Easter gives an adult English class a lot to work with: food, family, spring, strange traditions and a long weekend everybody has plans for. It also arrives on different dates for different students. In 2027, Easter Sunday is on 28 March, and Orthodox Easter, which many of your Ukrainian students celebrate, is on 2 May.
Here are ten Easter ESL activities for adults, from A1 vocabulary games to a C1 debate, and a free activity pack with the printables for five of them. Short on time? Our last-minute Easter activities need no preparation at all.
The activities at a glance | # | Activity | Level | Skill | | 1 | Easter word bingo | A1-A2 | Vocabulary | | 2 | Easter crossword | A2-B1 | Vocabulary | | 3 | Egg hunt with task slips | A1-B2 | Speaking | | 4 | Describe the Easter dish | A2-B1 | Speaking | | 5 | Real or invented? | B1-B2 | Reading | | 6 | Hiring the Easter Bunny | A2-B2 | Speaking | | 7 | Easter idioms | B1-C1 | Vocabulary | | 8 | Who ate the Easter egg? | B1-C1 | Grammar | | 9 | The Easter Bunny is late | B1-C1 | Writing | | 10 | Easter debate | B2-C1 | Speaking |
|
Free · printable PDFEaster ESL Activity PackThe printables for five of the ten activities below, numbered like this post: an Easter crossword, a numbered egg hunt with clickable eggs for online classes, real or invented tradition cards, an idioms page and an office mystery, with an answer page so students can check their own work.5 activities8 pages to print24 eggs for the screenA4 and LetterDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
Teaching Easter to adults from different countries
- Ask, don't assume. Some students celebrate Easter as a religious holiday, some only eat the chocolate, and some don't celebrate it at all. Every activity below works as cultural learning, so nobody has to share beliefs.
- Use their traditions. A class with students from Poland, Spain and Brazil already holds three different Easters. Comparing them is the most natural speaking practice you will get all spring.
- Keep it adult. Bunnies and egg hunts are fine, but give adults a real task inside the game: a definition, an opinion, a sentence about their own life.
- Mind the date. If Orthodox Easter is weeks after yours, run the activities twice or let those students teach the class about their Easter when it comes.
10 Easter ESL activities for adults
Activities 1 to 4 build Easter vocabulary. Activities 5 to 10 use it for reading, grammar, writing and a debate.
1of 10A1-A215 minVocabularyNo printing Easter word bingo How it works- Write 16 Easter words on the board. Students draw a grid of nine squares and fill it with any nine of them.
- Read a definition, not the word: It's a young sheep. Students cross out the word if it's on their grid.
- The first student with a full line shouts Easter! and reads back the definitions to check.
| Write on the boardegg · bunny · basket · chicklamb · chocolate · hunt · springbonnet · dye · lily · hideparade · Sunday · holiday · candle |
| Why it works Students hear each word explained in simple English and have to match meaning to spelling. The winner reading the line back gives the class a second round of listening for free. |
|
2of 10A2-B115 minVocabularyFree printable · page 2 Easter crossword How it works- Give each student the crossword: 14 Easter words with definition clues.
- Students solve it alone, then compare with a partner before checking the answer page.
- Each student picks five words and writes one true sentence about their own Easter or spring.
| Why it works Definition clues make students read English explanations instead of translations, and the last step moves the words from the puzzle into their own life. |
| Free printable · page 2 A crossword with 14 Easter words, definition clues and five lines for sentences. Answers on page 8.Download the free PDF |
|
3of 10A1-B220 minSpeakingFree printable · pages 3-4 Egg hunt with task slips How it works- Cut out the 24 paper eggs and hide them around the room before class.
- Students have three minutes to find two eggs each.
- Each egg has a task: explain the word, answer the question or finish the sentence. Students write their answer on the back, then share it with the class.
| On the eggsDefine ittraditionAnswer itWhat do people in your country eat at Easter?Finish itIf I found a giant chocolate egg, I would ... |
| Why it works Adults enjoy the hunt as much as children do, and the slips turn it into 24 short speaking turns. Pink and green eggs ask about students' own lives, so the answers are real. |
| Online or one-to-one Share the hunt board on page 3 on screen. Your student picks a number and you click that egg: it opens on its own page. Click Back to the board for the next one. No cutting and no hiding. |
| Free printable · pages 3-4 A numbered hunt board and 24 cut-out egg slips in three colors: define it, answer it, finish it.Download the free PDF |
|
4of 10A2-B115 minSpeakingNo printing Describe the Easter dish How it works- Each student thinks of one Easter dish from their country, or picks one from the board.
- They describe it without saying its name: what it's made of, when you eat it, what it tastes like.
- The group guesses the country first, then the dish.
| Dishes to describeUkrainepaskaPolandmazurekSpaintorrijasPortugalfolarArgentinarosca de PascuaItalycolombaMexicocapirotadaUKhot cross buns |
| Why it works Most Easter dishes have no English name, so students can't translate. They have to explain, which is exactly the skill they need when a colleague asks about their holiday. |
|
Useful frames: It's made with ..., You eat it on ..., It tastes a bit like ..., My grandmother makes it every year.
5of 10B1-B220 minReadingFree printable · page 5 Real or invented? How it works- Students read 12 short Easter traditions from around the world. Nine are real and three are invented.
- They tick Real or Invented for each card, alone or in pairs, and defend their choices: It must be real, because ...
- Each student writes one true tradition from their country and one invented one, and tests a partner.
| Why it works Poland's water fights, Corfu's flying clay pots and Norway's Easter crime novels sound invented, so students argue about them. The final step makes every student the expert on their own country. |
| Free printable · page 5 12 tradition cards with Real and Invented boxes, plus lines for students' own traditions. Answers on page 8.Download the free PDF |
|
For a reading lesson built on traditions, see our Easter reading comprehension activities.
6of 10A2-B220 minSpeakingNo printing Hiring the Easter Bunny How it works- Pairs: one student is the hiring manager, the other wants the job of Easter Bunny.
- The manager asks about experience with Have you ever ...? The candidate answers and gives one detail in the past simple.
- Swap roles. The class votes for the candidate they would hire, and says why.
| Interview questionsHave you ever worked at night?Have you ever hidden something really well?How many eggs have you delivered in one night?Why do you want this job?What's your biggest weakness? |
| Why it works A job interview is a serious adult situation, and the silly job makes students relax. The questions practice present perfect for experience, then past simple for the story behind it. |
|
7of 10B1-C115 minVocabularyFree printable · page 6 Easter idioms How it works- Students match eight egg idioms to their meanings: walk on eggshells, a good egg, egg on your face.
- They complete six everyday situations with the right idiom, changing the form where needed.
- Each student writes two sentences about their own life with the idioms they did not use.
| Why it works Most of these idioms are used all year, at work and at home, so students learn them for Easter and keep using them in May. |
| Free printable · page 6 Eight idioms to match, six situations to complete and two lines for students' own sentences. Answers on page 8.Download the free PDF |
|
8of 10B1-C120 minGrammarFree printable · page 7 Who ate the Easter egg? How it works- A giant chocolate egg has disappeared from the office kitchen. Students read the story, four suspects and five clues.
- For each suspect they write one sentence with must have, might have or can't have, and say why.
- Compare in pairs, then decide together who ate the egg.
| The three modalsSureOlena must have eaten it.PossibleTom might have eaten it.ImpossibleMarta can't have eaten it. |
| Why it works Deduction is the reason modals of the past exist. A mystery gives students something to be sure or unsure about, and the clues decide which modal is right. |
| Free printable · page 7 The story, four suspects, five clues and a box on must have, might have and can't have. Answers on page 8.Download the free PDF |
|
Why a crime story at Easter? In Norway, Easter is crime season: people read detective novels and watch crime series all holiday. Easter Shock is a B1-B2 reading about a British exchange student surprised by Norwegian Easter. Easter ShockB1B2ProSee the Pro lesson → |
9of 10B1-C125 minWritingNo printing The Easter Bunny is late How it works- Give one prompt per level. Students write 80 to 150 words.
- Pairs swap texts and underline one sentence they like and one they would change.
- Put the stories on the wall and let the class walk round and read.
| Prompts by levelB1The Easter Bunny is late. What happened?B2Write the Easter Bunny's apology email to the children.C1Describe the scene: It looked as if ... |
| Why it works The same silly situation works at three levels, so one class can write together. Higher levels get a grammar target inside the story. |
|
The C1 prompt comes from this lesson Easter Vlog is a B2-C1 listening lesson with real Easter vlogs. Its grammar focus is as if and as though: It looked as if the Easter Bunny had eaten the carrot. Easter VlogB2C1ProSee the Pro lesson → |
10of 10B2-C130 minSpeakingNo printing Easter debate How it works- Split the class into two teams and give them one motion.
- Teams get ten minutes to prepare three arguments and one answer to the other side.
- Debate for 15 minutes, then the class votes on the most convincing argument, not the side they agree with.
| MotionsShops should stay closed on Easter Sunday.Chocolate eggs shouldn't be sold before March.Easter should be a day off for everyone, whatever their religion.Parents shouldn't tell children the Easter Bunny is real. |
| Why it works Every motion is about money, work or family, so students have real opinions. Voting on arguments rather than sides keeps the focus on language. |
|
To warm up for the debate, take two or three of our Easter discussion questions for adults.
Easter ESL Activity PackEverything for activities 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 in one free PDF, page by page in the order of this post, with answers.Download the free PDF |
Mistakes your students will make
Teacher's reference Slips to listen for when students talk about Easter | Students say | Better | | Congratulations with Easter! | Happy Easter! | | For holidays, English says Happy Easter. Keep the other word for a new job or a wedding. | | In Easter we paint eggs. | At Easter we paint eggs. | | At goes with holiday periods: at Easter, at Christmas. | | The Easter is in April this year. | Easter is in April this year. | | Holiday names take no article. | | We are painting eggs every year. | We paint eggs every year. | | Every year means a habit, so present simple. | | I have eaten paska yesterday. | I ate paska yesterday. | | Yesterday is a finished time, so past simple. |
|
Easter lessons and worksheets for every level
