At my school, we recently started holding a conversation hour to give language learners listening/speaking practice. For the first week, our theme was holidays. For one part of the event, we did this activity designed to get people talking about their favorite holidays. It sparked a lot of discussion and gave people a chance to learn about holidays from different places. Whether you’re leading a conversation hour or working on a unit about holidays in your class, this activity is perfect.
When we did this activity, we started by passing out the holiday vocabulary list and going over any unfamiliar words. We then passed out the holiday discussion talking chart and gave them some time alone to work on the top part. It asks them to write down some information about their favorite holiday. This part will help less advanced students be able to successfully participate in this activity. Next, go over the questions they can use to ask questions about holidays. After that, you can model a possible discussion and model how to fill out the question square with a holiday. Direct students to walk around and talk to different people and take notes about the different holidays. At the end, you can debrief and ask people to share about new holidays they learned about.
This is a great activity to do when you have students from many different countries because they get a chance to learn about other cultures and holidays they may not be familiar with.
Documents
Favorite Holiday Discussion Activity
Holiday Vocabulary and Discussion Questions
