Halloween Last Minute: lesson plans

Do you know what’s next week?

Halloween!

It’s one of those days when I seriously regret not being born into the Anglo-Saxon culture, with all its scary costumes and trick-or-treating. No, we in Poland are usually extremely serious about death as it’s a huge part of being Polish (the map of Poland should illustrate the word martyrology in the dictionary). However, the sight of graveyards lit with thousands of vigil lights on the 1^st of November evening is something that makes me forget about Halloween fun and feel more like a Caspar David Friedrich character – surrounded by the unnamable and staring moodily into the void. Seriously, if you get the opportunity of an evening walk in November around some burial sites in Poland, go for it, as it’s solemn, serene and beautiful.

But I digress. Now, Halloween. Even though it’s getting more and more popular, there are still some places where fun&games before the All Hallows’ Day are frowned upon. Seriously, thanks to Roman Catholic Church officials in Poland the expressions like pagan, blasphemous and heinous are quite popular in primary schools. That’s why, whenever I’ve created lesson plans and ideas for Halloween classes, they were not really about Halloween itself, so that teachers could use them without referring to the celebration itself – at least not explicitly. I usually go for storytelling, as the Halloween mood is simply all about stories!

So if you think about a lesson that would match the Halloween mood and yet wouldn’t be about Halloween, try one of these lesson plans:

Scaredy Cat: roleplay and/or creative writing

This is a great idea for younger students – a lovely little story by Heather Franzen about a tiny kitten and its Halloween adventure. But it’s also a nice tale about little fears and how exaggerated they can be, and that’s something everyone can relate to.

I tried this lesson with teenagers as well! We did some role-plays and creative writing, and they really enjoyed this heart-warming approach that turned our Halloween class into a cosy storytelling time.

The Cats of Ulthar

Who says that storytelling is for children? I made this lesson plan based on one of my favourite stories by the great Howard Phillips Lovecraft, I even recorded it, so you can either read it or listen to it – and it is spooky, and dark, and mysterious just like cats (and Halloween, of course), so it’s just great fun to work with it, imagining various perspectives, outcomes and follow-ups.

However, I’d recommend this lesson for older (15+) and more advanced (B2+) students, as HPL’s requires maturity.

The Colors of Evil

What happens when an EmoGothGirl decides to summon a demon in order to take vengeance on a school bully? Naturally: hilarity!

This short lesson plan is based on a short video by Phillip Simon and Alyse Miller and it can not only be a great Halloween lesson, but also an opportunity to talk about bullying and things we’d like to do to our bullies… and yet we don’t.

Aliens vs Humans

Halloween is also the great time for talking about the supernatural – like, if I were an alien, I would definitely pick a Halloween night to visit Earth and see what happens.

This short lesson plan is exactly about what happens. It is based on an adorable text I found on the Internet that gives an interesting perspective on the whole Human/Alien encounters. I’d recommend this lesson especially for pre-teens and teenagers, as they will definitely find the topic inspiring.

Let’s move to Hogwarts

And what if you want to experience some magic? Then let’s choose Hogwarts! Although you can’t transfer to Hogwarts, you can bring its magic to your classroom – simply by imagining your school life in a completely different environment. Students can take a Sorting Hat test, design their bedroom and create their lesson plans.

Just remind them there are no computers (and no Internet!) there – so maybe wizarding world is not really the best place to study?

I hope one of these 5 lesson ideas will prove useful in your classroom and bring you some Halloween vibes, although not strictly connected to Halloween theme.

Enjoy!