Genki Christmas (Santa, Christmas, Snowman, Reindeer, Present, Stocking etc.)

"What would you like for Christmas?" ( For the 2nd lesson)

And a there is the "Where are the Christmas presents?" picture book.
This is great for practising prepositions such as under, on, in etc.

Christmas Games

Ladders Game

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

This is an easy song to teach. First of all introduce the greetings "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year" , from there it is a simple step to go through the lyrics of the song.
"We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year"

Even first years can do very well!!
For older kids, add in the verse..
"Good tidings we bring, to you and your kin"
and repeat the chorus!

When I was an ALT, I took my music gear into school and my 5th years played all the instruments, sung and produced their own CD!

Christmas Cards

This is a very easy lesson plan. The kids simply design a Christmas card. You can even use it to introduce the spellings of "Merry Christmas" and their own names. Show them lots of different pictures beforehand (including photos of your own Christmas back home) and get them to draw one of the images they like! Also check out Aygo's Talking Christmas Card Craft Corner!

Advent Calendars

Many children in the West have advent calendars, where they open a door each day to reveal a picture (or chocolate) and count down the days till Christmas! It also makes a good lesson plan!

1. Prepare a large (about A2 size) piece of card with 24 "doors" (about 5cm X5 cm) cut into it. Also have one bigger door for Christmas Day (Japanese kids usually don't get presents, and even have to go to school on Christmas Day, so a special door is much appreciated!)

2. Prepare 24 smaller pieces of card that are the same size as the doors.

3. Give each child in the class one piece of smaller card. On this they must draw a Christmas picture.

4. The kids who finish early can then go on to design the bigger picture for Christmas Day or the even bigger design for the front of the calendar (i.e. the large A2 piece of paper with the doors in it )

5. Take another large (A2) piece of card and put it under the other card. Now sellotape around the edges so both pieces are held together. Open all the doors and in each one glue one of the students pictures.

6. Close the doors and number each one from 1 to 25.

7. Enjoy opening a different door each day until Christmas!

You might want to do steps 5 and 6 yourself so as to avoid any fights about who gets what days (and to make it a surprise to see whose picture they well get each day!) If there are more than 24 kids in the class then start the calendar in November!

This is a really good activity that gets all the kids involved!

Silent Night

2 years ago I found a great site to introduce some foreign culture into a Christmas lesson . The site contains versions of "Silent Night" in many different languages. The best ones are the ones that feature manuscripts. Showing the kids gives them exposure to some of the different alphabets that people use throughout the World, show them a manuscript and see if they can tell what country it is from!! This is a great activity, even for "cool" 6th graders!!! Some of my favourites are:

Japanese , Chinese (Japanese people like this one!), Russian, Korean , and best of all, Arabic. Have you ever seen an Arabic musical score before? It's very interesting!!  You can find out more at http://www.silentnight.web.za

Letters to Santa

Another great Internet site I found was www.northpole.com. On this site you can send an email to Santa! First of all the kids answer some easy questions such as "Are you a boy or a girl?", "Have you been naughty or nice?" then you choose your favourite toy and can write Santa a message (a good way to review their English!). You then send the message and a week or so later Santa writes a reply back!! Junior High Students can try it individually, and Elementary School kids can try it as a class! They love it!

(Note though that the above two sites are not part of GenkiEnglish and you should check them out yourselves before recommending them to students!)

There are many other things that you could try, like making Christmas Stockings, or seeing about having a cookery class and making Gingerbread People!! Older kids might even try and make a "letter to Santa" asking what they want for Christmas. Put them in groups, get them to read out their lists and give a present for the best group! One thing I like to do is to try and explain the atmosphere of Christmas, that it really is a time for peace and thinking of others! So above all, have a very ......