Halloween 2020

As if 2020 weren't scary enough...here comes Halloween 🧛

Much has been said and practised about it on previous years' entries,

including the classic MAKE ME ZOMBIE

This year we'll take a different approach:

Thanks so much to teacher Cristina Cabal for sharing the next activities:

Activity 2 1: Writing and Story-Telling

This activity aims at

- developing creative writing

- using stories to develop oral fluency

Observe the pictures above and write a scary story about them 

Bring your stories on October, 30th.

We'll be sharing them to create a scary atmosphere,

and we'll be choosing the creepiest ones too...

Activity 1 2. Video Activity. The Ten Steps (2004)

This activity aims at

- learning vocabulary: adjectives to describe houses

- improving listening skills

This is a great short film (less than 9 minutes and worth every second)    

that sets the right atmosphere. Draw the curtains and turn off the lights.   

 I would like to just for one day forget I’m an English teacher and just play the film, but I can’t.   

So, we are going to work a bit on vocabulary before the film starts and    

we are going to focus on some questions to answer after watching the film.   

Before playing the video, take a look the picture below 

and do the vocabulary exercise (PDF here)  

Useful Vocabulary:

 Haunted cellar =basement       -  fuse box       -  to get a fright    

  - power outage          - sth/sb gives you the creeps

From the list of adjectives that can be used to describe houses, 

which ones would you choose to describe the house in the film? Choose from the list:

 Sinister   dark    charming   elegant    miserable    gloomy    picturesque 

abandoned    posh   lifeless    neglected    detached    scary    spooky    two-storey

 fearful     handsome    frightening    ghostly 

mysterious    tiny   redbrick    macabre /məˈkɑː.brə/ 

The 10 steps

The story:  Set in Ireland, a family moves to a new city neighborhood, 

taking residence in a large, old house that is rumored to have a dark past. 

Their young daughter Katie is caught in a power outage /ˈaʊ.tɪdʒ/. 

Watch the film and after watching it, try to answer the following questions: 

- Where are Katie’s parents? 

- What happens in the house? 

- Where is the fuse box? 

- When Katie learns where the key is, why is she so frightened? Why? 

- What does her father’s boss’s wife say the legend of the house is? 

- Fill in the gaps in the following instructions Katie’s father gives her? 

(minutes 5:00- 8:10) 

1. Open the _____________ 

2. Concentrate on ____________ 

3. Keep__________/_____________ 

4. Don’t _____________now 

5. Look_______________in front of you 

- Stop watching the film now. How do you think the story will finish? 

- Now watch the rest of the film. Was your guess right?

Thanks to Marta Domínguez & Cristina Cabal

Activity 3. A bit of fun with Kahoot

This activity aims at:

- teaching about traditions

- developing digital abilities

- having fun 

I would just not feel fine if, after all the spooky storytelling, 

my students went home and couldn’t sleep that night, so a Kahoot is in order.

I have chosen this one from the enormous bank of Halloween quizzes Kahoot has 

More: 1 (add some Math to the pot), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (extra Math !)

After these activities, you can go to ISL Collective for Halloween Videos 

or to more entries on this Blog like this year's Halloween continued

Finally, a different kind of terror story: