Holidays & Events
Halloween
Pre-Reading
A. Warm-Up Questions
1. When is Halloween?
2. Do you celebrate Halloween in your country?
3. What Halloween costumes will you see this year?
4. What is your favorite type of treat?
B. Vocabulary Preview
Match up as many words and meanings as you can.
Check this exercise again after seeing the words in context on page 2.
1. dress up a) a Halloween greeting kids use when knocking on doors
2. costume b) a person who studies and experiments with the science of magic
3. monster c) to put on a costume
4. ghost d) a scary, imaginary creature
5. wizard e) a spiritual, earthy person who uses magic (often female)
6. witch f) an outfit that makes you look like a character
7. pirate g) a thief who steals from ships at sea
8. Trick or treat! h) the spirit of a dead person
9. jack-o’-lantern i) a carved pumpkin
10. pumpkin j) a large, round orange fruit with many seeds
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. ( LO W I N T / V E R S I O N 4 .1) 1
Halloween
Holidays & Events
Reading
1. H
alloween is on October 31. Halloween is not a holiday, but it
is a fun event in Canada and the United States. On Halloween,
people dress up in costumes. Some people wear masks and
some wear makeup. They dress up as monsters, famous people,
ghosts, wizards, witches, pirates, and other scary or
funny creatures.
2. O
n Halloween evening, children go from house to house in their
neighborhoods shouting “Trick or treat!” At each house, people give
out many different kinds of candy and treats. In the past, it was also
common to give children apples on Halloween. Teens and adults have
fun too. Some hand out candy and others go to costume parties.
ne traditional Halloween custom is to put a jack-o’-lantern in
3. O
the window. To make a jack-o’-lantern, clean out the inside of a
pumpkin, cut out a face, and put a candle inside. People often
decorate their homes with jack-o’-lanterns, black cats, spiders,
witches, bats, and ghosts.
4. Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Comprehension
Practice asking and answering the following questions with your partner.
Then write your answers in your notebook.
1. When is Halloween?
2. Is Halloween a holiday?
3. What do people dress up as on Halloween?
4. What do children shout when they go from house to house?
5. What do people give out at each house?
6. Where do people put jack-o’-lanterns on Halloween?
7. What do people put inside their jack-o’-lanterns?
8. How do people decorate their homes on Halloween?
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. ( LO W I N T / V E R S I O N 4 .1) 2
Halloween
Holidays & Events
Just for Fun
Unscramble the following words from the reading.
Then find some of them in the word search below.
A. Unscramble the Words
1. ackj-o’-telrnna 6. chwit
2. tumcose 7. diarwz
3. ritape 8. stromen
4. ssred pu 9. crikt or reatt
5. nikpupm 10. shotg
B. Find the Words
Can you find eight words from g h o s t e r p s t h
Part A in the word search?
There is also a bonus word. p d r e s s u p m i a
Can you find it?
i w d r a m i w o c l
Bonus word:
r h s v p s s i n d l
a i s k e l e t s r o
t m i s s y s c t a w
e n v e s s a h e z e
c o s t u m e r r i e
d t c o g u t e d w n
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. ( LO W I N T / V E R S I O N 4 .1) 3
Halloween
Holidays & Events
Halloween Survey
A. Survey
Walk around your classroom and ask your classmates the following questions.
Are you going to dress up
Classmate What are you going to dress up as?
for Halloween this year?
B. Questions
After you have finished the survey, answer the following questions on your own.
1. H
ow many people in your class 4. What did you dress up as last year?
are going to dress up for Halloween?
5. Do you like Halloween?
2. What is the most interesting costume?
3. A
re any students going to dress up
as the same thing? If yes, how many?
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. ( LO W I N T / V E R S I O N 4 .1) 4
Halloween
Holidays & Events
Storytelling
Have you ever heard a scary ghost story? Do you like ghost stories?
With a partner, try to invent your own scary ghost story and write it on
the lines below. Once you’ve finished, be prepared to read it to your class.
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. ( LO W I N T / V E R S I O N 4 .1) 5
Halloween
Holidays & Events
Listening
http://blog.esllibrary.com/2013/10/30/halloween-beginners/
Fill in the blanks as you listen to the recording.
1. H
alloween is on October 31. Halloween is not a holiday, but it is a
fun event in Canada and the United States. On Halloween, people
in costumes. Some people wear masks and
some wear makeup. They dress up as ,
famous people, , wizards, witches,
pirates, and other scary or funny creatures.
2. O
n Halloween evening, children go from house to house in their
neighborhoods shouting “ ” At each house,
people give out many different kinds of candy and treats. In the past,
it was also common to give children apples on Halloween. Teens
and adults have fun too. Some hand out candy and others go to
parties.
3. O
ne traditional Halloween custom is to put a
in the window. To make a jack-o’-lantern, clean out the inside of
a , cut out a face, and put a candle inside.
People often decorate their homes with jack-o’-lanterns, black cats,
spiders, witches, bats, and ghosts.
4. Have a safe and happy !
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. ( LO W I N T / V E R S I O N 4 .1) 6
Halloween
Holidays & Events
Answer Key
LESSON DESCRIPTION: LEVEL: Low Int
This lesson includes useful vocabulary, a short reading, and a TIME: 1.5–2 hours
few word puzzles. Students try to write their own ghost stories.
TAGS: holidays, Halloween, spirit, ghost,
October, fall, scary, tradition
Pre-Reading Comprehension
A. WARM-UP QUESTIONS Break the students into pairs and have them practice asking and
answering the comprehension questions. At the end of the oral
1. Halloween is on October 31.
practice, have students write answers in complete sentences.
2. Answers will vary.
Review again orally with the whole class.
3. Answers will vary.
4. Answers will vary. 1. Halloween is on October 31.
2. No, Halloween is not a holiday.
B. VOCABULARY PREVIEW 3. People dress up as monsters, famous people,
ghosts, witches, pirates, etc.
1. c 3. d 5. b 7. g 9. i
4. They shout “Trick or treat!”
2. f 4. h 6. e 8. a 10. j
5. They give out candy and treats.
6. People put jack-o’-lanterns in their windows.
Reading (and/or Listening)
7. People put candles inside their jack-o’-lanterns.
8. People often decorate their homes
Read individually, in small groups, or as a class. You can also play
with black cats, spiders, ghosts, etc.
the listening as your students read along. A gap-fill version of the
reading is available on page 6. Help your students with vocabulary
(continued on the next page...)
and expressions that they are unfamiliar with.
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. ( LO W I N T / V E R S I O N 4 .1) 7
Halloween
Holidays & Events
Answer Key cont.
Just for Fun SPELLING NOTE:
This lesson shows the American spelling of the words Favorite,
A. UNSCR AMBLE THE WORDS Neighborhoods and Practice. Most other English-speaking
1. jack-o’-lantern 6. witch countries spell these words this way: Favourite, Neighbourhoods
2. costume 7. wizard and Practise (when used as a verb; Practice when used as a noun).
3. pirate 8. monster Make it a challenge for your students to find these words in
4. dress up 9. trick-or-treat the text and see if they know the alternate spellings.
5. pumpkin 10. ghost
B. FIND THE WORDS
Bonus word:
g h o s t e r p s t h
Halloween
p d r e s s u p m i a
i w d r a m i w o c l
r h s v p s s i n d l
a i s k e l e t s r o
t m i s s y s c t a w
e n v e s s a h e z e
c o s t u m e r r i e
d t c o g u t e d w n
Halloween Survey
Answers will vary.
Storytelling
Answers will vary.
Listening
1. dress up, monsters, ghosts
2. Trick or treat!, costume
3. jack-o’-lantern, pumpkin
4. Halloween
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. ( LO W I N T / V E R S I O N 4 .1) 8
