Christmas ESL Lesson Plans by Level, A1 to C1

December lessons have a job to do. They should feel like the holidays and still teach real English, because your students are paying for a lesson, not a party. This page collects every Christmas, New Year and winter lesson on ESL LAB in one place, sorted by level, with the free lessons first.

Most lessons take about 60 minutes and come with a Quizlet set and homework, and many have a Miro board. Pick your students' level below, or use the calendar at the end to plan the weeks from early December to the first class back in January.

Beginner (A1-A2)

Short texts, clear models and plenty of support. Every lesson ends with students saying or writing something of their own.

Lesson	What students do	Language
New Year's Resolutions Free	Watch a street interview about resolutions and share their own goals	find inner peace, have more money, graduate
Advent Calendars	Watch videos of unusual advent calendars and present their own	I agree, I don't agree, overpriced
Christmas Greetings	Read four Christmas cards, match them to the right person, write short letters	greetings and wishes for cards
Winter Vacation	Read about winter break activities and talk about their plans	be going to
Winter Wardrobe	Match winter clothes, read about capsule wardrobes, design one	turtleneck, fleece jacket, overcoat
Best Gifts	Read four stories about the best gifts people gave or received	object pronouns

Pre-intermediate (A2-B1)

Traditions with a clear language goal: a reading or a video, new words, then a task in pairs or groups.

Lesson	What students do	Language
Christmas Songs Free	Gap-fill Last Christmas and All I Want for Christmas Is You	mistletoe, sleigh, reindeer, pronunciation
Christmas Food	Read about an English Christmas dinner and plan an international menu	stuffing, gingerbread, feast
Christmas Gift Guide	Read about small brands that make unique gifts and write a wish list	adjectives to describe presents
Christmas Decorations	Order a dialogue about making an orange garland and describe a DIY video	vague language
Christmas Pudding with Jamie Oliver	Watch Jamie Oliver make a Christmas pudding	cooking phrases, adjectives and adverbs
Surviving Family Dinner	Watch a clip and role-play an awkward family dinner	nosy questions, change the subject

Intermediate (B1-B2)

Culture, film and real situations. These lessons also suit students who are tired of the usual Christmas lesson.

Lesson	What students do	Language
Christmas Around the World	Guess traditions from five countries and invent a new one for an ordinary product	Christmas traditions vocabulary
History of the Christmas Tree	Watch a video on where the tradition came from and write a summary	custom, pagan, profitable
Speak Like The Holiday	Analyze a scene from The Holiday and role-play tactful conversations	softer questions, polite opinions
Is It OK to Regift?	Listen to a discussion on whether regifting is rude	the passive voice
Holiday Hangover	Read tips on beating post-holiday blues, for the first class back	vocabulary for a fresh start
When Winter Gets Rough	Worksheet: describe extreme winter weather and write warnings	blizzard, black ice, frost, windchill

Advanced (B2-C1)

Readings, debates and writing for students who want more than vocabulary.

Lesson	What students do	Language
Christmas Movies	Read why holiday films are so popular and debate whether they are realistic	an escape from reality, hooked on
New Year’s Traditions	Rank New Year traditions from cutest to cringiest and invent new ones	New Year vocabulary
Year in Review	Analyze two Instagram year-in-review posts and write their own	introspective, uplifting, idiomatic phrases
Gluggavedur	Read about the Icelandic idea of window weather, for January	words for coziness
Chinese New Year	Watch a video on traditions and research one custom, for early February	lunar calendar, zodiac, honor ancestors

Business English

For adults who will spend December writing to clients and dealing with office gifts.

Lesson	What students do	Language
Business Holiday Cards (B1-B2)	Match holiday messages to a CEO, a client or a remote colleague and write one	formal and informal register
The Office Gift Dilemma (B2-C1)	Discuss workplace gift cases and Secret Santa	diplomatic language to decline or suggest

Plan the season week by week

Early December: Advent Calendars, Christmas Gift Guide, Business Holiday Cards
The last class before the holidays: Christmas Songs, Christmas Movies, Speak Like The Holiday, Surviving Family Dinner
The first class back in January: Holiday Hangover, New Year's Resolutions, Year in Review, Is It OK to Regift?
Late January and February: Gluggavedur, When Winter Gets Rough, Chinese New Year (6 February 2027)

For classes where not everyone celebrates Christmas

These lessons work with any group. They are about winter, the New Year, or culture students can look at from the outside.

A1-A2: New Year's Resolutions (free), about goals for the year. Winter Vacation, about plans for the break with be going to. Best Gifts, about gifts for any occasion.
A2-B1: Surviving Family Dinner, about polite ways to dodge nosy questions at any family gathering.
B1-B2: Christmas Around the World and History of the Christmas Tree, which treat Christmas as culture and history, not celebration. Holiday Hangover, about getting back to work after any break. When Winter Gets Rough, a winter weather worksheet.
B2-C1: New Year’s Traditions, which compares customs from many countries. Year in Review, where students write about their own year. Gluggavedur, a reading about winter and slowing down.