Celebrate in Your Classroom with Our Fun & Engaging Halloween ESL Resources!

Halloween is the perfect time to bring a little magic, mystery, and excitement into your ESL classroom! Whether you’re teaching teens or adults, this spooky season is a fantastic opportunity to boost vocabulary, spark conversation, and explore fun cultural traditions, all while keeping your learners engaged and having a frightfully good time.

To help you celebrate, we’ve created a collection of ready-to-use Halloween resources that will make your lessons both engaging and educational. Keep reading to find out what’s included and how you can access them today!

More Halloween ESL Activities for Teens & Adults

🎃 Halloween: Fact or Fiction

Share fun and surprising facts about Halloween traditions from around the world — some true, some made up! Students must guess which statements are real and which are myths. It’s a great way to introduce cultural facts, new vocabulary, and spark lively discussion.

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👻 Short Story Writing

Students write a short story using Halloween-related vocabulary — think ghosts, witches, haunted houses, or mysterious midnight adventures. Encourage higher-level learners to include plot twists or supernatural elements for an extra challenge.

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🕯️ Halloween Myths & Legends

Students research famous Halloween or spooky legends — such as the Headless Horseman, Jack-o’-lantern origins, or local ghost stories from their own countries. Then they summarise and retell the tales in their own words, practicing storytelling and public speaking skills.

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🕸️ Halloween Music or Poetry

Play classic Halloween-themed songs or read short spooky poems. Discuss the themes, mood, and imagery, and have students share how the lyrics or verses make them feel. Encourage them to connect the themes (fear, mystery, transformation) to real-life emotions.

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🎥 Movie Clip Analysis

Watch short clips from Halloween-themed films (like Hocus Pocus, Coraline, or The Nightmare Before Christmas). Analyse the characters, setting, and cultural references. Discuss vocabulary, idioms, and how Halloween is portrayed in popular media.

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🧙‍♀️ Create Your Own Halloween Spell or Charm

Students write their own short “magic spell” or charm using creative, poetic language. Encourage rhyming lines, repetition, and imagination — for example:
“By moonlit glow and candle bright, bring us laughter through the night!” This is a great writing task for rhythm, word stress, and descriptive vocabulary.

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💀 Write Your Own Halloween Limerick

Introduce students to the playful AABBA structure of limericks, then challenge them to write their own spooky or funny Halloween version. For example:
There once was a ghost in a hall,
Who painted his name on the wall…
Have students share their limericks aloud for a fun, creative end to the lesson.

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🕷️ Haunted Role Plays

Students act out short spooky scenes — for example, checking into a haunted hotel, meeting a ghost in a castle, or going trick-or-treating for the first time. Great for practising functional language, past tenses, and creative speaking.

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🧛 “Would You Survive?” Discussion Game

Give students different creepy scenarios (trapped in a haunted house, lost in a forest, meeting a vampire). In pairs or groups, they discuss how they’d survive — using modal verbs and conditional forms (I’d run if I saw…, You should…).

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💬 Halloween Word Association

Write “Halloween” on the board and challenge students to come up with as many related words as they can in one minute. Then group them into categories (costumes, creatures, food, actions). Excellent as a warm-up or vocabulary builder.

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🕸️ Creepy Collocations

Teach or review Halloween vocabulary through collocations (e.g., cast a spell, full moon, haunted house, frightening noise). Students then use them to write a short paragraph or mini-dialogue.

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🎧 Spooky Listening Challenge

Play a Halloween-themed song (like Thriller or Monster Mash) or a short spooky soundscape. Students note what they hear, describe the atmosphere, or guess what’s happening — great for listening comprehension and descriptive language.

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✍️ The Mystery Object

Bring or show a picture of a mysterious object (a key, mask, candle, or glove). Students imagine what it’s for, who owns it, and what story it could tell. Excellent for narrative writing and imagination-based speaking.

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🧩 Halloween Riddles

Share spooky riddles or word puzzles for students to solve — for example:
I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I? (A candle!)
Students can then create their own Halloween riddles in groups.

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🪞 Ghost Interview

In pairs, one student is a reporter and the other a ghost or monster. The reporter must find out how they “died”, where they haunt, and what they wish they could do if they were human again. Fantastic for speaking fluency and question formation practice.

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💌 Trick or Treat Persuasion Game

Students draw “trick” or “treat” cards and must persuade the other team to give them what’s on their card using convincing language (You really should give us extra candy because…). A fun way to practise persuasion and negotiation.

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🧟 Monster Profile Writing

Students create a profile for their own monster — name, appearance, powers, fears, and favourite food. They then present their creature to the class as if introducing a new character in a film or book.

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🪄 Halloween Vocabulary Charades

Use Halloween-themed words or idioms (skeleton in the closet, scared stiff, creep out, ghost town) and have students act them out while others guess. A lively way to review idiomatic language and vocabulary.

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🕯️ The Haunted Object Auction

Give each group an imaginary “haunted item” (mirror, doll, book, ring). They must create a story about it and then “sell” it to the class in an auction-style presentation. Great for creative speaking and persuasive language.

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📸 Halloween Meme Challenge

Show a few Halloween memes or pictures (or let students find some). In groups, they write funny or spooky captions using target grammar (conditionals, modals, etc.) and vote on the best one.

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🧞 Describe the Monster

Students work in pairs — one has a monster picture, the other can’t see it. The first describes it in detail so the second can draw it. Perfect for practising descriptive adjectives and prepositions.

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We’d love to hear how you bring these spooky activities to life in your classroom! Happy teaching — and may your lessons be full of fun, frights, and a little Halloween magic! 👻✨

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