Valentine’s Day is always an interesting moment to explore students’ emotions and feelings!
Plus, they can learn new fun words.
I’ve already written a post about some of the reasons why it is important to celebrate fun and important days of the year in ESL.
Nevertheless, never forget to…
- set the context to discuss students’ experiences and opinions
- ask simple questions
- compare the students’ answers with the entire class
- finish with a follow-up activity
- choose something fun and use your imagination!
Check out these activities I have created for different age groups to explore St. Valentine’s Day on-screen.
Try them out with your students and let me know the outcome!
Are you ready?
So let’s get to the top 13 activities I’ve prepared for you to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day in ESL!
Adapt them to different levels, use them when teaching online or at school. Or just assign them as homework.
Valentine’s Day In ESL: 13 On-Screen Ideas
#1 St. Valentine’s Day Brainstorming ESL Activities
Download the brainstorming templates to show on-screen!
#2 St. Valentine’s Day Picture-Related Activities
Consider using picture prompt activities such as:
- Remember-All-Or-Nothing
- Captions’ Factory
- Set The Scene
- Daytime Stories
For more information about these activities check out my post 9 Unexpected Things That Suddenly Happen When Pictures Aren’t Good.
Find interesting St. Valentine pictures with lots of interesting things happening.
Then, depending on the level of the students, they may shout out the words they know; talk about what’s happening; talk about how people are feeling; predict what will happen next; or make a story based on what they see, for example.
Get the 8-page bundle right HERE! All in one PDF.
#3 St. Valentine’s Vocabulary Matching
An easy matching worksheet. Students love them!
#4 St. Valentine’s Bingo
Everyone loves a good Bingo game! And this is why this can make quite a fun ESL St. Valentine game.
After pre-teaching your students some vocabulary or, even better, eliciting the so-called “LOVE” words with #1 St. Valentine Brainstorming ESL Activities, give them the template and make them choose the words they want to include and where to put them.
Get students to cross off each word with an X (instead of scribbling it out entirely) so that you can check answers at the end.
You can find both templates HERE. Click to download!
#5 St. Valentine ESL Easy Idioms
Consider idioms if you’re looking for some fun learning in your English (online or not) lessons!
#6 I Sense LOVE…
This is an interesting activity to explore students’ imagination!
#7 A to Z Word Race
If the students have a good knowledge of St.Valentine’s vocabulary, then you might like to try the A to Z Word Race.
It’s great to trigger students’ previous knowledge about a topic.
Divide the class into 2 big groups: each student works on their own, but collaboratively, contributing to the results of his/her team.
Then, they write the alphabet down on a piece of paper and have to think of as many “Love” words as possible.
The team with the most words at the end of the activity is the winning team!
For example:
A= ARROW
B= BOUQUET
C= CUPID
…
#8 St. Valentine’s Day SCAVENGER HUNT
No need to write how it works, right? It’s great to finish an online lesson!
#9 St. Valentine’s Day WOULD YOU RATHER
Easy questions to finish one of your lessons during this week or a starting point to practice speaking skills.
#10 St. Valentine’s Day DON’T THINK TWICE
This is another suggestion to finish one of your lessons during this week!
They’re FREE!
#11 St. Valentine’s Day STEP ON THE GAS
Finally, my last activity to start or end one of your lessons during this love week. Our students do need some fun!
#12 St. Valentine’s Day Storytime
In my opinion, this will always be a fun activity to carry out!
It’s our job to lighten up the spirits of our students even though the pandemic around the world gives us no rest…
So if they are good at writing, make them write; if they are younger, build up a class story together (orally); or simply use the given titles to encourage and stimulate their creativity and collaborative work!
Assigning it as homework might also be a great idea!
#13 Reading or Listening Marathon with a Valentine-themed story
You might want to consider carrying out this activity if you want more from your St.Valentine lessons than just pure fun and games.
It’s great to be carried out throughout the year with any topic too, trust me!
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ESL Valentine Vocabulary
To conclude, I’ll leave you with the most common St. Valentine-related words. They may be useful to celebrate Valentine’s Day In ESL with all the above activities.
| adore | cuddle | friend | lovers | hand holding |
| affection | Cupid | gift | marriage | rose |
| arrow | date | hand holding | moonstruck | secret |
| balloon | dear | Happy Valentine’s Day | other half | secret admirer |
| beauty | desire | heart | pink | snuggle |
| beloved | diamond | honey | poem | soulmate |
| blow kiss | embrace | hug | present | St. Valentine |
| bouquet | darling | In love | promise | sweetheart |
| bow | dinner | jewelry | proposal | sweetie |
| candles | February | Juliet | red | Valentine |
| candy | feeling | kiss | Romeo | Valentine’s Cards |
| card | flirt | lace | ribbon | teddy bears |
| crush | flower | locket | ring | true love |
| chocolate | forever | love | romance | wedding |
| couple | fourteenth February | love letters | romantic | xoxo |
If you need more ideas about exploring vocabulary in the ESL classroom, read my related posts below.
Besides these, you can find on my website several FREE DOWNLOADS which are vocabulary and picture-based too and different RESOURCES FOR ESL.
For more ideas from other sites and teachers, please visit my Pinterest account and follow me there!
Also, be sure to give this article a share on Facebook.
Finally,
The posts below include resources for teachers working in face-to-face classrooms where Covid-19 restrictions are in place or for teachers working from home:
- Things a Learner Needs When Exploring Vocabulary
- Ways To Introduce Vocabulary
- Questions To Ask About My Number 1 Way To Introduce Vocabulary
- ESL Vocabulary And Ways To Enlarge It
- How To Learn New English Words Every Day
- Learning And 9 Things A Learner Needs
- The Best Way To Teach Vocabulary
- How To Handle The Last Zoom Lesson
- 15 Websites For ESL Teachers
- Quotes To Boost Language Learning
- Beating Insecurities As a Language Learner
- Helpful Vocabulary
- Excellent Ways Of Using Pictures
- 13 Smart Strategies To Start A (Remote) School Year
- Powerful Words To Express Emotions
- Activities For Keeping Social Distancing
- Quotes To Learn In Series (such as SUITS)
- Celebrating Fun Days Of The Year
- Game Ideas
- Celebrations: Halloween – Thanksgiving – Christmas
- Vocabulary Activities With The Topic Fashion
At the moment, LOVE is ALL we need!
So I hope you enjoy working with these activities 🙂 🙂 🙂
