9 Engaging Digital Hallowen Activities Ideas for ESL/EFL Students

 Halloween's coming!

I'm really excited for the spooky season! I spend most of my free time planning and creating new Halloween resources and lesson plans. However, the fact that it's not a normal school year keeps coming to me. I have to say that I'm quite lucky when it comes to this manner because it seems that for now most of my classes are staying in the classroom and only some of them will be held online. 

Nonetheless, I know that some of you are forced to switch back to distant learning. So, I've prepared some digital activities and games ideas you can use this Halloween! They're not only spooky but also perfect for Zoom or Skype lessons!

Since the first lockdown in Poland, Kahoot has been one of my favourite resources to use during my online classes. Surely, I prefer to use it in the classroom but since we have to make do with what we have, I can assure you that using it on Zoom works perfectly. 

Kahoot is a website which allows you to create quizes on any topic you wish. The questions are displayed on your computer and the students answer them on their phones. I really like it because it allows you to review the questions in real time. That way, you're able to discuss student's mistakes and give them some more details on the topic. 

You can use Kahoot to create your own quizes or use some of the ones made by other people. Here are some of the most popular Halloween games at the moment:

Quizziz is quite similiar to Kahoot, however, some features are a little bit different. It also allows you to create quizes or use the ones created by other teachers. The big difference is in the display of the questions. Those will show only on the students' phones, which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. 

There is one more unique feature of this website: memes that display between some of the questions. You can even upload your own!

Again, here are some of the most popular Halloween Quizziz quizes:

by christensen1987,

by mary153706_11908,

and by fungirl725_83860.

Concept Board is another great resource to use for your Halloween lesson. It's an interactive board you can share with your students . It allows you to draw, write and even add pictures. 

There are plenty of activities that can be done on Concept Board, so let me show you some of them.

Pictionary

Add a blank white page to the board and prepare some Halloween vocabulary. Share the board with your students and ask them to draw the words. To make the game easier, you may display the vocabulary items on the screan for the students to choose from.

If you're looking for a Halloween pictionary pack, click here.

Battleship

This is a more complicated procedure but definitely doable if you have classes with just one or two students. Create two Concept Boards with a Halloween-themed game of battleship. Everyone uses their own board to mark where the ships should go. And they play!

Halloween Board Games

Playing board games is also possible in Concept Board. Upload the game and some pawns, prepare a virtual die and play!

Concept Board is a great resource to use during your online classes. All you need is creativity!

...or PowerPoint. Slides are very helpful when it comes to the organisation of the lesson. It's very easy to share your screen with the students and do some activities like that. With Google Slides, possibilities are basicaly endless, but what's important is the template. You can create your own, or find some free templates online, for instance here. 

Personally, I haven't created any slides this year, because I don't need them for my lessons. But don't worry! Here are some great resources I managed to find on TeachersPayTeachers:

On my Halloween lessons, I like to focus on the history of this holiday. It allows my students to not only learn some useful vocabulary, but also find out something they didn't know before. I like using a short reading to do it, but it seems to me that listening is way easier do to when it comes to online classes.
For instance, there is a great lesson on ESOL Courses in which you watch a video about the history of Halloween and answer some quiz questions about what you've seen. Listen a Minute also has some Halloween lessons, in which you can listen, read and deal with some simple tasks.
ISL Collective is a website which offers tons of free worksheets and you probably already know this. But I'm not talking about that, because handouts are not the best for online lessons. Last year I discovered another feature of this website - video lessons. 
The concept is very simple, yet effective and engaging. You watch a video which pauses from time to time and asks you a question related to what you've just seen. The videos differ quite a lot, so you'll surely be able to find something for various level. For intance, you may go for this Mr. Bean lesson or something for the fans of Hotel Transylvania. 
You probably already have plenty of Halloween resources but all of them are on paper. That's not the end of the world! You can still use them! If you have some great games or activities you really like, think of ways of transforming them into digital resources. 
For example, I made this Halloween game which allows you to practice comparatives and superlatives and Halloween vocabulary. It works great in the classroom, but I know that it's possible to play on the Concept Board as well. 
I also have this Halloween story builder. I'm sure that it will work great when used online. 
Scribbl is a great website to play pictionary. You just enter your Halloween-themed words, invite other players and draw. It's better than regular pictionary because it counts the points for you and gives you some clues at the top of the page. You can also create your own avatar, which is a big plus for all kids! Click here to check it out.
Having lessons online shouldn't stop your students from speaking! It doesn't matter if you meet in person or via Zoom or Skype - there is always room for some speaking exercises. Ask your students to prepare some scary stories for the next lesson and tell them to each other. But make sure that they're not reading!

As you can see, nothing is impossible and you definitely can have an engaging Halloween lesson online! Really all you need is some creativity and a couple of great websites!

If you're interested in my Halloween resources:

Read my other Halloween posts:
Are you going to use any of those ideas? Or maybe you want to add something! Comment down below!


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