Halloween lessons by level
Start with the level of your group. Several of these Halloween ESL lesson plans also teach a grammar point, so a Halloween class can fit into the syllabus you are already following instead of replacing a week of it.
| Level | Lesson | What students do |
| A1-A2 | What Are You Gonna Be For Halloween? | Rank costumes, learn costume and makeup words and talk about Halloween plans |
| A2-B1 | Spooky Costume (Free) | Read what a costume says about the person wearing it and learn adjectives for personality |
| A2-B1 | Ghost Stories (Free) | Read haunted house tales and retell them with the past simple and past continuous |
| A2-B1 | Pumpkin Recipe | Follow a video recipe for roasted pumpkin and learn quantity phrases like a tablespoon of and a pinch of |
| B1-B2 | Halloween Decorations | Listen to how Americans decorate their homes and decide whether it's worth the money |
| B1-B2 | Real-Life Vampires? | Read an article by a writer who met people who identify as vampires and practice relative clauses |
| B2-C1 | Tales of Horror | Listen to a podcast of real eerie experiences, compare the past simple and past perfect, then write a ghost story |
| B2-C1 | Horror | Read five theories about why we enjoy being scared and build vocabulary for talking about movies |
| B2-C1 | Halloween Canceled | Decide whether Halloween should be canceled and defend an opinion in a discussion |
| B2-C1 | Halloween Pranks | Imagine playful pranks, then read and listen to prank stories |
Halloween worksheets with answer keys
The worksheets are shorter and more focused than the lesson plans. Halloween Vocabulary (A2-B1, free) teaches 14 words, from pumpkin to haunted house, through odd-one-out groups, What am I? riddles and a real party invitation. Halloween Idioms (B1-B2) teaches ten idioms adults hear at work and in the news all year, such as a skeleton in the cupboard, the graveyard shift and over my dead body. Each of these ESL Halloween worksheets comes in a student version and a teacher version, and the teacher version has the answer key.
When your students don't celebrate Halloween
Many adult learners outside North America don't celebrate Halloween, and some don't like it at all. That gives you a discussion instead of a problem. Halloween Canceled asks students to take a side on exactly that question. Halloween Decorations turns the holiday into a conversation about money and neighbors. Horror, Real-Life Vampires? and Tales of Horror barely mention the holiday, so you can teach them in any month of the year.
Halloween ESL lesson plans FAQ
Are there free Halloween lessons?
Yes. Halloween Vocabulary, Ghost Stories and Spooky Costume are free to download. You can find every free lesson on the free lessons page.
Can I use these Halloween lesson plans with teens?
Yes. The lessons are written for adults and older teens. Halloween Pranks and What Are You Gonna Be For Halloween? work especially well with high school groups.
What do I get with a subscription?
Every Halloween ESL lesson plan for adults here includes the PDF plus a Quizlet set and a Miro board, and many also have a revision game. A subscription opens all of them.
Which level should I choose?
If you are not sure, ask your students to take the free placement test first, then pick from the table above.