A Visit From St. Nicholas
ESL Lesson PlansA Visit From St. Nicholas

A Visit From St. Nicholas

This ESL lesson plan immerses advanced teens and adults in the festive traditions of Christmas through engaging activities that enhance vocabulary, reading, and speaking skills. In this 60-minute session, learners explore the iconic poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, delving into its rich language and imagery. Students practice vocabulary, analyze the poem’s cultural significance, and discuss Christmas traditions. This lesson combines literary appreciation with real-world cultural exchange, encouraging creative expression and deeper language fluency.

Skills

  • Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognize implicit meaning.
  • Has a good command of a broad lexical repertoire allowing gaps to be readily overcome with circumlocutions; little obvious searching for expressions or avoidance strategies.
Online Interactive
Based on CEFR
Fully Customizable
1

Let's warm up by discussing these interesting questions.

Talk in pairs.
1
How do you celebrate Christmas in your culture, and what traditions are most meaningful to you?
2
How important is it for families to maintain their cultural traditions during festive seasons?
3
In your opinion, what values should be emphasized during holiday celebrations?
4
In what ways do you think the story of Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas, influences children's perceptions of Christmas?
5
How can literature and poetry enhance our understanding of cultural festivities like Christmas?
2

Can you match these words to their definitions?

3

Choose the word that doesn’t belong.

4

Let's listen to a famous poem by American poet Clement Clarke Moore called A Visit From St. Nicholas, read by musician Louis Armstrong.

5

Now, read the poem. Fill in the gaps with the vocabulary words.

6

Answer the questions about the poem.

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