Hello Sonya!

I might be wrong but I think there must be some periods of "sitting around and doing nothing", and Christmas along with New Year let us have so a necessary break in our everyday routine. Some enjoyment and relaxation might bring far more good both to teachers and their students than steady and persistant studying. Any home assignments in my opinion are a kind of duty and not to make someone feel on top of world during the coming holidays. Anyway, I might be wrong...

Best of luck!

Valentine 

Perhaps if it is less 'homework' and more 'stuff to do in English'.

Even 'fun' homework (like Word Searches, Crosswords, describing pictures/scenes, making a poster on a specific topic, etc) will be seen as 'work' - especially if it is easily marked or graded and students are aware that they will be marked/graded, etc.

On the other hand, if you can set up something that's more about using English or something that's more personal, and perhaps optional, then (some) students might enjoy having something to do in their downtime.

I'd recommend something like:

• Poster on topic of your own choice.
  Pretty much anything as long as it includes some pictures and some text.  Perhaps 'how to...' for your favourite hobby (so Ss interested in football will have a 'How to Play Football' poster, Ss interested in board games could do a 'How to Monopoly' poster, etc).  As long as the decision is truly theirs, it shouldn't feel to 'homeworky'.
• A movie/TV show/book review.
  Give Ss a sheet with spaces for: title; genre; main characters; general plot; surprises/twists; rating.  Over the holidays they have to watch one movie or TV show or read one book in English (if they have Internet access it should be very easy to find something they like).  After watching/reading it they fill in the sheet.  When they come back from holidays they can introduce it to other students and give their personal recommendation (none of which will be marked/graded).
• Magazine/Newspaper Clippings.
  Go through an authentic magazine or newspaper (you can find some good ones designed especially for teens online) and take out and photocopy the first paragraph, title, and any pics for 10 very different articles.  Over the holidays, Ss have to skim through all 10 and decide which article they most want to read in full when they come back.  When they return, they each say which article they want in full and why - then you hand out a full copy of the article each student asked for.  The anticipation should be killing them by then, too, so they'll really enjoy reading the whole article.
• Re-write the coursebook.
  Ask Ss to vote on which chapter/page/section of the coursebook that you've worked on so far was 'the most boring'.  Ss get to 'redesign' that page of the book in a way that they think would make it much more interesting.  Make it clear that the aim is to give the teacher an idea of what students like/don't like, rather than to produce an accurate piece of work. 

They might take a bit of setting up, on the teacher's behalf, though.

Dear Heath,

You have shifted very bright ideas.  Each of them is worth consideration.  For example,  now we are finishing a topic 'The Real You' with eighth-formers.  They could prepare posters like 'The Real Me' , "I and My Crazy Gang' or "Have Real Holiday Fun with Me', etc.

Thanks a lot for your big and smart advice.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

SonyaM

I never set my primary kids homework over the holidays, but I generally set quite a lot during term time. I feel that having long periods of freedom is important at a young age. You know they'll just leave it until the day before term starts and it won't really lead onto the new learning during the term.

I completely disagree with homework being set during the holidays. This is because parents are discouraged from taking their children on holiday during term time. Therefore parents are left only to take their children on holiday during the school holidays. If there is homework being set during the holidays, it is unfair on both the student and parents. If you do go on holiday, you should be spending that time relaxing and doing what you want to do instead of sitting around doing homework. This should be stopped because Holidays are meant to be for resting and taking children on holiday/for a break. Not for doing homework.