Christmas Roll-a-Tale: no-prep lesson plan (free worksheet)

The lessons right before the winter break can be somewhat boring. I mean, how many times one can talk about holidays plans, ideas for the best presents ever, goodwill, charity etc. That’s why I created a simple worksheet that you can use in the classroom to talk about Christmas (or winter, the topic doesn’t have to focus on Christmas) in a funny and creative way.

And to make your life simpler, I wrote a short lesson plan that requires no earlier preparation.

Activity: speaking, communication
Age: 10+
Level: A2 and above
Time: 45 min
Type of work: groupwork, pairwork

Introduction: 10 min

Tell your students that you are going to create a new Christmas story.

Brainstorm for popular Christmas stories (Christmas Carol, Home Alone etc.) and write them on the board. Then ask your students about their favourite tales, and try to find what they have in common. Try to make a list of plot twists that make these stories so adorable and heartwarming.

Storytime: 10 min

Tell your students you’re going to make a story together. Ask your students for ideas and explain that it may be quite difficult to come up with a brand new story. That’s why you have some help – and here you can use the worksheet I created!

First, make a story as a whole class activity – roll the dice 5 times to create a skeleton of a story, e.g. You are an alien explorer who meets Santa Claus’ wife asking about the most popular Christmas songs (she may be quite bored with the ones she’s already heard) and festive dance moves, which makes you feel enthusiastic.

You may stop after each roll and build a bit of a story first, and then bring all the pieces together and make a short Christmas tale about an unlikely meetup… and here’s the time for the twist made entirely by your students: how does the encounter end? What happens next? (In the case above, the alien explorer took Mrs. Claus on a wild Christmas party and, well, one thing led to another… suffice to say there are alien Santa Clauses around as well).

Our own stories: 20 min

Now, divide your students into pairs or groups and ask them to come up with their own stories – use the worksheet provided, but you may modify them, create your own or ask your students to make their own. Monitor their work and help if needed – but let your students use dictionaries, mobiles any other tools they will find helpful.

Once the stories are ready, ask each group to share their tales – whose story is the best?

Summing up: 5 min

At the end of the lesson, sum it up by highlighting all the grammar (past tenses, reported speech and whatever your students worked on) and vocabulary (you can write down new expressions on the board) your students revised and learned during the lesson. Explain that the funny and creative activity helped them review the language they know, and learn something new about Christmas!

If you want to assign homework, you may ask your students to write a new story.

I hope you’ll have a lot of fun with this lesson, and you’ll see that talking about Christmas from various perspectives can be really refreshing.