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ESL Activities for Easter - Easter ESL Lesson
Celebrating Easter around the world

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ESL Activities for Easter - Easter ESL Lesson
Celebrating Easter around the world

Easter Vocabulary

  • Religion

A religion refers to a set of beliefs and ideas which are normally used to explain the world. There is usually with a god or ‘creator’ who is worshipped.

  • Symbol

A symbol is something that is used to explain or represent an idea.

  • Fertility

Fertility has a few meanings, in the sense used below it means to be able to produce an offspring or new living thing.

  • Rebirth

This means to be born again. When you see “re” on a word it usually means that the second part is being repeated, or done again, as long as the second part is an actual word. (rebirth, retake, redo, review)

  • Resurrection

This means to rise from the dead, or come back to life.

  • Crucifixion

The act of killing someone by nailing them to a cross or wooden post. This is how Christians believe that Jesus died on Good Friday.

  • Procession

A large group of people who walk together in celebration or to remember someone

Easter Activities and Celebrations Around the World – Reading Comprehension Text

In countries where Christianity is openly practiced, Easter is an important celebration / holiday. Easter does not fall on the same date every year, but it always takes place in the early spring, or late winter between March 2 nd and April 25 th.

In Christianity, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The religious Easter celebration starts on Good Friday, which is the day when Christ was crucified, and continues until Easter Sunday when he was resurrected.

There are many symbols associated with Easter such as eggs and young animals such as baby chicks and bunnies. These symbols represent rebirth and fertility which are the main ideas celebrated. A non-religious Easter symbol popular in North America is the Easter Bunny.

Different countries celebrate Easter in different ways, with their own different traditions. For example, in Greece they play a game where everyone takes a red, painted egg. The eggs are cracked against each other in turn and the person left with a whole egg is considered to have luck for the rest of the year. In Poland, eggs are eaten for breakfast on Easter morning or given to a loved one as a blessing. In Poland Easter Monday is known as ‘Wet Monday’. This is because of the practice of going to people’s homes and throwing water on the inhabitants. ‘Wet Monday’ was originally a day when boys would choose the girl they liked by throwing water on them, nowadays everyone risks getting soaked!

Processions are also common in some countries such as Spain and Italy. In Italy the churches are full for the whole Easter weekend as people go and pray and contemplate Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

The food eaten at Easter is important. In Greece and Italy, lamb is the traditional food however in Poland they eat sausages and various cakes including poppy seed cake, the seeds are a symbol of new life.

In North America Easter is celebrated both by going to church in observance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for those who are religious and choose to participate. It is also celebrated by most North Americans with the Easter Bunny bringing chocolates such as chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs which are hidden around the house. When children wake up on Easter morning they go on an Easter egg hunt, finding all the chocolates that the Easter Bunny left for them.

In North America Good Friday and Easter Monday are statutory holidays.

Word Roots

Complete the table with the correct root of each word, where there is a line there is no equivalent word.




































Reading Comprehension Checkup Questions

  • Why is it risky to open your door in Poland on Easter Monday?
  • What are the symbols of Easter and what do they represent?
  • How do people decide who is going to have good fortune throughout the year in Greece?

ESL Patterns – Present Simple Passive

Look at the following sentences taken from the text on Easter.

The eggs are cracked against each other in turn.


The food that iseaten at Easter is important.

  • What form are verbs in bold in?
  • Verb is used in every example?

Look at the following sentences and tick the ones you think are correct definitions of the Present Simple Passive.

We use the Present Simple Passive when:

  • We do not know who is doing the action.
  • When we are describing an action in the past
  • When who is doing the actions is obvious
  • When who is doing the action is a large group
  • When we are not sure when the action happened
  • When the object is more important than the action

Find more examples of the Present Simple Passive from the text.

Web ESL Research

  • Use the internet to find other springtime festivals or celebrations in two other countries far away:

Small Group Discussion

  • Describe the springtime festival or celebration to the group and answer three questions about it from other group members

Writing Exercise

  • Write about one of the springtime festivals. Describe it using a proper format including proper sentences and paragraphs.