If you are currently preparing your students for the Cambridge exam and you still don’t know what to do on 31st October, then this A2 Halloween speaking lesson is just for you! Bring a seasonal twist to the exam practice and combine the familiar A2 KEY speaking format with questions, vocabulary and picture-based tasks about Halloween celebrations.
The lesson is designed to be easy to use in class while giving students plenty of opportunities to practise speaking. I think that it could also work well for students who don’t celebrate Halloween, as many of the questions allow them to talk about a broader topic, for example, discussing what people do in their countries, or what they have seen around or on TV.
Developed for 31st October, Halloween, the lesson includes a Halloween vocabulary challenge, several sets of Part 1 questions and two different versions of Part 2, so you definitely won’t run out of things to talk about in class. To make the practice as authentic as possible, I based the examiner’s notes on the original script available on the Cambridge website, using the Sample Test for A2 Key as a reference for the structure and wording, and adapted it to fit the Halloween theme. It is also the final Cambridge Halloween-themed speaking lesson in the series, so if you are curious, check out the other levels, or get them all at once by buying the bundle!
- Cambridge KEY, PET, FCE, CAE Exam Practice: Halloween Speaking (bundle)
- Cambridge PET Exam Practice: Halloween Speaking
- Cambridge FCE Exam Practice: Halloween Speaking
- Cambridge CAE Exam Practice: Halloween Speaking
As always, the presentation and the examiner’s notes are available to download at the end of the post!
Before the Exam: Halloween Vocabulary Challenge
Before starting the speaking test, students begin with a short Halloween vocabulary challenge. Instead of simply giving students a list of words, they look at pictures and work together to identify the Halloween vocabulary. I thought that it could be used as a challenge to see who is the fastest speller in the class. This activity could work well in a real classroom or online, by allowing students to write their answers in the chat. The vocabulary includes pumpkin, bat, witch, ghost, spider, costume, vampire, zombie and skeleton. This is a simple way to introduce the Halloween theme and get students speaking before the exam begins.
Part 1: Halloween Questions
After the vocabulary warm-up, students move on to Part 1 of the speaking exam. The questions are based around Halloween celebrations, decorations, costumes and food, giving students plenty of opportunities to talk about familiar topics. For example, students might be asked Do you celebrate Halloween? or What do you like doing at Halloween? They may also talk about whether people celebrate Halloween in their country and what people usually do. The examiner’s notes include simple back-up prompts such as Do you go to Halloween parties? or Do people give children sweets? There are several alternative question sets, so you can choose the topics that work best for your students. Other versions focus on Halloween decorations, costumes and food. Students can talk about decorations they have seen, costumes they know and their favourite Halloween food. One useful feature of these questions is that students don’t need to celebrate Halloween themselves to answer them. They can talk about what people do in their country, what they have seen in shops or on television, or what they know about Halloween.
Part 2: Halloween Places and Activities
For the first version of Part 2, students look at pictures showing different places to visit at Halloween. The six pictures include a haunted house, Halloween fair, pumpkin farm, spooky forest and cemetery. Students talk together about whether they like the different places and explain why or why not. They then answer simple follow-up questions such as whether a haunted house is scary, whether a Halloween fair is exciting or whether a pumpkin farm is interesting. The examiner then asks each student which place they want to visit. This gives students another opportunity to express a simple preference and explain their choice. The final questions continue the Halloween theme with personal preferences. Students discuss whether they prefer a quiet Halloween or a big Halloween party, and whether they prefer staying in or going out on Halloween night.
There is also a second version of Part 2 focusing on different Halloween activities. The pictures show trick-or-treating, carving a pumpkin, a Halloween costume party, watching a scary film and telling ghost stories around a campfire. Students talk together about the activities and say why they like or don’t like them. The examiner can then ask questions such as Do you think trick-or-treating is fun? or Do you think carving pumpkins is difficult? Students finish by saying which Halloween activity they like best. They then discuss whether they prefer celebrating Halloween with friends or family and which Halloween activity they want to do this year.
Feedback: Making Halloween Exam Practice Useful
Halloween doesn’t have to mean abandoning serious exam preparation. A2 students can practise the same speaking skills they need for their exam while talking about a topic that feels different from their usual classroom routine. The simple vocabulary, personal questions and picture-based discussions also make this lesson accessible to students who don’t celebrate Halloween. They can talk about Halloween in their country, things they have seen or simply give their opinions about the pictures and activities.
If you’re teaching A2 exam preparation around 31st October, this is an easy way to give your students a fun seasonal lesson while keeping the focus on Cambridge A2 Key Speaking practice.
What are you doing this Halloween – staying in or going out?
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