Winter happens whether we acknowledge it in our classrooms or not.
And sure, we could pretend it doesn’t exist because we’ve got Chapter 7 of the grammar textbook to finish. We could keep our heads down and push through those conditional clauses while students are distracted by the first snow of the season outside the window. “Teacher, look! Snow!”
Or we could pull winter into the classroom and use it.
I mean really, are we going to ignore everything getting covered in cloud dandruff (what I used to call snow back when I hated it) while we’ve got students who’ve never seen snow in real life until today? And it’s happening live!?
Adult ESL isn’t just about English. It’s about culture. It’s about living in a country that’s foreign to your students. And even if some of your students come from places with snowy winters, there’s something about that first snow of the season that makes people giddy.
Why not use that energy instead of fighting it?
What Adults Face During Winter (That No One Warns Them About)
I remember how my Saudi students would ramp up the energy level in every class with their barely suppressed intense desire for snow and everything to do with winter. Even students from countries that got cold winters and snow (my Korean students come to mind) looked forward to the winter season because with every change in the season, they got fresh opportunities to participate in new cultural events. Everyone was always ready to try American winter activities.
What were they not prepared for? Those annual winter activities outside of snowman building, like scraping ice off your windshield, checking tire pressure, and putting on snow chains. Clearing snow off your car. Learning to watch out for black ice and how to handle skidding off the road. Does dripping your faucets count as one of the more fun winter activities? Probably not, but there’s more.
- Frostbite.
- Short days and nights that begin in what used to be the late afternoon.
- Christmas music that begins around Halloween and continues into January.
- Crowded stores.
- Empty shelves before each snow or ice storm.
- Steering into the skid.
WE know what to expect, but it can be almost traumatizing for someone who hasn’t experienced a winter at the level of where they are now. We (temporarily) lost a student who bought a ticket and flew home after two days of cold that wasn’t really that cold (or so we thought). When his friends told us he left because he was too cold, we were in disbelief. (He came back after winter was over.)
So here’s my proposal: in-class snow days that combine the fun winter activities with the survival skills that actually help students get through their first winter without fleeing the country.
What the Heck IS an In-Class Snow Day?
Think of it as a themed day (or week) where everything you teach gets winterized. You’re still covering vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, listening, and speaking. You’re just doing it through the lens of winter – both the Instagram-worthy parts AND the parts that make adults question why they moved to a place where the air hurts their face.
You combine all the delightful aspects of winter, the dreadful parts, and of course, all the language practice they need. And yes, you can absolutely make it fun. We’re going to get to hot cocoa and music, I promise.
So where do you start?
What Do We Do During an In-Class Snow Day?
Start with what they NEED. Most of the focus on winter activities tends to be holiday traditions (as in, Christmas, Christmas, and Christmas) or just the fun snowy ones that kids participate in, which is great. Unless you’re teaching adults. Who have adult responsibilities. Meanwhile, adult ESL students are skipping class because they don’t have an ice scraper or a snow shovel, driving exactly like they did back in September (you know, before the roads got slick), and cranking their heat up so high they’ll have a heart attack when they get their utility bill.
And, no, we don’t want it to be all gloomy and look at pictures of frostbite and burst water pipes, but let’s not leave those things out either.
Create a Winter Activity Vocabulary Foundation
This is where having a solid presentation becomes essential. I’m talking about 30 winter-related activities – phrases that describe things people DO in winter, not just isolated nouns.
Things like:
- Winter safety activities (scrape ice off your windshield, watch out for black ice, check tire pressure, clear snow off your car)
- Winter survival activities (drip your faucets, bundle up, dress in layers, pass time during a power outage)
- Fun winter activities (build a snowman, have a snowball fight, go sledding, make a snow angel)
- Cozy indoor activities (cook comfort food, sip hot chocolate, wrap yourself in a blanket, huddle together for warmth)
- Winter phenomena (see your breath, listen to the snow crunch underfoot, admire frost patterns on windows)
The genius of teaching phrases instead of isolated words? Students learn vocabulary in the exact context they’ll use it. They’re not just learning “windshield” – they’re learning “scrape ice off your windshield,” which is the actual action they need to perform on a Tuesday morning when they’re late for class.
But here’s the thing – you can’t just show them phrases. They need to USE them in context.
Try this: Project images of different winter scenarios and have students describe what’s happening using complete phrases. “What is this person doing?” “She’s scraping ice off her windshield.” “What should you do before driving in snow?” “Check tire pressure and put on snow chains.”
Students aren’t just acquiring vocabulary – they’re learning the verb phrases and action sequences they’ll need to explain their lives to others or understand instructions.
Or play vocabulary Bingo using winter activity phrases. I’m serious about Bingo for adults. Students get competitive. They want to win. And suddenly they’re processing “drip your faucets” and “bundle up” multiple times in meaningful contexts instead of just copying definitions into notebooks.
You can also use an I Have Who Has game to review these phrases. One student says “I have ‘scrape ice off your windshield.’ Who has ‘bundle up’?” Another responds “I have ‘bundle up.’ Who has ‘sip hot chocolate’?” The game moves fast, students stay engaged, and they’re using complete phrases repeatedly. (Especially when you challenge them to beat their time and play it again.)
Turn Survival Into Language Practice
Oklahoma’s weather can veer from politely pleasant to downright nasty during the length of a class period. I will never forget the day fall ended and winter began. Many of our students rushed outside, eager to have their first-ever snow fight without a single thought to later scraping ice off their windshields or shoveling snow, only to come back in later, wet and a bit Smurf-tinged. (This was the first time I ever heard multiple sets of teeth chattering at the same time.)
As the weeks went on, many bought enormously puffy coats but nothing else for winter attire. They’d wear those coats all day long in the classroom because they were still wearing their t-shirts beneath them. We had to discuss how to dress in layers, bundle up properly, the pros and cons of gloves vs. mittens, the importance of a scarf, how and why to combine a hat with a hood, and so on.
While you’re teaching YOUR students how not to freeze to death, sneak in:
- Vocabulary: Choose your own or use some from the 30 winter phrases from scraping ice to feeding the birds to getting cabin fever that are covered in my winter vocabulary resources.
- Grammar: Modal verbs of necessity (should, must, have to) and advice (ought to, had better) – “You should drip your faucets when it’s below freezing”
- Speaking: Role-plays about asking store employees for winter supplies or explaining to your boss why you can’t come in because you’re snowed in
- Writing: Instructions for how to scrape ice off your windshield or what to do if you skid off the road
When Things Get Real: Teaching About Winter Dangers
You need to cover the scary stuff too. They should recognize black ice and know what to do if they start skidding off the road. Make sure they know how to stay warm if there is a power outage, and, if you live in Oklahoma and other non-northern states in the USA, that Americans WILL rush to the store to stock up on milk, bread, and eggs as if a shortage is imminent. (That said, ice storms can knock out the infrastructure, so having a couple days worth of food at home is not a bad idea.)
These aren’t just vocabulary exercises. These are life skills that could keep your students safe, healthy, and fed through their first brutal winter.
Winter Foods and Cultural Exchange
Once you’ve covered survival (because priorities), you can lean into the cozy, cultural, enjoyable parts of winter that make the season bearable. Let’s start with everyone’s favorite: food and drink. Bring in hot cocoa and gingerbread cookies for your in-class snow day. Encourage students to bring winter treats from their own cultures if they can.
While swapping recipes, draw their attention to useful cooking verbs, connectives and transition signals that guide people through a recipe, and expand their food vocabulary with spice vocabulary. Students can learn to describe how they cook comfort food in their home countries, or talk about sipping hot chocolate while they huddle together for warmth during a power outage.
While they’re eating and sharing, get busy sneaking in vocabulary and grammar (while creating community and letting students share their expertise).
Language Skills Hidden in Recipe Sharing
Cooking verbs (simmer, whisk, pour, mix, drizzle, sprinkle)
Sequence words: First, next, then, after that, finally
Measurement vocabulary: Cup, tablespoon, teaspoon, pinch
Temperature and time: Degrees, minutes, until golden brown
Conditional structures: If the mixture is too thick, add more milk
Texture and taste vocabulary (creamy, rich, spiced, warm, sweet)
Have students explain their recipes to classmates. Record them giving instructions. Write recipe cards together. The grammar comes naturally when they’re teaching each other how to make something they actually care about.
Winter Music: The Activity That Surprised Me Most
Here’s something I didn’t expect: my class of primarily Saudi female students (plus one from China and one from Brazil) went absolutely wild for romantic winter songs.
Not the religious Christmas songs. The romantic, snowy, cozy ones like Winter Wonderland, Let It Snow, Baby It’s Cold Outside (yes, we had discussions about that one), and fun ones like Frosty the Snowman. (The students who had kids LOVED learning and then teaching that song to their kids.)
They started hearing these songs from the moment Halloween ended and November began to at least a week after Christmas. The songs were everywhere, in stores, banks, restaurants, waiting rooms, and almost every station on the radio. They all wanted to understand them and sing along.
You can focus on the ones that have nothing to do with Christmas, that are secular, or depending on your group, some of the religious ones. I created a winter songs YouTube playlist and added every song that I taught to any of my classes and gave them the link. I also typed up the lyrics to provide them with copies.
But, we didn’t just sit around drinking cocoa and singing songs. Nope, we discussed the meaning of the words in the songs, the message, and what it meant to them. We looked at verb tense, considered synonyms for adjectives, and marveled over how the sentence structure of a song can be so different from that in a reading passage. We talked about how we can add “full” to transform so many words. Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful.
What Students Learn From Winter Songs
- Vocabulary in context: Delightful, frightful, sleigh, glistening
- Poetic language: How songs bend grammar rules for rhythm and rhyme
- Cultural references: Why certain songs matter to Americans
- Pronunciation practice: Singing naturally improves rhythm and intonation – you can hear yourself see your breath in the cold air while singing outside
- Word formation: Adding suffixes like -ful to create adjectives
- Meaning and message: What is this song actually saying? Why is this person happy about being snowed in?
Students were analyzing grammar, expanding vocabulary, and practicing pronunciation all while making sense of the cultural bombardment of winter music they were experiencing everywhere they went.
Winter Clothing: Beyond Just Vocabulary Lists
Remember those students who rushed outside for their first snow fight and came back wet and Smurf-tinged? They weren’t dressed appropriately because they didn’t know the weather could change on a dime, or that winter really would be as cold as the Hollywood movies they’d seen had portrayed it to be. Most didn’t even have a light jacket.
The next time I have a class of newcomers, walls permitting, I want to have a winter clothing wall – different items stapled up with number cards. I could use it for matching games, riddles, quizzes, and discussion starters. It would make a perfect backdrop for in-class snow day photos, too.
But even without a clothing wall, you can do a lot with winter wardrobe discussions:
- Comparative adjectives: Which is warmer, a scarf or a hood? Are mittens warmer than gloves? Is fleece lighter than wool?
- Preferences with justification: I prefer mittens because they keep my fingers warmer, but I prefer gloves when I need to use my phone.
- Shopping vocabulary: Where can I buy thermal underwear? How much do winter boots cost? What’s the difference between waterproof and water-resistant?
- Problem-solving discussions: My feet get cold when I drive. What should I do? I have a long walk from the parking lot to class. What do I need?
Make sure you check in about resources. Not every student can afford a complete winter wardrobe. Some don’t know about thrift stores or community resources. Some need extra blankets more than they need another grammar worksheet. If they are from a much warmer climate, show them some of your heating bills from previous years because they might not be aware of how expensive it can get to keep your apartment at 80℉ or even higher throughout the winter.
Teaching isn’t just about language. You know this. You’ve been in the trenches.
Winter Vocabulary Games
My double Bingo set uses the same 30 winter phrases from the presentation – everything from admiring frost patterns on windows to wrapping yourself in a blanket. You get 40 cards with color images and 40 cards with black and white clipart—perfect for differentiation or for running multiple rounds. Each set includes calling cards with the image, the term, and a clue, so you can make the game as easy or challenging as your students need.
The I Have Who Has game also uses those same 30 phrases and images. It gets students up, moving, listening carefully, and practicing pronunciation in a low-pressure way. Students practice phrases like “listen to the snow crunch underfoot” and “wipe condensation off your windows” while playing.
Winter Idioms: Because English Is Ridiculous
Once students have the basic winter vocabulary down, you can introduce winter idioms…if they’re useful.
I’m not talking about obscure sayings nobody uses. I mean the ones they’ll hear:
Snowed under (I’m snowed under with work this week)
Break the ice (Let’s do an activity to break the ice)
Tip of the iceberg (This problem is just the tip of the iceberg)
Give someone the cold shoulder (Why is Maria giving me the cold shoulder?)
Snowball effect (The problem had a snowball effect)
Teach idioms in context. Give multiple example sentences. Have students create their own sentences. Better yet, have them identify situations in their lives where they could use each idiom.
Winter Writing: Prompts That Actually Engage Adults
Writing prompts can be powerful if they’re not condescending.
Adults don’t want to write about “My Favorite Snowman” or “If I Were a Snowflake.” They want prompts that respect their intelligence and lived experience:
- Describe your first winter in this country. What surprised you?
- Compare winter in your home country to winter here.
- Write instructions for someone from your country who is about to experience their first winter here. What do they need to know?
- Describe the worst winter weather you’ve experienced. What happened?
- What do you miss about winter in your home country? What do you prefer about winter here?
These prompts generate real writing. Students share them with each other. They spark conversations. They validate students’ experiences while building language skills.
Why In-Class Snow Days Work for Adult ESL Students
Look, I know what you’re thinking. This sounds like a massive amount of prep work. You’re already buried. You’re already doing too much.
Here’s the thing: you don’t have to do all of this at once. You don’t have to create everything from scratch.
An in-class snow day could be:
- One dedicated day with hot cocoa, music, and survival skills
- A week-long unit that hits all these topics
- Individual activities sprinkled throughout winter months
- Whatever fits your program and your bandwidth
The key is having solid materials you can adapt and reuse. A presentation you can project year after year. Bingo cards that work for any level. Worksheets students can do independently when you need fifteen minutes to breathe. An I Have Who Has game that reviews vocabulary without feeling like a drill.
When I taught winter content, I kept everything in one folder – physical and digital. Each year I’d add a little more, tweak things based on what worked, and delete what flopped. By the third year, I had a complete winter unit I could pull out and adapt to any class in about twenty minutes.
That’s what you’re building toward. Not perfection in year one. A sustainable system that gets better over time.
The Bottom Line
Winter comes whether we’re ready or not. Let’s make sure our students are ready, and then? Let it snow, let it snow, LET IT SNOW~!
More Seasonal Adult ESL
- 9 Delightful Springtime Activities for Adult ESL Classes
- Fall ESL Activities: 5 Simple Ways to Invoke the Spirit of Autumn
Want a bundle of ready-to-go winter vocabulary resources?
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