12 Halloween Activities for ESL/EFL Clasrooms

 Last week we talked about Halloween activities for a digital classroom (you can read about them here), but there are still some of us who are going to have Halloween classes in person! Therefore, today, we'll focus on activities you can use in your ESL/EFL physical classroom. Without further ado, let me share some of my ideas for this year's Halloween!

The Classics

Charades/Pictionary

Practice Halloween vocabulary with a game of charades of pictionary! It's a fun way to introduce and review a bunch of new words. It's an absolute classic which will work for various age groups and different levels. 

Click here to get my charades/pictionary set.

Flashcards

Introduce Halloween vocabulary with some cute flashcards! They cover all the essential words you'll need to run your Halloween lessons. You will be able to talk about monsters, costumes, traditions and more. Find something with some cute clipart, so that the students will be able to visualize the words. 

Click here to get my set of Halloween flashcards.

Tracing Practice

Small kids will definitely enjoy some Halloween tracing practice. They will be able to practice their writing and spelling.

You can find my set here.

Practice the aphabet, tracing and some Halloween vocabulary with this book! There are 29 pages (24 regular ones +5 bonus) with beautiful clipart and tracing practice. It will be lovely both for classrooms and homeschooling.

Bingo

Another classic! This year, I decided to add a small twist to it. Students write a short story using these words. they get a point for each word they use in their text.

wizard, costume, frankenstein, bat, pumpkin patch, monster, grave, spider web, jack-o-lantern, skeleton, black cat, vampire, werewolf, tick-or-treating, witch, pumpkin, party, cauldron, broom, witch hat, hauted house, skull, ghost

Then, some students read their stories and the group plays bingo. If they hear one of the words which appear on their cards,they can cross it out. This way, the game becomes a little bit more difficult but my students loved the added challenge.

You can get my bingo set here.

And hey, you can also get all of those resources (and more!) in a bundle, here. This way, you'll be able to save some money!

Crosswords

Crosswords are great bell ringers! Start your lesson with a crossword as a great lead in to the topic. This year, I've prepared crosswords for the whole month of October. There are also some Halloween-themed ones! 

You can see them here.

Fun games

Comparatives And Superlatives Game

About this game: This game allows your students to practice Halloween vocabulary and comparative/superlative forms of adjectives.

Preparation: Print out the cards and glue them together. The part with pictures is the front, and the answers should go to the back.

How to play: Give each student 3 cards and put 1 card on the table (answers in the front). The students should look only on the picture side of the cards. Put the rest of the cards in a pile on the table.

The first student chooses one of their cards and tries to guess whether the monster is bigger or smaller than the one on the card on the table. If they think it's smaller, they put it on the left side of the card, and if bigger, on the right side. Now they can turn the card over. If they were right, they now have just two card left. If they were wrong, they have to take one more card from the pile.

Now, the next student can do the same.

How to win: The game continues until one of the students gets rid of all of their cards. You may also continue for the 2nd and 3rd place.

Alternative approach: You can also guess the age of the monsters (or how long can they live). The game works just like the version with size.

Sounds interesting? Get this game here!

Escape Room

An evil witch locked us in the classroom! The only way we can get out, is to find a magic spell! But we might have to solve some puzzles to find it...

Practice Halloween vocabulary with an engaging Escape Classroom ESL/EFL game! Reward your students with certificates! I believe that an escape room is one of the best lesson ideas. Anytime I do it, my students get very excited.

Find my escape room here.

Among Us Inspired Halloween Game

This is my best seller this year! 

Practice halloween vocabulary by doing some among us inspired tasks! Can you figure out who is the impostor?

In this game, your students will solve tasks they know from the game Among Us. However, there'll be a Halloween twist!

Preparation: Divide the classroom in different rooms from the game. I suggest using tape to border the rooms. You'll need:

• Cafeteria,
• Weapons,
• O2,
• Navigation,
• Shields,
• Admin,
• Communication,
• Storage,
• Electrical,
• Lower Engine,
• Upper Engline,
• Reactor,
• Security,
• Medbay.

Then, print out all the activities and distribute them according to the instructions below. Put the "EMERGENCY MEETING" button in the cafeteria.

Optional: You may also prepare the costumes. Print out the cut outs below and attach them to headbands. Allow students to choose their costumes before the game begins.

Before the game: Students draw cards to see if they have to play as crewmates or as an impostor. Give each student an envelope and remember that the impostor should get the one with stickers.

Gameplay: Crewmates have to do the tasks according to their task list. When they're finished with a task, they should come up to you so that you can check if they did it correctly. They win the game whan they finish all the tasks or when they find out who the impostor is.

The impostor(s) should pretend to do the tasks and put stickers on crewmates (this counts as a kill). They win when they put stickers on all the students. But! If the sticker falls off, they have to redo it.

Every player can press the "EMERGENCY MEETING" button once. When they do, all players meet in the cafeteria and discuss who the impostor is. Then, they take a vote. The person with the most votes leaves the game. If it's the impostor, the game ends but if it's one of the crewmates, they ontinue doing tasks as ghosts.

Interested? Get it here! You may also want to check out the editable version here.

Clue/Cluedo 

"It was a dreary October night. The owls were hooting and the wolves were howling. The sky was clear so Ms. Smith's guests could see the Moon very well. It was a wonderful Halloween party. Wanderful for everyone except Ms. Smith, for whom this night turned out to be deadly..."

Who killed ms. smith?

How did she die?

Where was her body found?

Can you solve the mistery, detective?

Practice Halloween vocabulary and solve a mistery in a Clue/Cluedo inspired ESL/EFL game!

Instructions:

Before you start:

1. Every player chooses a character piece (the colors on the cards correspond with pawn colors).
2. Sort the cards in 3 categories: characters, rooms and weapons.
3. Without looking, the person shuffling takes one suspect card, one weapon card, and one room card, then slides the cards into the secret envelope.
4. Then, shuffle the rest of the cards and deal them between all the players.
5. Players place their pawns on the starting spots in proper colors.

The gameplay:

1. Roll the dice and move on the board. Players can move only horizontally or vertically, but never diagonally.
2. You can also use the secret shorcut which allows you to move to any room you wish. The only condition is than you have to be in the shortcut room
3. Once a player enter a room, they can make a guess about the murderer, the weapon and the room. They can choose any character and weapon, but they have to suggest the room they're in. Suggestions are made by saying for example: "I suggest the crime was committed by Dracula, in the office, with a potion."
4. If a player's suggested a suspect, the player to their left must disprove their theory by producing a card from their hand that matches the murderer, weapon, or location that you suspect. They show it only to the person asking. If they don't have any of the mentioned cards, the question moves to the next player and they have to show a card to the person asking.
5. Players keep track of the possibilities on their detective cards.

How to win:

1. Once a player thinks they know the answer, they can make a guess.
2. Once a guess is made, check the cards in the envelope to see if they were right. You may show the cards to everyone or just to the guesser and continue the game until someone guesses correctly.

Interested? Get my game here!

Focus on History

When it comes to older groups, I like to talk a little bit about the history of Halloween and traditions all over the world. That way, my students can not only practice their vocabulary, but also learn something new. Those topics can also lead to some interesting discussions!

This year, I decided to prepare a lesson talking about Halloween traditions in various countries. You can get it here.

I know that today we're talking about activities for a physical classroom but check out the digital version as well, here. Or, you can also get those activities bundled and save some money! Click here to check it out.

Writing Practice

Spooky stories are a very important part of Halloween classes. But what if you're out of story ideas? Use a Halloween story builder! Draw one card from each category and write a Halloween-themed story!

This is an easy-to-use writing guide which will make your ESL/EFL writing classes easy as a pie!

Get my story builder here!

And that's all I have for you today! I hope that you are going to use some of my ideas this year. And if you do, make sure to let me know in the comments section below!