VOCABULARY TASK (ALL LEVELS)
TEACHER’S NOTES
WORKSHEET 1
1. Write “Halloween” on the board.
2. Get students to brainstorm ideas in open class in order to see what words students associate with
this celebration and how many Halloween-related words they already know in English.
3. Give students worksheet 1. They need to read the sentences and complete them with a word from
the box. (To make the activity more challenging, you can ask students to cover the top part of the
page so they don’t see the words they have to match).
4. Go round helping students with vocabulary questions they may have.
5. Go over the answers in open class, answering any vocabulary questions students may have.
6. As an extension task, you could get students in groups and ask them to write a definitions for the
words in worksheet 1 which aren’t defined.
ANSWER KEY
a) A game children often play on Halloween in which they have to catch an apple from a basin filled
with water without using their hands. → bobbing for apples
b) A net that a spider makes out of thin sticky strings. → a cobweb
c) An empty pumpkin with a face cut into it and a light inside that can be seen through the holes and
which is made as a decoration for Halloween. → jack-o-lantern
d) A silly trick that you play on someone to surprise them. → a prank
e) A model of the set of bones that supports a human or animal body.
→ skeleton
f) A person who goes trick-or-treating on Halloween. → trick-or-treater
g) In stories, a woman who claims to have magic powers. → a witch
h) In stories, a man who claims to have magic powers. → a wizard
Macmillan Secondary e-Toolkit
© Macmillan Iberia, S.A. 2015. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.
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LISTENING: the origins of Halloween (A1-B1)
TEACHER’S NOTES
WORKSHEET 2
1. Tell students you are now going to watch a video about the origins of Halloween.
2. As a pre-watching exercise, you could get students in groups and ask them to predict what
words they are going to hear in the video by writing a list. They could write words they think
will appear in the video.
3. Show the video for the first time and ask students to cross out all the words from their lists
which they hear during the video.
( This is the link to the video: http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween/
videos/bet-you-didnt-know-halloween).
4. Next, give students worksheet 2. Students will watch the video again and have to decide if the
sentences on worksheet 3 are true or false and correct the false ones.
5. After having watched the video a second time, get students in groups and ask them to compare
their answers.
6. Finally, have a feedback session in open class, going over the answers one by one and asking
students to correct the false sentences.
7. As an extension task, you could ask students to react to the video by answering the following
questions in their groups:
a) What did you like most about the video?
b) What fact did you find the most interesting?
c) What did you learn that you didn’t know?
d) Do you celebrate Halloween? How?
ANSWERS
a) The origins of Halloween go back 200 years ago. → FALSE; they go back 2,000 years ago
b) The night before Samhain people left candy at their doorsteps to keep the spirits away. →
FALSE; they left food and drink
c) Samhain was turned into All Saints’ Day in the 18th century. → FALSE; this
happened in the 8th century
d) The name “Halloween” is the short form for “All Hallows Eve”. → TRUE
e) Souling and guising are two other traditions related to Halloween. → TRUE
f) Trick-or-treating started in the 18th century in America. → FALSE; it started
in the 19th century
g) People in the US spend 2.5 billion dollars on candy every year. → FALSE;
They spend it on costumes
h) Halloween is even more commercial than Christmas. → FALSE; it’s the
second most commercial festival after Christmas
Macmillan Secondary e-Toolkit
© Macmillan Iberia, S.A. 2015. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.
PHOTOCOPIABLE
LISTENING: the origins of Halloween (B1+-C1)
TEACHER’S NOTES
WORKSHEET 3
1. Tell students you are now going to watch a video about the origins of Halloween.
2. As a pre-watching exercise, you could get students in groups and ask them to predict what words
they are going to hear in the video by writing a list. They could write words they think will appear
in the video.
3. Show the video for the first time and ask students to cross out all the words from their lists which
they hear during the video.
(This is the link to the video: http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween/
videos/bet-you-didnt-know-halloween).
4. Next, give students worksheet 3. Students will watch the video again and have to answer the
questions on the worksheet.
5. After having watched the video a second time, get students in groups and ask them to compare
their answers.
6. Finally, have a feedback session in open class, going over the answers one by one and asking
students to correct the false sentences.
7. As an extension task, you could ask students to react to the video by answering the following
questions in their groups:
a) What did you like most about the video?
b) What fact did you find the most interesting?
c) What did you learn that you didn’t know?
d) Do you celebrate Halloween? How?
8. You could then ask for feedback in open class for students to share their answers with the rest of
the class.
ANSWER KEY
1. What happened on the night before Samhain (pronounced sow-in)? On the night before Samhain, it was believed that the dead returned to the Earth as spirits/
ghosts.
2. Why did people put food and drink on their doorsteps on Samhain? Why did they wear masks?
People put food and drink on their doorsteps to keep spirits at bay. They wore masks to prevent
being attacked by ghosts.
3. Who turned Samhain into All Hallows in the 8th century?
The Christian church did.
4. What were soul cakes? Who asked for them and what did they give in return?
Soul cakes were the pastries that rich people gave to the poor in exchange for their prayers for
their dead relatives.
5. What was guising?
Guising was a tradition started in medieval Britain where youngsters asked for food, wine and
money in exchange for singing, telling jokes or reciting poetry.
6. When did Halloween become the family-friendly celebration it is nowadays?
In the 1950s.
7. How much money do people in the US spend annually on Halloween in total?
6 billions. (6,000,000,000)
Macmillan Secondary e-Toolkit
© Macmillan Iberia, S.A. 2015. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.
PHOTOCOPIABLE
JIGSAW PAIR READING (A1-B1): the story of Halloween
TEACHER’S NOTES
WORKSHEET 4
1. Give the students worksheet 4. Tell them they are now going to read a text about the origins of
Halloween, which is linked to the video they have just watched.
2. Read the first paragraph together in open class and answer any vocabulary questions the students
may have.
3. Then divide the class into two groups: As and Bs.
4. A-students will need to look at the Student-A text, whereas B students will need to look at the Student
B text.
5. They should fill in the gaps in their text with a word from the box.
6. Go round monitoring and making sure all the students have the correct answers.
7. Regroup students and pair each A student with a B student.
8. A-students should now look at the Student B text and try to fill in the gaps. B-students should do
the same with the Student-A text. Once they have completed their texts, they read them out to each
other and the student with the corrected answers acts as the teacher.
9. A
fter all the students have completed both the A and the B texts, you can go over them in class and
clarify new vocabulary.
ANSWER KEY
STUDENT A
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America WAS flooded with new immigrants. These
new immigrants, especially THE millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped
TO popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish AND English traditions,
Americans began to dress up in costumes AND go house to house asking for food or money, A
practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition.
STUDENT B
In the late 1800s, there was A move in America to mold Halloween into a
holiday MORE about community and neighborly get-togethers than about
ghosts, pranks AND witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween
parties FOR both children and adults became the most common way TO
celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of THE season and
festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers AND community
leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out OF Halloween
celebrations.
Macmillan Secondary e-Toolkit
© Macmillan Iberia, S.A. 2015. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.
PHOTOCOPIABLE
JIGSAW PAIR READING (B1+-C1)
TEACHER’S NOTES
WORKSHEET 5
1. Give the students worksheet 4. Tell them they are now going to read a text about the origins of
Halloween, which is linked to the video they have just watched.
2. Read the first paragraph together in open class and answer any vocabulary questions the students
may have.
3. Then divide the class into two groups: As and Bs.
4. A-students will need to look at the Student-A text, whereas B students will need to look at the
Student B text.
5. They should fill in the gaps in their text with a word from the box.
6. Go round monitoring and making sure all the students have the correct answers.
7. Regroup students and pair each A-student with a B-student.
8. A-students should now look at the Student B text and try to fill in the gaps. B-students should do
the same with the Student-A text. Once they have completed their texts, they read them out to each
other and the student with the corrected answers acts as the teacher.
9. A
fter all the students have completed both the A and the B texts, you can go over them in class and
clarify new vocabulary.
ANSWER KEY
STUDENT A
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America WAS flooded with new immigrants. These
new immigrants, especially the MILLIONS of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped
TO popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish AND English traditions,
Americans began to dress up in costumes AND go house to house asking for food or money, A
practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on
Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future
husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, there was A move in America to mold Halloween into a
holiday MORE about community and neighborly get-togethers than about
ghosts, pranks AND witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween
parties FOR both children and adults became the most common way
TO celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of THE season
and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers AND
community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out
OF Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost
most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the
twentieth century.
Macmillan Secondary e-Toolkit
© Macmillan Iberia, S.A. 2015. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.
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JIGSAW PAIR READING (B1+-C1)
STUDENT B
BY the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with
parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many
schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities
DURING this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully LIMITED vandalism and Halloween
had evolved into a holiday directed MAINLY at the young. Due to the high numbers of YOUNG
children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or
home, where they COULD be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old
practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an
entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks
being PLAYED on them by providing the neighborhood children with small TREATS. A new American
tradition was born, and it has CONTINUED to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion
annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday.
The American Halloween tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back TO the early All Souls’
Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families WOULD
give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for THEIR promise to pray for the family’s dead
relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as A way to replace the ancient
practice of leaving food AND wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred TO as “going
a-souling” was eventually taken up by children, WHO would visit the houses in their neighborhood
and be GIVEN ale, food, and money.
Macmillan Secondary e-Toolkit
© Macmillan Iberia, S.A. 2015. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.
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WRITING (ALL LEVELS)
TEACHER’S NOTES
WORKSHEET 6
1. Give students worksheet 6.
2. First, they should read the questions and try to answer them in note form.
3. Then get them in pairs and ask them to compare their answers and discuss them.
4. Next, regroup and give feedback open class, so all the students can listen to everyone’s answers.
5. Finally, ask the students to write a text about what they do on Halloween, using their ideas from the
questions on worksheet 6, but giving more details. Tell the students they can use all or only some
of the questions as prompts for their text.
6. I n case they don’t celebrate Halloween, they can also write about another autumn celebration in
their country.
7. You can ask the students to write the text on their own or alternatively, get them back in their pairs
and ask them to write it together (collaborative writing).
8. As a follow-up activity, you could get students to exchange their texts to (a) proofread them and
(b) try to find two things that the text they have been given has in common with the one they have
written themselves.
Macmillan Secondary e-Toolkit
© Macmillan Iberia, S.A. 2015. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.
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