Though I did not grow up in the US, I am very fond of Halloween and wanted to share my story-based “Countdown to Halloween” mini-unit. It is a ton of fun and I am always impressed with the jump in my Novice students’ fiction reading comprehension skills at the end of the countdown: they end up reading a 300-word story (new to them!), infer vocabulary they do not know based on context, and answer character and plot questions.

This countdown contains 6+1 stories, one for each day before Halloween, with suggested pre- or post-story activities and a final assessment. The series is easily adaptable across the Novice and Intermediate ranges. Feel free to adapt it to your students and make sure to preview the videos before showing them!

As usual, this is available to you at no cost. If you want to support my work, donate what you can at paypal cecileflaine@gmail.com or Venmo @Cecile-Laine.

Please note: I have requested and received permission from the creators of the 3 shorts to share my Movie Talk slides with you all.

Looking for more comprehension-based ideas for Halloween (in French)?

If you notice a mistake, please get in touch with me. Credit to my friend and colleague Ben Fischer for adapting my work into German!

• Skeleton Listen and Draw
• Dessine ton monstre “Choose your own adventure” by Stephanie Poe-Gruet. My students love doing this at the end of our countdown!
• More Halloween stories