This Intermediate Christmas Speaking Lesson is a teacher-favorite for engaging teens, adults, and upper-elementary ESL students during the holiday season. Designed for B1-level learners, it combines meaningful conversation practice, global holiday themes, and rich vocabulary development — making it perfect for both online ESL teaching platforms and in-person classrooms.
The lesson opens with warm-up discussion questions that encourage authentic communication (page 2). Students then read beautifully illustrated passages about holiday decorating, Christmas meals, gift-giving traditions, international celebrations, and acts of kindness (pages 3–7). Each reading includes bolded vocabulary and thought-provoking comprehension questions, helping students expand both fluency and cultural understanding.
A targeted vocabulary section (pages 8–10) introduces essential academic and seasonal words, including artificial, atmosphere, tradition, exchange, generous, and gratitude. Students practice these words through definitions, contextual fill-ins, and picture-based sentence creation.
The lesson also features five humorous, relatable dialogues about real-life holiday situations — decorating problems, gift shopping stress, Christmas dinner mishaps, winter break plans, and excitement about snow (pages 11–15). These are ideal for role-play, pronunciation practice, and speaking confidence.
Interactive activities like Would You Rather…?, end-of-lesson reflective questions, and holiday mini-games (20 Questions, Word Chain, Boggle) make this lesson a complete, ready-to-teach speaking experience that fills an entire class period.
If you’re looking for a free, high-quality Christmas ESL resource that encourages speaking, critical thinking, and cultural comparison, this intermediate lesson has everything you need.