American Thanksgiving is just around the corner, falling on Thursday, November 27, 2025. It’s the perfect opportunity to bring seasonal culture and fun into your online ESL classroom. Whether you teach young learners or adults, you can share these Thanksgiving-themed vocabulary to explore American traditions while strengthening your students’ language skills.

Here is a list of essential Thanksgiving vocabulary for your ESL learners along with some engaging online activities to help reinforce the words in meaningful, interactive ways.

Essential Thanksgiving Vocabulary for ESL Students

1) Thanksgiving

Meaning: A holiday celebrated in the U.S. to give thanks for the harvest and blessings of the past year.

Example: My family gets together every year to celebrate Thanksgiving.

2) Harvest

Meaning: The time when crops are collected from the fields.

Example: Autumn is the season of harvest in many countries.

3) Feast

Meaning: A large, special meal shared with family and friends for special occasions.

Example: We enjoyed a huge feast with turkey, vegetables, and pie.

4) Turkey

Meaning: A large bird often eaten as the main dish at Thanksgiving.

Example: We roasted a turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner.

5) Stuffing

Meaning: A mixture of bread and seasonings cooked inside or outside the turkey.

Example: My favorite part of the meal is the stuffing!

6) Pumpkin Pie

Meaning: A dessert made with spiced pumpkin filling in a pie crust.

Example: We ended the meal with a delicious pumpkin pie.

7) Leftovers

Meaning: Food remaining after a meal.

Example: We ate turkey leftovers for lunch the next day.

8) Tradition

Meaning: A custom or belief passed down through generations.

Example: Watching a parade is a tradition for many families.

9) Parade

Meaning: A public celebration with people marching or performing.

Example: We watched the Thanksgiving parade on TV.

10) Gratitude

Meaning: The feeling of being thankful.

Example: We expressed our gratitude before eating dinner.

There are many more Thanksgiving vocabulary words you can teach your students beyond these ten, but they’re a great place to start!! Now, let’s look at some engaging activities you can use in your online classroom to help reinforce these words.

Online Classroom Activities to Reinforce Thanksgiving Vocabulary

1) Picture-Vocabulary Match

Prepare visuals of Thanksgiving foods and traditions, and ask your students to match each picture to the correct word. You can also show only the picture on your screen and have students guess the vocabulary that goes with it.

2) Gratitude Journal

Have students write about things they are thankful for this year. You can provide prompts such as, “I am grateful for ___ because ___.” To make it more interactive, turn it into a friendly competition where students list as many things as they are thankful for as possible.

3) Thanksgiving Food Brainstorm Race

Set a one-minute timer and challenge students to type or say as many Thanksgiving foods as they can. These can be traditional dishes or foods their families enjoy during the holiday. As new words come up, add them to the class vocabulary list.

4) Thanksgiving Charades or Pictionary

Have students take turns acting out or drawing a Thanksgiving-themed word you send them in a private chat. They can sketch it on the whiteboard or act it out on camera. This activity is especially great for encouraging shy students to participate and have a good time.

5) My Thanksgiving Feast

Students work together to create the most extravagant Thanksgiving feast they can imagine. Share a whiteboard and let students contribute dishes or decorations. You can extend this activity by having them write a short description of the flavors and textures of their imagined feast.

6) Create a Class “Gratefulness Tree”

Use a shared digital document with a tree image as the background. Each student adds a “leaf” (a text box) with something they’re grateful for. Encourage them to use the target vocabulary wherever possible.

Thanksgiving offers rich opportunities to teach vocabulary, culture, and communication skills in a fun, low-pressure way. We hope you enjoy using these activities with your online ESL students this week!