Tonight is our first Halloween lesson! Halloween is very old: it began in Ireland as Samhain, the night when summer ended. Next time we’ll read the old stories of Samhain.
Learn from Songs · Festivals: Halloween · Part 1 of 4 · A1–A2
Halloween: Monster Mash
From Samhain to Halloween: costumes, lanterns, apples and treats, and a monster party. There is / there are, can / can’t, and instructions for games (Put…, Don’t use your hands!), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria, and two Halloween songs.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
Halloween! Costumes and sweets!
SOPHIA
And two songs: a monster party, and a town where every day is Halloween.
DEMETRIA
Can I be a witch?
Before you listen: the song
From Ireland to America
In Ireland and Scotland, on the night of 31 October, children dress up in costumes and go from house to house. In Scotland this is called guising. The children sing a song or tell a joke, and they get apples, nuts or a coin.
People make lanterns. In Ireland, they make them from turnips! In America there are big orange pumpkins, so now the lanterns are pumpkins. They are called jack-o’-lanterns. People play games with apples, and in Ireland they eat a special cake called barmbrack. There is a ring in the cake. Who can find it?
In many countries in Europe, 1 November is All Saints’ Day. In Catalonia, people eat roast chestnuts at the Castanyada. In Wales, the night is called Nos Calan Gaeaf, the first night of winter. On the Isle of Man it is Hop-tu-Naa, and children carry turnip lanterns and sing. In Spain and Poland, families put flowers and candles on the graves of their grandparents.
Our songs: “Monster Mash” is from 1962. Bobby Pickett sings like Boris Karloff, the actor who played Frankenstein’s monster. A scientist makes a monster, and the monster starts a new dance! “This Is Halloween” is from the film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). All the monsters of Halloween Town sing about their town.
Light a lantern. Share your apples. Have fun!
Listen: the monster party
PHILO
Listen to “Monster Mash”. Who makes the monster? What does the monster do?
SOPHIA
Then listen to “This Is Halloween”. Who lives in Halloween Town? Answer Section A.
🎃 Listen to the song: “Monster Mash” (Bobby Pickett and Leonard Capizzi, 1962), sung by Bobby “Boris” Pickett.Find the recording →
🦇 And listen to: “This Is Halloween” (Danny Elfman, 1993), from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.Find the recording →
There is, there are
DEMETRIA
There is a pumpkin on the table. There are apples in the water.
SOPHIA
There is + one thing. There are + two or more. Questions: Is there a ring in the cake? Are there any sweets?
Can and can’t
MARCOS
I can carve a lantern. I can’t catch the apple!
SOPHIA
can / can’t + verb. No -s, no to: She can dance. Questions: Can you see the ghost?
Halloween games: instructions
PHILO
Snap-apple! Put your hands behind your back. Don’t use your hands. Catch the apple with your teeth!
SOPHIA
For instructions, start with the verb: Put…, Take…, Open… For “no”, use Don’t + verb: Don’t look! Don’t eat it!
Halloween words
DEMETRIA
costume, mask, witch, ghost, skeleton, bat, spider, pumpkin, turnip, lantern, candle, sweets, apple, nut, chestnut.
SOPHIA
And the verbs: dress up, carve, knock, share, scare. American children knock on the door and say: “Trick or treat!”
Sophia’s comparison: lights in the dark
SOPHIA
At Samhain, people lit big fires on the hills. Today, children carry little lanterns. It is the same idea: a light in the dark night.
PHILO
And at Hanukkah, in the dark of winter, we light a lamp every night.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| there is / there are | one thing / many things | There are apples in the water. |
| Is there…? Are there…? | questions | Is there a ring in the cake? |
| can / can’t + verb | ability | I can carve a lantern. |
| Put…! Don’t…! | instructions for games | Don’t use your hands! |
| dress up, carve, knock, share | Halloween verbs | We dress up and knock on doors. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. In “Monster Mash”, who makes the monster?
2. What does the monster do?
3. Where is “This Is Halloween” from?
4. In Ireland, what were the first lanterns made from?
5. What is in the barmbrack cake?
6. What do people eat in Catalonia at the Castanyada?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. There a pumpkin on the table.
8. There apples in the water.
9. Excuse me, there a ring in the cake?
10. I can a lantern. (carve)
11. Snap-apple! use your hands!
12. We dress in costumes.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “There are a pumpkin on the table.”
14. “She can dance the Monster Mash.”
15. “He can to carve a lantern.”
16. “Don’t use your hands!”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Play snap-apple! (Or pretend.) One student gives the instructions: Put your hands behind your back. Don’t use your hands! The others do it.
Describe a Halloween picture. Draw or find a picture. Tell a partner: There is a witch. There are three bats. The ghost can fly.
Write (40–60 words). My Halloween. What is your costume? What can you do? What is there at your party?