Holi: Festival of colors
Lesson plan overview
This ESL lesson familiarizes students with Holi, the Hindu Festival of Colors, through a variety of activities, including speaking, vocabulary, listening, and discussion. Students will learn about the festival’s history, customs, and significance while enhancing their language proficiency. It is a perfect lesson to discuss spring festivals and expand cultural awareness! You can find more spring lessons here: SPRING LESSONS. You might also like the lesson “Diwali“.
Speaking: Students begin by discussing spring festivals around the world, cultural traditions, and the significance of colors in different celebrations.
Vocabulary: Students match words and expressions (e.g., bright-colored powders, bonfire, large gathering, Hindu deities, splash powder) to corresponding images. To practice, they complete sentences using the correct vocabulary, reinforcing their understanding of Holi traditions and rituals. After that, students match words and expressions such as worship, devotion, playfulness, coated, fair game, stem from, tale, reprieve, and head-to-toe with their definitions and complete sentence prompts using new vocabulary, applying the words to their own experiences and opinions.
Listening: Students watch a video titled “Holi: Explaining the Festival of Colors” and complete the missing details in their notes, choosing the correct options. Students watch the video again and decide whether statements about Holi’s history and traditions are true or false. After that, students discuss key questions related to Holi, including the festival’s origins and significance, how Holi compares to festivals in their own culture, whether they would like to experience Holi firsthand
Speaking: Symbolism of Holi Colors. Students discuss what different Holi colors (e.g., red, yellow, green, blue) might symbolize and what emotions or memories they associate with each color. Then they read an article to check their answers (the reading could be assigned as homework).
For more speaking practice, you can use the conversation cards.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
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In-class activities
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Additional resources
Each video-based lesson plan includes links to additional resources (videos and articles), which are FREE can be found online (in the pre-class activities page. These links aim to extend the learning experience, enabling students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world applications.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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