����app

Across classrooms, holidays show up as stories, songs, recipes, colors and customs. For English educators, they also offer language tasks that build communication, intercultural understanding and community. The key is to celebrate in a way that’s inclusive, academically rich, and respectful of diverse beliefs and backgrounds. Here are some activities you can do this festive season with minimal fluff and maximum impact, each tied to clear language objectives.

Principles for inclusive festive learning

• Student choice: Invite learners to showcase their traditions, for example, Diwali, Lunar New Year, Eid, Hanukkah, Christmas, Día de los Muertos, Nowruz or a seasonal theme without a religious focus.
• Language-first design: Anchor activities in explicit objectives – for example, “Can describe customs and traditions,” “Can compare events,” “Can write instructions” – to ensure measurable progress.
• Do-no-harm approach: Provide opt-in alternatives, avoid stereotyping and create space for students who do not celebrate holidays.
• Representation: Use materials that reflect multiple regions and voices. Encourage translanguaging to deepen understanding and honor identity.
• Accessibility: Scaffold with visuals, sentence frames and leveled texts so every learner can contribute meaningfully.

Once seen as the pursuit of gap-year students and those looking for a novel way to broaden their horizons, teaching English as a foreign language is now a powerful way to open doors worldwide. And with the benefits of learning English – including allowing you to communicate on a global scale, boosting productivity and building interpersonal skills – it's more important than ever. So, how has this impacted on why and how teachers do the job?

Sharing the gift

“When I applied to go and teach English, it was something I wanted to do for me,” recalls Anandi Vara, who taught English in Nepal. “That soon changed. As soon as I observed the students I was teaching embracing, and experiencing the benefits of, English – even at that fledgling stage – it became a reward in itself and sustained me for the rest of the time I was there. The idea that I was partly responsible for setting someone off on the first steps to a life richer in opportunities is a pretty unbeatable motivator, and it spurs you to be as good at the job as you can be.” This supports research released by ����app, which suggests that it's this "lightbulb moment" that keeps the vast majority of teachers in the job.

Thomas Stephen, who taught English in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, agrees. “I speak Spanish as well as my native English, so have personally experienced the numerous benefits of bilingualism; a gift I was keen to share with others and witness them appreciating,” explains Thomas. “Being a living, breathing example of what can be achieved is an added dimension in the classroom too,” says Thomas.

Motivations and expectations

The benefits of learning English are steadily evolving: are teachers’ motivations for – and methods of – facilitating this learning changing, too?
“There is certainly the rapidly-aging stereotype of teaching English overseas being viewed as some sort of rite of passage,” says Anandi. “That makes it sound like a rather passive, selfish act on the part of the teacher, which couldn't be further from the truth – especially in this day and age.

Teaching English is collaborative, because the students are steering you, as much as you’re steering them, towards a highly personalised way of learning. For example, what vocabulary will be useful to them in the hobbies and after-school jobs they do, which may well inform a future career. Students are savvier than ever about why they want to learn and what they want to learn and, as a result, can be very vocal about it, which can only be a good thing! Thinking back to your own aspirations as a student is a very helpful aid in reaching the people you're teaching and understanding their needs.”

As Thomas highlights, you’ve also got to consider how your younger students ended up in your class to begin with. “It’s worth remembering that many will have been sent to the school you teach at because their parents probably learned English the same way, and many will be reaping the professional (and financial) benefits of having done so, so want the same for their children,” says Thomas. “That puts an added pressure on teachers, of course; as parents are keen to right the wrongs of their own path to learning, as well as trying to optimise their children’s learning to maximise the chances they’ll be able to study overseas and secure a good job in future.”

Changes to the role

Sophie Atkinson, who taught English in Sri Lanka, cites the internet as a big factor in sculpting the ambitions of learners. “Although the Internet was relatively scarce where I was teaching, even the briefest exposure to it offered a window into a richer life – not to mention a learning aid that's dominated by the language they're learning,” explains Sophie. “It's having those kinds of insights and adapting your lessons accordingly that are the reasons I wanted to teach. It's a role you can make your own that has selfless rewards that are second to none.”

Opening doors one lesson at a time

In the end, teaching English today is far more than a rite of passage; it’s a deliberate, collaborative act of opening doors. The “lightbulb moment” Anandi describes, the lived example Thomas brings to class and the digital windows Sophie navigates all point to the same truth: that learners are more purposeful than ever, and great teachers meet that purpose with empathy, personalization and rigor. You listen, adapt and guide. So every lesson connects to a real-world future.

Keep centering what matters to your learners, tailoring language to their interests and contexts, partnering with families and making smart use of any tools at hand, even a brief glimpse of the internet. Wherever you teach, from Guadalajara to Nepal to Sri Lanka, each class is another key placed in a learner’s hand. Keep opening doors, one lesson at a time.

Anandi Vara was trained in teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal before teaching at a monastery in Pokhara. There she taught students ranging from six to 10 years of age, both in groups and individually. Here she reveals the lessons she learned during her time there��– including how to avoid being perturbed by a cockroach attack.

Whatever you do: don’t freak out

It just makes everything worse. It’s easy for things to get overwhelming – a sense that can be made worse by the feeling of homesickness, especially if it’s your first time living abroad – but thinking rationally, and getting to the source of what’s causing the worry, usually helps. It’s important, as you don't want to share your fear in lessons because you’re the teacher and need to show confidence.

This was, however, tested to the limit when I had a cockroach dangled in front of my face. It took all my strength to stay calm. I gave an unimpressed look, thereby establishing myself as the figure of authority, which seemed to work.

Be aware of cultural traditions

It is important to remember that every country has its own traditions. I was teaching in a monastery, so I made sure to wear respectful clothing, even in the face of soaring temperatures. The more I learned about the Tibetan culture, the more fascinated I became by it. The students taught me how to write my name in Tibetan and the meaning behind it. I learned about Tibetan history and Tibetan culture.

I also found that the more I showed willingness to learn about the Tibetan culture, the more I bonded with the students, so that when it was time to teach, the students were more cooperative in lessons, engaging and participating more.

Teaching is two-way learning

There is so much I learned teaching abroad, both in the classroom and out. Making mistakes as you begin is only natural, but it’s whether you can learn from these mistakes that counts. No two students are ever the same so it’s a constant process of learning as you go. As a result, I learned about the environment I was in – from traditional prayer ceremonies to the Tibetan alphabet��– and about myself, notably organizational skills and a renewed curiosity about the English language.

Be Flexible

Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you’ve planned your lesson down to the smallest detail – if it doesn’t take, then it doesn’t take. I was only 10 minutes into a lesson once and I could tell that I was beginning to lose the students’ attention. Not only did it show that they were uninterested, it also distracted me from what I was doing. It was at this point that I threw out my existing plan and tried a whole new lesson: I had the students up on their feet and engaging with each other and, although completely improvised, it was very successful.

Patience is a must

During my one-on-one mentoring session, my student seemed to have no motivation. He wasn’t learning as well as the other students and had therefore given up. No matter what I tried, he refused to cooperate, but I didn’t let it put me off. I kept trying different methods until finally finding one that he responded to. I made sentence structuring into a game. It wasn’t anything fancy and consisted of scraps of paper with words written on them.

Although it took a lot of time to find the right angle, it was worth it because he soon realised that although it might take longer for him to pick things up, he would eventually get there and have a greater sense of accomplishment.