Fantastic Ways to Celebrate St Patrick’s Day in your ESL Classroom

Five fantastic ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in the ESL classroom

St Patrick’s Day is a popular celebration in some English-speaking parts of the world, especially Ireland. It is both a cultural and religious celebration that occurs on 17^th March, thought to be the day St Patrick died in around 461 AD. Here are five fantastic ways you can celebrate St Patrick’s Day in your ESL classroom.

1.       Sensory Bins

Sensory bins are a superb way of getting your younger students, as well as those with additional needs, involved with ESL activities. This March Sensory Bins pack includes resources linked to St Patrick’s Day. This is a perfect hands-on activity for learning and practising key vocabulary. Simply print and laminate the resources, then hide them in a sensory bin with your favourite filling. One of our all-time favourites is rice, and if you dye it green, it’s even more topical. To do this, put a little rice into a sturdy zip-lock bag and then squeeze in a small amount of green paint. Seal it tightly, then move the rice around and give it a shake. Once it is completely covered, tip it out onto a baking tray and allow it to dry thoroughly. Mixing the rice with some dried split peas and a handful of golden coins along with some plastic cauldrons (get them cheap after Halloween!) can make it even more fun for your class.

3.     Descriptions

This St Patrick’s Day describing pictures PowerPoint is a simple, ready-to-go resource, perfect for any ESL classroom. Each slide contains a picture related to St Patrick’s Day and a few questions. You could use it with a whole class, reading out the questions and getting children to answer them individually. Alternatively, have the students work in pairs to formulate answers in the target language before feeding back to the whole class. Finally, you could have higher expectations of your more able learners by asking them to write down their answers in full sentences. 

A Board Game

A lot of language acquisition can occur when children are immersed in a fun game. Our St Patrick’s Day board game offers several ways in which you can practise vocabulary linked to the celebration. It can be used for pairs or small groups of students either as an independent activity or a warm-up for the whole class lesson. This game will help support students to build up both written and spoken skills in the English language.

4.       Movements/Brain Breaks

Passive learning does no one any favours. Breaking up lessons and long stints of hard work can make your ESL classroom a much more successful learning environment. Our St Patrick’s Day-themed brain breaks PowerPoint is a straightforward, fun resource that you can use to keep your students engaged with their learning. With ten different movement slides to choose from, there are several options when it comes to getting your students up and moving. Aside from the obvious seasonal vocabulary, you can also incorporate additional key things, such as directional and positional language.

5.       Parts of Speech

Learning about parts of speech is an integral aspect of becoming familiar with the English language. Our St Patrick’s Day task cards pack can help you support your students to practise using nouns, verbs and adjectives within their ESL lessons. Each of the task cards offers an opportunity, such as describing what the Leprechaun is doing or compiling five adjectives to describe him. Whether you choose to use this resource with pairs, practising verbal English skills, or independently, with students writing down their sentences or lists, it is an excellent addition to your St Patrick’s Day lesson plans.

 

St. Patrick's Day provides a great opportunity to teach ESL students about different cultures and their traditions. By taking a creative approach to the holiday, teachers can engage students in fun and interactive lessons that will help them learn about St. Patrick's Day while improving their English language skills. With the right activities, you can make St. Patrick's Day an enjoyable learning experience for your ESL students that they will remember for years to come!

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In conclusion, celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the ESL classroom can be a fun activity that helps your pupils learn more about the holiday and its history. It is important to keep it fun and focus on the learning aspect of it to make sure that your students are engaged and having a good time. Activities such as readings, songs, games and discussions will be sure to leave your students with a better understanding of why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day.