-track and simplify their recruitment and training processes, giving you total confidence that your candidates and employees have the English language skills to drive your business forward. Find the best language assessment and learning solutions for your organization here.

    Drive your business forward with language training

    If you liked this blog post and want to learn more, download our PDF report here.

    Find out more about how language training and assessment can drive your business forward by checking out our resources for HR professionals, including articles, whitepapers and research.

  • Business woman presenting and discussing with two people in front of her

    How to recruit more effectively: leveraging language assessment AI

    By Samantha Ball
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    There arewhy recruiters use artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their hiring process: to save time, provide valuable insights and to make their jobs easier.

    The recruitment process is vital to any thriving business, but it can be time-consuming and labor intensive. Sourcing candidates, screening resumes, conducting interviews and making hiring decisions can be stop-start, with some time-wasting tasks and reprocessing. However, as technology continues to evolve, the role of AI in recruitment is becoming increasingly important.

    With the help of AI, Talent Acquisition leads can improve their recruiting processes, save time and find better-quality candidates. believe AI greatly enhances talent acquisition and retention.