It's the night before Christmas, in the owl family house.

Everyone is busy, even Mabel Mouse.

What can you see? What can you find?

There are many different ways to use this busy Christmas scene. Here are a few of my ideas:

1) To revise Christmas vocabulary that has previously been learned and to generate differentiated speaking opportunites.

Children simply say what they can see. The closer they look, the more they'll find! Some children will give short answers: presents / four presents / I can see four presents. Others will give longer ones: I can see four presents under the Christmas tree.

2) To introduce Christmas vocabulary. Again I first see what the children know. If they use a word in their mother tongue, I give them the English (maybe write it on the board for older children or put up the flashcards/word cards) and we repeat it together with an action.

3) To play a game of 'I spy'. This can also be played in pairs.

Teacher: "I spy, with my little eye ... something green!"

Pupil: "Is it the wreath?"

Teacher: "Yes, it is! / No, it isn't!"

4) To practise reading and writing key Christmas words (black and white versions).    

5) To calm children down or to help them focus. The full colour verion can be printed on A3 and laminated. Children can find the objects listed at the side on their own.

6) To promote comprehension of Brown Owl's Christmas poem.

For older learners there is a worksheet with reading activites to accompany the picture. It focuses on WHO and WHERE questions, which often get mixed up.

N.B. I have included a version without the written word so that this busy Christmas scene can be used with non-readers, at kindergarten or for teaching key words in other languages too.

Using the same vocabulary I have also created a game of 'I have got ... Who has got ...?' and a Christmas spotter's list,

I hope you have fun learning English with Brown Owl!

P.S. Brown Owl is the main character in my rhyming picture book series ‚Read and Rhyme with Brown Owl‘. For more information visit www.readandrhyme.at