I don’t see any reason why ESP classes can’t also have a bit of seasonal cheer, as long as you manage to tie it in with something useful such as meetings roleplays, pronouncing numbers, talking about trends, or telephoning practice. Luckily, tying together random language points is my chosen specialist subject, so have done many Business Chrimbo worksheets over the years.
In approximate order of how often I’ve used them:
Xmas party negotiations (the best ever game for the language of meetings and negotiations, as there is a clear winner, this version with some useful seasonal vocab)
Countable and uncountable nouns negotiation (similar to the one above, with Xmas and New Year vocab, and including grammar)
Xmas trivia number pairwork (good for Business English, Technical English and other ESP classes who need to be able to recognise and pronounce small, large and other tricky numbers)
Seasonal trends meetings practice (language of trends tied in with festivals and celebrations, starting with Xmas)
Telephoning on festivals and celebrations (starting with ones about Xmas)
Business meetings on festivals and celebrations (starting with discussion of office rules around Xmas)
Xmas and New Year negotiations
Describing Xmas foods bluff game – good for students who want to explain food from their own country to foreign guests, e.g. Business English students who often entertain clients
Direct, indirect and taboo Christmas questions (tying in with small talk and important grammar for polite enquiries)
New year resolutions time management speaking – NEW
Business English Christmas cards Do’s and Don’ts – imperatives and important cultural information
Xmas and the environment discussion questions
Xmas vocabulary passive voice guessing game (including important grammar for engineering and other STEM students)
Festivals and celebrations rules (discussing how a company should deal with seasonal events, starting with Xmas, with modal verbs)
All my other Xmas and New Year worksheets, including many others linking in with typical language points such as grammar, are here:
Xmas and New Year games, worksheets, flashcards, videos and songs for EFL classes
Updated 4 December 2023
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