75 Xmas and New Year PDFs and many other festive teaching ideas. If you find anything useful here and want more, please support TEFLtastic.
Photocopiable Xmas and New Year classroom activities for English classes
now with newest top – see below for song and video photocopiables, and the bottom of the page for the same links arranged by language point, and for festivals and celebrations in general
Xmas and New Year monologues extended speaking – NEW
Present Continuous Christmas mix and match
What’s your favourite Xmas games
Xmas actions and adverbs of manner challenge game
Describing Xmas vocabulary with be and have
Xmas superlative adjectives drawing competition game
Is and are with prepositions Xmas drawing game
Xmas actions Present Continuous drawing game
Is there/ Are there Xmas drawing coin game
Past and present Xmas used to practice
Xmas and New Year traditions comparative adjectives quiz
Xmas in history trivia quiz past tenses review
Xmas problems will for spontaneous intentions practice
Xmas experiences Present Perfect bluffing game
This, that, these and those Xmas drawing games
Xmas things have/ have got drawing games
Xmas things possessive pronouns drawing games (his, her, my, your and their + Xmas vocabulary)
Christmas vocabulary relative clauses definitions game
Describing Xmas things with “have” games
Describing Xmas things with can and can’t games
The best Xmas adjective word order practice
Christmas Jeopardy prepositions of time practice
Xmas options irregular plurals practice
New year resolutions time management speaking
Opinions on Xmas and New Year conservative and liberal views discussion
Describing Xmas people and things games
Generalising about Xmas and the New Year
Like and be like Xmas questions
Present Continuous and like with ing Xmas questions games
There is/ There are and Xmas vocabulary drawing game
Possessive S Xmas vocabulary drawing games
Xmas vocabulary prepositions of position games
Xmas mix and match (third person S, Present Simple and Xmas vocabulary)
Xmas and New Year recommendations superlatives practice
Xmas vocabulary categories activities (it is and they are)
Direct, indirect and taboo Christmas questions
Xmas vocabulary speculating games
It is and They are with adjectives Xmas pick and draw game
Present Continuous and like with ing Xmas questions games
Xmas vocabulary passive voice guessing game
Xmas vocabulary yes/no questions games (20 questions, make me say yes and you must say yes)
Festivals and celebrations like and would like practice (starting with Xmas and New Year)
Countable and uncountable nouns negotiation (with Xmas and New Year vocab)
Festivals and celebrations rules (discussing how a company should deal with seasonal events, starting with Xmas, with modal verbs)
Xmas pictures for It is/ They are
It is/ They are Xmas flashcards
Make a Xmas story Past Simple practice
Xmas and New Year future tenses review
Future Perfect New Year predictions
New Year action and state verbs
New Year resolutions adverbs of frequency – going to for plans and learner training
Xmas first conditional superstitions bluff game – a classic, hopefully not ruined in my version
Christmas Adverbs of Frequency– Present Simple and lots of lovely (not stereotyped) cultural information
Christmas traditions passives bluff game
Xmas guess the country modals of deduction
Christmas Present Simple and Continuous mimes– contrasting routines and things happening now, with lots of nice Chrimbo vocab
Christmas Past Tense mimes – Past continuous when they finish miming and then tense review as they talk about their own experiences of those things
Will for future predictions Xmas
Business English Christmas cards Do’s and Don’ts – imperatives and important cultural information
Going to Xmas mimes – for predictions with present evidence
Xmas and New Year negotiations
Seasonal trends meetings practice (language of trends tied in with festivals and celebrations, starting with Xmas)
Xmas shopping roleplays (with typical phrases for shoppers and shop staff and lots of Xmas vocab)
Xmas food restaurant roleplays (with typical phrases for diners and servers)
Describing Japanese and British Xmas and New Year
Choose cards and draw your own Xmas picture
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 trivia number pairwork – good for Business English, Technical English and other ESP classes
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
Xmas party negotiations – the best ever game for the language of meetings and negotiations, as there is a clear winner, and some good Xmas vocab
Xmas and religion discussion questions
Xmas and the environment discussion questions
Xmas video worksheets for English classes
Friends Series One New Year episode
Edward Scissor Hands– cute, seasonal, the easiest film in the English language, and full of lots of lovely reference expressions
The Life of Brian – as mentioned on a Dave’s ESL Cafe thread, only for veeeery high level and open-minded students
Xmas song worksheets for ESL classes
hopefully also good examples of what you can do with other songs, e.g. copyright ones I use more often but can’t publish…
Good King Wenceslas storytelling and vocabulary
Jingle Bells rhyming words practice
Twas the Night Before Xmas correction and discussion
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks storytelling and discussion
Once in Royal David’s City rhyming words
Away in a Manger mixed up text
Have yourself a Merry Little Xmas text reordering
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
The Christmas Song (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” etc)
White Xmas song correct the mistakes
Related pages
Teaching ESL Xmas lessons articles/ tips
Festivals and celebrations games/ worksheets main page (to mention Xmas without overdoing it)
An EFL Xmas and New Year glossary
Updated 15 December 2025
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New list of things I use most often up here:
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