Thanksgiving ESL Activities, Games, Lesson Plans, Worksheets & More

If you’re looking for some ideas for a Thanksgiving ESL lesson plan, then you’re certainly in the right place. Keep on reading for the top ESL thanksgiving games and activities, along with lessons, worksheets and other good stuff.

ESL Thanksgiving Activities and Games

Let’s get into the best Thanksgiving TEFL games and activities to try out with your students.

#1: What are you Thankful For?

I love to include a lesson on thankfulness around Thanksgiving! After all, this is what this popular holiday is all about. And the food of course too!

There are a number of approaches here but a nice ending point is for students to talk, write or make a short presentation about things that they are thankful for.

#2: Let’s Talk Thanksgiving Food

In many countries around the world (Asia!), students won’t be that familiar with Thanksgiving food. That’s why I like to dedicate a lesson to it and try to tie it into special holiday food in the students’ own countries.

Who doesn’t like talking food, right? That’s what makes this a great topic!

#3: Guess the Thanksgiving Good Game

#4: Thanksgiving Charades

For a party class, I always love a fun game of charades! It’s easy to make holiday-themed words like:

• eat turkey
• make stuffing
• carve the turkey
• play football
• take a nap
• hug a family member

#5: Thanksgiving Bingo

Who doesn’t love a good Bingo game, right? However, to make this activity a bit more educational, I describe the words by giving hints instead of just saying them out loud.

To start, elicit some Thanksgiving words and write them on the board. Or, have a PowerPoint prepared beforehand to save time. Students can fill in their Bingo sheets and then play the game.

#6: Thanksgiving Puzzles

Students love doing crossword puzzles! I like to include them in my classes because they can be a really nice change of pace from the usual communicative style of activities that heavily favour the extroverts.

You can certainly find ready-made ones online but I like to make my own with the specific vocabulary that I taught. The best resource for this is here:

Discovery Puzzle Maker.

#7: ESL Thanksgiving Dominoes

#8: Pictionary

For a party kind of class, I love a fun game of Pictionary. It’s very similar to charades but instead of acting out the vocabulary words, students have to draw them. Try out this game and the results are usually hilarious!

#9: I’m going to bring _____ to Thanksgiving Dinner

I’m sure you’ve played that game before, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m going to bring_____.” If you say something that fits into the pattern, you can come. If you don’t, then you can’t. I like to play this but change it to Thanksgiving dinner.

For example, students may be able to bring pie but they can’t bring cranberries. Or, they could bring wine but not stuffing. The rule for this one is that it must be four letters or less. Play a number of times with different rules and let students choose some too.

#10: Thanksgiving-Themed Talk Show

This is a fun take on the usual conversation-style activities. Students have to interview their classmates about their experiences with, and opinions about certain topics. In this case, it could be Thanksgiving food, or something else related to this holiday. Find out more here:

ESL Talk Show.

#11: Gobble Gobble ESL Thanksgiving Activity

#12: Vocabulary Review Game

This is a simple vocabulary review game that’s ideal for holiday words. The best part is that it requires very little in the way of preparation or materials, so keep this one in your back pocket in case of emergency. Find out more about it here:

ESL Vocabulary Review Game.

#13: Thanksgiving Picture Warmer

It’s often the case that students already know lots of Thanksgiving vocabulary before you explicitly teach them. That’s because they may have seen it mentioned in TV, books or movies or they have done a lesson on it already.

If you suspect that this is the case with your students, then consider using this as a quick warm-up activity. Show students a typical Thanksgiving scene. Maybe a family eating a big turkey dinner. Then, elicit from the students what they see.

This can lead it into any number of other activities in the lesson, including more explicit vocabulary teaching. Doing this exercise first will make new things that the students learn more memorable because you’ve helped to activate their prior knowledge.

#14: Chain Spelling

This is a simple spelling activity for beginners who are just learning some new vocabulary. All the students stand up and the teacher says a word. For example, “Turkey.” The students take turns spelling it out loud, letter by letter. If someone misses a letter, they sit down and are out of the game. Continue until only one person is left standing.

#15: Thanksgiving History

Thanksgiving ESL Lesson Plans

If you’re a teacher then you already know how much time it can save to use lesson plans that other teachers have made! Here are some of the top ESL Thanksgiving lessons to check out:

ESL Speaking

English is a Piece of Cake

ESL Civics

ESL Thanksgiving Worksheets

If you’re looking for some fun Thanksgiving ESL worksheets, have a look at some of my favourite options:

ISL Collective

Live Worksheets

Boggles World

ESL Thanksgiving Vocabulary

Here are some of the most common words that you might consider teaching your students for this holiday:

• Black Friday
• chestnut
• fall
• family
• harvest
• leaves
• October
• native Americans/Canadians
• November
• pilgrims
• pumpkin
• stuffing
• thankful
• turkey

Did you like these Ideas?

Yes? Thought so. Then you’re going to love this book you can easily find on Amazon: 63 ESL Holiday Games and Activities. The key to better English classes is a wide variety of engaging and interesting TEFL games and activities and this book will help you get there in style.

Have some fun with Thanksgiving, Easter, New Year’s, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and other popular holidays with the activities in this book. Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office to use as a handy reference guide. Or, take the digital version with you to your favourite coffee shop for some lesson planning on the go.

Whatever the case, get ready for some ESL holiday awesome! Pick up a copy today:

Have your say about this Popular Holiday

What are your thoughts about these ideas for an ESL Thanksgiving lesson? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

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Last update on 2021-04-18 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API