These ideas and designs were heavily influenced by the awesome English boards made by ch_armander so please go look there for inspiration!
A google folder containing all of these documents can be found below but the PDF versions below are the most simple. If you do use one of the google doc versions please make a copy! I’ve granted viewing rights to anyone with the link but you will need to edit your own.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rzKgFOeGrrxuYp0DU-UDEUoCJfXIdVd7?usp=sharing
There are also pdf versions of everything linked below. One is meant to be printed on A4 and the other on A3 :)
Here’s a list of everything on this board and how I use it.
First: this cute news story from Breaking News English. I included emojis to loosely indicate the meaning of words that may be difficult or just catch students' attention as they walk by.
Second: This big holiday calendar for the month which is split across two A3 pages. Note that I'm from the States so a lot of the holidays included are the ones I was familiar with and could speak to accurately. There is a separate page meant to be printed on A4 with descriptions of each holiday with kanji for difficult and unfamiliar words which has all been checked by a native speaker.
Third: A fun trivia page with a bit of history about the etymology of the word December as well as details about the zodiacs and birthstones that fall within the month.
Fourth: A cute survey for the kids to choose their favorite December holiday, I pinned some stickers up next to the page on the board and the kids vote by placing them.
Fifth: Song of the month which focuses around Christmas, I chose Happy XMas since a lot of the kids know of Yoko Ono’s work already. The Spotify code at the bottom is scannable and will play automatically.
Sixth: A page of cute designs (mostly from PicMonkey) to cut out and fill dead space with.
Last: I have a whiteboard with a marker attached to the larger English board and every time I'm at that school I switch out the questions to keep the kids engaged week to week. I'll put the questions I have planned for December below. This is also a good opportunity to teach the kids how to use tally marks since they sometimes default to writing 正.
Would you rather have two Christmasses or two Halloweens?
Would you rather buy Christmas gifts or make Christmas gifts?
Would you rather spend New Year’s in the mountains or at the beach?
Would you rather go ice skating or skiing?
Would you rather get 10 small gifts or get 1 big gift?
Would you rather have a very long summer or have a very long winter?
Would you rather have a pet dog or a pet cat?
Would you rather eat Christmas pie or eat Christmas cake?
If you have questions, find mistakes, or would like access to raw copies of anything please let me know!
Enjoy!