A Christmas Letter

A Christmas Letter: Free Printable Christmas Vocabulary and Traditions Activity. A Christmas Letter ESL Classroom Game to Teach Festive Vocabulary and Cultural Traditions

A Christmas Letter: Free Printable Christmas Vocabulary and Traditions Activity

A Christmas Letter: Free Printable Christmas Vocabulary and Traditions Activity

Bring festive fun and active learning into your ESL or EFL classroom with this free printable Christmas activity based on A Christmas Letter. Designed to teach vocabulary and introduce students to Christmas traditions, this interactive group game combines listening, speaking, and teamwork. Perfect for December lessons, this flexible worksheet can be adapted to different language levels and classroom sizes. Get ready for a lively and educational holiday season!

Here is an extensive Christmas activity that can be used to teach students Christmas vocabulary and Christmas traditions.
Before class, make one copy of the letter for each student. Also, make one copy of the cards for each group of four and cut as indicated.

Procedure
Divide the students into teams of four. Give each team a set of cards. Tell the students to shuffle the cards and then deal them out evenly. Each student should have 14 cards. The students spread out their cards face up on the desk in front of them.
Give each team a number and draw a scoreboard on the board.
Tell the class that you are going to read a Christmas letter to the students and that they must help you complete the letter by providing words.
Explain that the first student to hold up the corresponding word/picture card can answer. If their answer is correct, they win a point for their team. Don’t write the correct answers on the board at this stage.
Start reading the letter (see below) aloud to the class. Use the word ‘blank’ as the missing word. You may wish to read the complete sentence to give it context or you may read up to the missing word to make it harder for the students.
Whenever there is a missing word, the students look at their cards and see if they have a suitable word to help you complete the sentence. There are decoy cards and some words are interchangeable when a sentence contains the word ‘and’.
When the letter is complete, tally up the scores to see which team gave the most correct words. That team is the winner.
Next, give each student a copy of the letter.
In their teams, students put all their cards together face up on the table and complete the letter for themselves.
When everyone has finished, check the answers as a class.

Extension Activities
Have the students write a reply to Sam, telling Sam about the festivals they celebrate. These letters can be read aloud or displayed around the classroom.
The teams race to categorize the cards, e.g. dates and days, people, objects, food, places, animals, etc. The first team to categorize all the cards correctly wins.
Students play a pelmanism game, where they take it in turns to match the cards by their category, e.g. dates, people, etc. When a student turns over two matching cards, they keep the cards as a trick. Alternatively, give each group two sets of cards. The students then play a game of ‘Snap’ using the cards.

Conclusion

This free printable Christmas worksheet A Christmas Letter is a dynamic, student-centered activity perfect for the holiday season. It not only builds vocabulary and strengthens listening comprehension, but also fosters teamwork and cultural awareness. With fun extension activities included, your students will stay engaged and energized right up until the holidays. Download the PDF and bring the magic of Christmas into your classroom today!y and bring the magic of Charles Dickens’ classic to your classroom!

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More ESL Classroom Games & Activities on Christmas

Looking for more fun activities on Christhmas for your English class? Check out these ideas:
✅ ESL Speaking Games to improve fluency
✅ Grammar Board Games for practicing sentence structures
✅ Interactive Writing Activities for ESL learners