Keep Calm and Teach English

Happy December!  The twinkling lights are up, the cocoa is warm, and it’s time for one of my favorite traditions: my yearly Advent calendar. Let’s count down to Christmas together! There is a new fun activity behind each door, from Kahoot quizes and filling in Christmas songs lyrics for the weekdays, to making easy Christmas crafts for the weekends. The doors open only on the relevant day so they can be a real surprise.  If you are not sure how these calendars work visit my page with my older calendars here to get an idea. You can make your own digital Advent Calendar in  adventmyfriend.com/ . It's free and does not require registration.

An Advent Calendar is a special calendar used for counting the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas.  Advent calendars are usually a large rectangular card with "windows", one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Eve (December 24). Consecutive doors are opened every day beginning on December 1. The calendar windows open to reveal an image, a poem, a portion of a story, or a small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item. The advent calendar that follows is a digital one. There is a new fun activity behind each door, from Kahoot quizes and filling in Christmas songs lyrics for the weekdays, to making easy Christmas crafts for the weekends. The doors open only on the relevant day so they can be a real surprise. If you are not sure how these calendars work visit my page with my older calendars here to get an idea.   You can make your own digital Advent Calendar in adventmyfriend.com/ , free and without registration. 

 A digital advent calendar. There is a new fun activity behind each door, from Kahoot quizes and filling in Christmas songs lyrics for the weekdays, to making easy Christmas crafts for the weekends. The doors open only on the relevant day so they can be a real surprise. If you are not sure how these calendars work you can  visit my page with my older calendars here  to get an idea.  

An Advent Calendar is a special calendar used for counting the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas.  Advent calendars are usually a large rectangular card with "windows", one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Eve (December 24). Consecutive doors are opened every day beginning on December 1. The calendar windows open to reveal an image, a poem, a portion of a story, or a small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item. The advent calendar that follows is a digital one. There is a new fun activity behind each door, from Kahoot quizes and filling in Christmas songs lyrics for the weekdays, to making easy Christmas crafts for the weekends. The doors open only on the relevant day so they can be a real surprise, but you can find a list of all the activities below. If you are not sure how these calendars work visit my page with my older calendars here to get an idea.     Day 1: Print and solve a Christmas crossword puzzle  Day 2: M...

It's the most wonderful time of the year again and here in Greece, as in most European countries, we are spending it at home in quarantine. However this is no reason not to be festive; in fact we should try to keep our spirits up as much as possible so as to be able to support our students as well. So why not share an online Advent Calendar with our students as a treat? photo by  JillWellington An Advent Calendar is a special calendar used for counting the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas.  Advent calendars are usually a large rectangular card with "windows", one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Eve (December 24). Consecutive doors are opened every day beginning on December 1. The calendar windows open to reveal an image, a poem, a portion of a story, or a small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item. The advent calendar that follows is a digital one. There is a new fun activity behind each door, from Kahoot quizes and filling in ...

An Advent calendar is a special calendar used for counting the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Many Advent calendars take the form of a large rectangular card with "windows", one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Eve (December 24). Consecutive doors are opened every day leading up to Christmas, beginning on December 1. The calendar windows open to reveal an image, a poem, a portion of a story, or a small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item. The advent calendar that follows is a digital one. There is a new activity behind each door, from crossword puzzles and short stories to filling in Christmas songs lyrics and making easy Christmas crafts. The doors open only on the relevant day so they can be a real surprise. I have been making online advent calendars since 2016 and every year I change some of the activities. This year I have included two Kahoot quizes which can be played with the whole class on mobile phones if your sc...

Last year I prepared an Advent Calendar full of ELT activities for the classroom and the home. The truth is I cannot resist the daily surprises Advent Calendars hide behind their small doors so I made a new one for 2018. photo by Gellinger In the calendar that follows there is a new activity behind each door, from crossword puzzles and short stories to filling in Christmas songs lyrics and making easy Christmas crafts. Some are the same as last year's but there are some new activities as well: Day 1: Make easy candy cane sleighs to give as Christmas presents Day 2: Make some easy Christmas Angels to hang on your tree Day 3: This is Britain Christmas video and worksheets Day 4: Print and solve a Christmas crossword puzzle Day 5: Christmas shopping in London! (British Council video and activities) Day 6: Read and listen to the story "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry (abridged) Day 7: Play a Christmas quiz with your friends Day 8: Write an email to Santa D...

On day 1 of my Advent Calendar you can find a "This is Britain" video on  YouTube about Christmas customs and traditions including that of Advent Calendars.  photo by  PublicDomainPictures Below you can find the worksheets I prepared to accompany the video. Can you think of a more appropriate way to start the festive season? 

Who can resist the daily surprises Advent Calendars hide behind their small doors? They not only count the days till Christmas but they are great fun too so why not use them in the classroom? photo by  jill111 In the calendar that follows there is a new activity behind each door, from crossword puzzles and trivia quizes to filling in Christmas songs lyrics and making easy Christmas crafts. Day 1: This is Britain Christmas video  Day 2: Print and solve a crossword Day 3: Make easy candy cane sleighs to give as Christmas presents Day 4: Print and solve a Christmas cloze  Day 5: Write an email to Santa Day 6: What are you going to do this Christmas? Online matching activity Day 7: S olve an online Christmas Crossword Puzzle Day 8:  Play a Christmas quiz with your friends Day 9:  Make a pop-up Christmas card Day 10: Make a sock snowman Day 11: Fill in the missing lyrics of Last Christmas (online game) Day 12: ...

An animated storybook of Dr Seuss' popular bedtime story: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Great for children of all ages!

This Advent Calendar is based on a lesson plan by Arjana Blazic, made for the Collaborative Teaching and Learning MOOC in the European Schoolnet Academy. The specific calendar is made purely for fun. There is something new behind each door, so make sure you come back everyday! You can make your own in Tuerchen.com , free and without registration. It can be easily embedded in eTwinning projects as well.

An entertaining video explaining the most important British Christmas traditions. From Christmas crackers to Boxing Day, British Christmas traditions are different from what we are used to seeing in American films, because they are er... British!

There can be no Christmas without Charles Dicken's iconic short story about the cold-hearted Ebenezer Scrooge who finds the true meaning of Christmas through a journey in his past, present and future. The story has been repeatedly adapted into films and has never ceased to bring out the good in people.  photo by  TerriC The following video is an abridged version of the story for A2 to B1 students. Text and audio: Opportunities Pre-Intermediate, Longman. -A Christmas Carol- By Charles Dickens

One of my favourite Christmas stories is "The Gift of the Magi" by O' Henry. It is a romantic short story, about a young married couple and their struggle to buy each other a worthy Christmas gift with little money. Its twist ending is generally considered an example of comic irony, making the story highly entertaining and adequately festive. photo by  StockSnap The version presented here is abridged, accompanied by an audio file from  manythings.org/ .