A 3-Activity Thanksgiving Lesson Plan for ESL Students

Introduction

This Thanksgiving lesson plan for ESL students is perfect for intermediate learners, helping them expand their vocabulary, reflect on gratitude, and practice their reading and writing skills.

The lesson focuses on making students more aware of what they should be thankful for, while also teaching valuable language skills.

Though designed for Thanksgiving, it can be used anytime to help students appreciate the people and things that bring value to their lives.

Thanksgiving Lesson Plan Overview

Thanksgiving lesson plan for ESL students

By the end of this activity, students will be able to

1. Expand their vocabulary about the Thanksgiving holiday.
2. Talk about what they are thankful for.
3. Write a short paragraph about what they are thankful for. 

1. Preparation (10 minutes)

Warm-up

Start with a usual warm-up like a tongue twister, a quote, a riddle, a command drill, etc. The objective is to put the students in the mood to learn English.

Lead-in

Start by asking questions about the most celebrated holidays in America and Canada. Students may provide the following responses:

• Independence Day
• Christmas.
• New year’s eve.
• Thanksgiving.

Then, invite them to work in small groups and use the internet to collect the following information:

Next, have students work in small groups to research and fill in the following information:

Where is it celebrated?	When is it celebrated?	How is it celebrated?
1. …	1. …	1. …
2. …	2. …	2. …
3. …	3. …	3. …

After the whole class correction, invite them to answer the following question:

• Why did people first celebrate Thanksgiving?

Possible answer:

• They wanted to give thanks to God for the harvest they had.

2. Reading comprehension (10 minutes)

This reading comprehension is meant to provide a context and the linguistic resources (incidental vocabulary learning) for the next activity (i.e., writing about what they are grateful for.)

I am Thankful (Reading)

Ask the students to read the following text and answer the following question:

• What is the speaker thankful for the most and why?

3. Over to you! (15 minutes)

What are you thankful for?

After the reading activity, invite the students to talk about what they are thankful for.

• Invite students to show how thankful they are for the things they have and the people they are related to.
• Tell students to draw a table like the following and show that they are thankful for the things they own, the people around them, and other things.
• They have to provide at least 3 examples in each category (i.e., 3 people, 3 things…) 
• First, students work individually. Then, they share with their partners, their group, and the whole class.

Invite students to reflect on what they are thankful for by completing the following table:

I am thankful for…

People	Things	Other	Why
1. …	1. …	1. …	1. …
2. …	2. …	2. …	2. …
3. …	3. …	3. …	3. …

After sharing and talking about what they are appreciative of, it is high time for a writing activity.

4. Writing (15 minutes)

Once they finish, they write a short paragraph about what they are thankful for. 

They may start as follows:

5. Follow-up (Homework)

As a follow-up, you may want to ask your students to choose something they are grateful for and attempt to write a poem. The structure doesn’t have to be sophisticated:

Final thoughts!

This Thanksgiving lesson plan for ESL students goes beyond holiday vocabulary, helping students recognize the importance of gratitude. The activities foster reflection, positive thinking, and language practice, making the lesson adaptable to various occasions. Teaching students to express gratitude can contribute to greater happiness and well-being, while also improving their English skills.

Here are more links to Thanksgiving activities:

• Reading comprehension text about Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving poem
• Listening to a song: Be Thankful by Sarah Connor