Theme: Halloween
Lexical area: Superstition
Cross curricular links: Personal and social education

Introduction
Halloween is coming up on 31st October and that gives us a handy theme to work from in oral classes. This event is becoming increasingly popular amongst teenagers in Europe and judging from the merchandise available, it has an increasingly American flavour.

Here are just some ideas of the things you can do with Halloween! If you're looking for stories or materials to use with these activities, look at the websites listed at the end.

1. Origins of festivals
Look at the history and origins of the festival in the US and UK and in your students' country. There are quite a few readings on this on the net (see websites below.) Only use the detailed readings you find with higher levels and simplify for lower levels. Be wary of too much new vocabulary. Build vocabulary first around the theme of Halloween, using some word games (see below) There is a short text on Halloween customs in the UK in the “100 Questions answered” booklet by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (if you haven't got a copy, ask the British Embassy in your country). This text is suitable after 2 years of English.

2. Customs quiz
Make a history and customs quiz for lower levels to avoid using a dense reading text. Write questions with three possible answers and give the answers at the end to confirm the information provided: What do you know about Halloween?

3. Halloween challenge
Play a Halloween challenge game: An alien rings at the doorbell during your Halloween party Can you explain what is going on? Get suggestions from the class. If students are very familiar with Halloween and have at least 2 years of English ask them to practise this as a dialogue with the alien asking questions: Why is everyone dressed in witch costumes? Why have you turned off all the lights?

4. Describing costumes
Describe the costumes/pictures: Support your language work with some weird and wonderful pictures from the net / magazines (or your own!) This is good with lower levels and younger learners who can practise basic adjectives and simple sentence structures. Find some colouring pictures for younger learners and do a colour dictation with the whole class: colour the cauldron brown, colour the pumpkin orange, colour the witch’s hair black.

5. Word games
Play word games: There are lots of fun activities which can be used to start a lesson on Halloween or as part of a series of activities.

• How many words can students make with the word HALLOWEEN? (wheel, when, now, lean, owl)
• Halloween associations: students in pairs think of as many words that can be associated with Halloween: October, ghosts, night, haunted houses, lanterns, black cats. Make this fun and collaborative by encouraging the use of dictionaries for higher levels. Keep it brief and class focussed for lower levels.
• Make or use internet word searches: Draw a grid, 8 to 10 squares across and down (for higher levels) or 5-6 squares across and down (for lower levels). Fill some squares with carefully chosen words associated with Halloween. Fill the rest of the grid with random letters. Can students find the hidden words? For lower levels and Primary students give picture prompts with the grid, if possible. Look at the links listed here for word searches to download.

6. Beliefs discussion
Use this event to introduce discussion topics around the theme of beliefs.

Give out a "Do you believe in ...?" questionnaire which students complete individually. Then in pairs/small groups or with the whole class they compare answers.

• Do you believe in ghosts?
• Do you believe in UFOs?
• Do you believe in past life?
• Do you believe in life after death?
• Do you believe in spirits?

Encourage students to give local/regional and national superstitions. For example superstitions and beliefs relating to such things as the moon (when to plant seeds, have a baby, bottle tomatoes depending on the moon). This gives good practice in the first conditional.

e.g. If you plant broccoli at full moon, it will feed you for a month

This can be linked with a vocabulary game or puzzle with a Halloween theme.

Focus on superstition and with even lower level groups give a worksheet with a couple of examples e.g. In my country there are some superstitions.

• If you walk under a ladder in the street, it will bring you bad luck.
• If you hang a horseshoe on your door, it will bring you good luck

7. Witches and witchcraft
For higher levels look at a history of witches and witchcraft. Do people in their country believe in magic powers? Is there a history of witchcraft in their country? What about old wives tales? natural herbal remedies and cures? Is there any truth in that?

There is some interesting discussion work on intolerance and diversity in the history of witch hunting (in the UK and US). How being a bit different in a closed community can open you to suspicion and discrimination.

8. Halloween stories
Halloween stories, ghost tales, strange tales of the unexpected can be good for listening practice. You can find suitable stories through the websites below.

• Tell a short simple story (with a beginning, a middle and an end) while students order a list of events in the story. Students then use their list as prompts to retell the story orally round the class or to each other.
• Chop up a story in three parts. Three groups each read their bit. The paper is taken away and a member of each group tells their part to each other; or the whole class retell it in sections, deciding who had the beginning, middle or end.
• Take a simple scary tale, remove key verbs and put blanks. Tell the tale and the class fill in the blanks as they listen. Do this with a Halloween poem.

9. All Souls
All Souls/the cult of the dead: How important is November 1st in your host country? In some countries students receive presents from their “dead relatives” (Sicilians do this) or visit graves, have picnics in graveyards. Mexico celebrates the day of the dead. This topic could be taboo or very adult ,so decide carefully if this is an appropriate area of discussion for the age groups you are teaching. Linked to this is the belief in spirits, ghosts and haunted houses.

10. Horror movies and literature
Are students interested in horror movies? What makes a good horror movie? Do they like being scared? What scares them most? The supernatural was important in the 19th century gothic novel genre in Britain. Use an extract from Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein with higher levels groups. If teachers wish you to give some literary background look at the gothic novel.

• Do a biography of Stephen King. Give this in 2 parts and students have to exchange their missing bits of biography by asking questions with Where When What Why Who?
• For lower levels and younger students do a short “Day in the life of…” someone related to Halloween: Dracula, Frankenstein, a witch, Harry Potter. Prepare a text or develop a text with suggestions from the class. Students interview each other, with one student playing the famous person.

11. Poems
There are many simple poems (see the web links below) that are usable and higher levels enjoy performing Edgar Allen Poe’s The Black Cat.

Internet links

Links to Halloween sites for cards, photo collections and more!
http://www.halloweenlinks.com

Good, clear reading comprehension on Halloween with worksheets and other great ideas .
http://www.abcteach.com/halloween/halloweenTOC.htm

By Clare Lavery