Lesson Plan

Teacher: Gabriela Covaciu

School: Scoala Gimnaziala Lizeta Paul Grecianu
Date: October 31st 2014
Grade: 5th
Lesson: Lets celebrate Halloween!
Type of lesson: Introduction of new knowledge and vocabulary
Aims:
To learn about the history of Halloween
To learn and extend vocabulary related to Halloween
To practise the new vocabulary
Materials: handouts, board, chalk, CDs, laptop, worksheets.
Stages of the lesson:
Activity 1 - warm-up (5min)
T writes the following words on the board and the Ss guess what the lesson is about:
pumpkin, ghost, witch, October, holiday, costume
Ss take the true/false quiz.
T goes over the answers together with the Ss.
Activity 2 reading (15 min)

Ss are given a text about Halloween.

After reading, T uses the comprehension questions to assess students' understanding.
1. When did Halloween originate?
2. When is it celebrated?
3. What are the two things children love doing on Halloween?
4. How do children know which houses to go to trick or treat?
5. Does everyone choose a scary costume?
6. Besides children, who else enjoys celebrating Halloween?
Activity 3 vocabulary (5 min)
T writes some words on the board and the Ss must find their synonyms in the reading text. They write them on the board to
check their answers.
festivity, to walk (without a destination), to empty, frightening, threatening, clothes, dark
Activity 4 vocabulary in writing (10 min)

Ss are given a poem Little Monsters and a set of words that they have to fill in the poem. If Ss dont know the
meaning of a word, they may see the corresponding definition written next to the words.
Ss read the poem out loud to check their answers
Activity 5 homework (5 min)
Ss must choose one of the three story starters below and write a short Halloween story containing as much new vocabulary
as possible.
1. It was a dark and stormy night when....
2. You won't believe this story, but it is true...
3. My friends and I like to go trick-or-treating because...
If there is time left, Ss will do a cloze exercise.

Activity 1

Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Halloween?

Indicate whether the following statements are true or false by writing the word in the blank preceding each
statement.
1) _________ When children ring a doorbell, they say "Trick or Treat."
2) _________ Orange and Black are considered Halloween colors.
3) _________ On Halloween, most people carve a pineapple to put on their front doorstep.
4) _________ Halloween is celebrated on November 1st.
5) _________ Halloween costumes must be homemade.
6) _________ Most people give out vegetables on Halloween.
7) _________ Most schools are closed on Halloween.
8) _________ A Jack O'Lantern is made from a pumpkin.
9) _________ The word Halloween comes from All Hallow's Eve.
10) _________ Halloween is a religious holiday.

Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Halloween?

Indicate whether the following statements are true or false by writing the word in the blank preceding each
statement.
1) _________ When children ring a doorbell, they say "Trick or Treat."
2) _________ Orange and Black are considered Halloween colors.
3) _________ On Halloween, most people carve a pineapple to put on their front doorstep.
4) _________ Halloween is celebrated on November 1st.
5) _________ Halloween costumes must be homemade.
6) _________ Most people give out vegetables on Halloween.
7) _________ Most schools are closed on Halloween.
8) _________ A Jack O'Lantern is made from a pumpkin.
9) _________ The word Halloween comes from All Hallow's Eve.
10) _________ Halloween is a religious holiday.

Activity 2

Halloween
Halloween began over 2000 years ago in Ireland, France, and England as a celebration for the Celts to mark
the beginning of winter. It was on October 31st that the Lord of the Dead would allow the dead to return to earth
from the netherworld. The humans dressed in skins of animals to protect themselves from these other worldly
creatures. Two thousand years later, Halloween is a favorite holiday among American children. This should
come as no surprise since it is a holiday that combines two things that children love: dressing up and eating
candy!
On Halloween, you will hear "Trick-or-treat" everywhere. Children dress in costume and head down the streets
as soon as it gets dark. Small-brained goblins and sharp-witted ghosts wonder around the streets and demand
candy from the neighbors. Not everyone chooses a scary costume; you might see a silver-eyed princess,
Superman, a movie star or a hippie. In groups, these creatures of the night make their way searching for
miniature chocolate bars and other sweets. How do they know which houses to go to?
Another ritual of Halloween is to buy a pumpkin, hollow it out, and carve a scary face on the front. With a candle
in the center, these pumpkins are transformed into Jack O'Lanterns that are placed on front porches or in
windows. Children know to look for these lights because they know that they will find a willing host to give them
candy. Some families decorate their houses for Halloween. They play scary music, hang spider webs, and
suspend bony-white skeletons from their windows. But with their dancing flame, the Jack O'Lanterns prove to
be the most frightening and menacing of all.
Pumpkin carving is truly an art. Some people will create entire families of pumpkins to greet the gypsies,
witches, and vampires who come on Halloween night. The tradition began with the English and Scottish
immigrants who came to America and brought their tradition of carving out beets, potatoes and turnips use as
lanterns. While some people today prefer to paint pumpkins, perhaps as a safety precaution with younger
children, carved pumpkins yield many other benefits. For example, the fruit of the pumpkin can be used to make
Pumpkin Pie, and the seeds can be dried and toasted as a snack.
Halloween is a holiday that is enjoyed by people of all ages. Many adults go to costume parties and balls and
rent elaborate outfits. While the history is not often discussed, people are generally aware that this pagan
holiday signals the beginning of the long, cold winter. But it is easy for children to forget the upcoming months of
cold and gloomy weather when they return home with a bag full of every possible "treat."

Activity 4

Little Monsters
Choose your ______________________ and carve it right,
For tonight is the night of fright.
A most dangerous eve is ______________________ ,
Disguise yourself from dangers unseen.
Beware!
The witches and ______________________ prepare their brews,
Deadly mixtures and magic stews.
Those without ______________________ should run and hide,
Or, better yet, stay inside,
For the darkest night is the night of fools,
Souls unprepared for bone-eating ______________________,
Ghosts and ______________________ who seek to annoy
Or, perhaps, even destroy.
Listen!
Hear the sounds of laughter and little feet,
As they threaten you with "______________________."
Give them candy, they will go away.
Lock your doors and pray
That the ______________________ candle stays lit,
And the devilish children quit.

Halloween Vocabulary
Halloween

N. a holiday celebrated on October 31 in which people dress in scary costumes

to carve

V. to cut with a large knife

pumpkin

N. a large, orange vegetable associated with Halloween

Jack-olantern

costume
"trick or
treat"

N. Americans traditionally cut out scary faces in pumpkins and put a candle inside. These
pumpkins with faces are called "Jack-o-lanterns." Jack-o-lanterns are made to scare
away evil spirits on Halloween.
N. scary clothing or disguises worn on Halloween
On Halloween, children go from house to house and say "trick or treat." This phrase
means give me candy or I will play a trick on you. Families usually give the children
candy. If the children don't get candy, they sometimes play mean tricks like breaking the
house's Jack-o-lantern or putting soap on its windows.

a costume
party

N. a party where everyone dresses in scary costumes

bobbing for
apples

This is a traditional Halloween game. You put apples in a barrel of water and people try to
take the floating apples out of the water using only their mouths.

a skeleton

N. a body of nothing but bones

a ghost

N. the spirit of a dead person which appears again

a ghoul

N. an evil spirit which takes bodies from graves and eats them

a goblin

N. an unkind spirit which plays tricks on people

a witch

N. a woman with magic powers (usually evil)

a warlock

N. a man with magic powers (usually evil)

A Cloze Exercise for Halloween

American | bad | costume | don't | eyes | give | holidays | house | I | is | knock | learned | like | making | October |
or | out | pumpkins | so | the | too | very

Halloween is one of the most famous __________in the U.S., and it is on

___________31. People carve ____________ and make funny faces on them.
These are called "Jack-O-Lanterns." On October 31, children wear a special
__________such as a witch, ghost, ____________clown. They go to many houses
and they ____________on the door saying, "Trick or Treat!" It means that if
people _____________give them a treat, they will play some kind of trick on
the household. So, usually people _____________candy to them. I carved my
first Halloween pumpkin at my Friendship Family's ______________. First, I cut
open the top of _______________pumpkin and pulled the seeds ___________. It
was not good for me because it was sticky and smelled __________. I had
never carved a pumpkin, ____________it was interesting for me. Next,
__________carved the _____________and the mouth. I wanted to make a face
__________a pirate. When I finished ____________the face, I put a candle inside.
It was ___________beautiful, so I was happy. I had a good experience because
I _____________one new idea about ____________culture by taking part in it. I
think Halloween _______________an interesting American holiday which
involves all family members and neighbours __________!