Moon Festival (Mid-autumn festival)
Lesson plan overview
This ESL lesson explores the Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, and introduces B1-level learners to the traditions, legends, vocabulary, and cultural practices connected with this celebration. Students learn and practise vocabulary related to legends, watch a video about the origins and traditions of the Moon Festival, complete listening comprehension activities, and create their own legend.
Vocabulary: Moon Festival
The lesson begins with questions about festivals connected with the moon and harvest traditions. Students then learn and practise vocabulary related to the Moon Festival and the legend of Chang’e and Hou Yi, including words and expressions such as drought, archer, eternal, immortal, feast, harvest, reunion, and gather.
Vocabulary: Legends – Common Characters, Places, Actions and Magical Elements
Students organise vocabulary commonly found in legends into different categories, including characters, places, magical objects, problems and challenges, actions, and magical events. Learners then add their own words and expressions to each category.
Listening:
Students watch a video called “The Moon Festival Traditions and Origins” and complete a version of the legend of Chang’e and Hou Yi with missing words. Students continue watching the video and answer questions about the Moon Festival. The activity develops listening comprehension while introducing students to important Mid-Autumn Festival traditions and cultural symbols.
Speaking: Create Your Own Legend
Students use the vocabulary and storytelling language from the previous activities to create their own legend in pairs or small groups. They choose something whose origin they want to explain, then plan the characters, setting, problem, magical or unusual event, and ending. Learners use useful expressions for beginning a story, introducing a problem, describing events, and bringing a legend to an end before presenting or sharing their stories.
For more speaking practice, you can use the printable conversation cards.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
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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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