Christmas-themed B2 speaking

It has become somewhat of a tradition on this blog that for every bigger holiday you can count on a Cambridge-style themed speaking. Last year I prepared a speaking class for the B1 level. This time it’s time to focus on FCE students and let them enjoy Christmas while practising English.

If you have used my other exam preparation lesson idea, Christmas-themed B1 speaking, you may find this post interesting. Practise the Cambridge exam structure while still getting into the Christmas spirit with this easy, no-prep examiner’s speaking notes, supported with a PDF presentation for all the online students. You can download the examiner’s notes and the presentation at the end of the post.

Start the speaking part with a quick warm-up activity. Show pictures of Christmas-related objects and read out the definitions. Students need to name what they see. In this way, they will enrich their vocabulary and get a few new words which they can use in the next part of the speaking lesson. If think you need to bring something extra to this activity, you can ask students to spell out these words. It will not only keep them on their toes but will also refresh the alphabet. Additionally, some of the words may seem easy but can be quite challenging to spell. Good luck spelling mistletoe or bauble!

Now, it’s time to start the speaking exam. I usually skip the get to know each other questions and go straight to phase two of speaking part 1. All of the questions refer to students’ personal experiences with Christmas. You can find questions such as When did you stop believing in Santa?, or Does your family have any Christmas traditions? What are they? It’s a great way of thinking about Christmas while practising a range of tenses.

In speaking part 2, each student gets to compare and contrast two pictures while answering the question. In the first set of pictures, students think about the reasons why people decided to buy a natural and a plastic Christmas tree. Make sure to let the other students know that they need to pay attention as at the end of the task they will have to answer an additional question about the pictures. The other two pictures deal with the weather and its influence on the Christmas mood. Think about the celebrations in the sunny down under and compare them with the parties in the snowy northern hemisphere.

In part 3, students work in pairs or groups of three. Say that they need to think about the perfect Christmas party. Present them with the five speaking prompts and put two minutes on the clock. Students discuss which of the following things creates a unique Christmas atmosphere: being with the family, Christmas music, food, presents and snowy weather. Students end the discussion by choosing one prompt they cannot imagine Christmas celebrations without.

As always, end with opinion-based questions centred around Christmas. The questions range from What do you think about the commercialization of Christmas? to What would be the best snack that you could leave out for Santa? Remind them that there are no wrong answers, and let their creativity flow freely!

Turn this lesson into a fun exam preparation activity. Ask everyone to listen to each other carefully and provide a peer speaking assessment. In my experience, students were always very kind and motivated each other with positive feedback.

If you are still trying to figure out what to do with your FCE group this Christmas time, look no further. Click the files below to download the lesson plan and the presentation.