Teach seasons: How to Teach The Four Seasons in Your EFL Classroom
How to Teach The Four Seasons in Your EFL Classroom
We talk about the weather A LOT, so it’s useful for students of all ages to have the skills to discuss weather and the seasons in a variety of contexts. Here are some tips on teaching the seasons to EFL students.
The four seasons are a fun EFL topic for both students and teachers. There is so much to talk about, it is an important part of everyday English, and there are countless activities to make this topic engaging for learners young and old.
Here are four activities to help your students grasp the concept and practice using this new set of vocabulary in a variety of ways.
1. Start With The Basics
To teach your students about the seasons, you first need to explain the four seasons. Use pictures to describe each seasonal change such as piles of dry leaves for autumn, snow for winter, the beach for summer and cherry blossoms for spring (or some local springtime flower).
Once your students understand the concept, you can start teaching them how to spell the four names and using calendar months to explain when each season occurs.
To end off the activity, go around and ask your students which season is their favourite and why. For younger students, you can also ask them to draw their favourite season in their workbooks.
You can also suggest some of our language learning tips here and here.
2. What Happens in Each Season
Apart from the temperature changing, various other things happen when the seasons change. To help your students discuss the things they see in each season and form complete sentences, teach them what objects or things happen under each category.
For example, in autumn there are pumpkins and dry leaves, and in winter there is snowflakes and snow. Make a list of the new vocabulary and spend a lesson teaching it to your students and arranging it under the different seasons.
Once you are confident in their abilities, split the class into teams for large classes or ask your students to sit in a large circle. Explain that you will choose a season and they need to complete the following sentence structure: “I see ___ in spring.
” You can use a ball toss to select the next student or just have the students work around the circle systemically.
It is a great way to help your students expand their vocabulary and start using what they have learned in complete sentences.
3. What to Wear
With a change of season, comes a change in attire. If you have already taught your students about the different types of clothing items, this is a fun way to review their vocabulary while putting it into a new context. (For specific summer vocabulary review, check this out.)
Before starting this activity, discuss with your class which type of apparel goes under which season and why. Once you are confident your students have grasped the concept, try this fun twist on a board snap game to test their knowledge:
Step 1: Create labels for each season and a picture to depict each one underneath. Stick these on the board.
Step 2: Create flashcards with clothing items from each season and arrange them mixed up on the board as well.
Step 3: Divide your students into teams and explain that you will call out a season and then each team member will have one chance to select an item and put it under the right heading.
You can play the round until all the clothing items are put under the right category, or to up the stakes, you can play against the clock.
4. What Holidays Take Place in Each Season
One of the best parts about learning about the seasons is being able to incorporate it with holidays and the weather.
To begin, brainstorm with your students a list of holidays they are familiar with. If you want, you can separate local holidays like Chinese New Year and Songkran from traditional Western holidays like Thanksgiving or Halloween that are not celebrated in the country.
Once you have your list, ask your students to separate the holidays by season. If your students have already learned about weather, you can use this activity as an opportunity to go over vocabulary by asking your students to describe the type of weather associated with each holiday.
For example, winter is cold; there is a lot of snow, or maybe heavy rains depending on the region.
To end off the lesson, ask your students to discuss their favourite holiday and what season it falls in. For homework, you could ask your students to interview their parents and friends to find out their favourite holiday and season.
Why Students Need To Know About The Four Seasons
EFL students need to know about the four seasons for everyday conversation. As much as English speakers love to complain about how bland talking about the weather is, it is something that still dominates our conversations, holiday plans and outdoor activities.
Travellers might ask about the weather in their country or even advice on what to wear at certain times of the year. So having a solid understanding of the seasons is a must-have for any EFL student.
Use these activities to engage your EFL learners and help them understand this topic while having fun at the same time.
Want to continue taking your teaching to the next level? Read more of Shane English School’s Teaching Tips.
About the Author
Lauren Melnick is a South African travel blogger and ESL teacher currently living in Ubon, Thailand. When she isn’t making lesson plans and watching nursery rhymes on YouTube, you can find her eating up a storm, taking selfies with dinosaurs, and planning her next adventure.
Follow her travels on Wanderlust Movement, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
7 Lesson Ideas to Teach Why We Have Seasons
I’m pretty sure the first time I taught students about why we have seasons, I wasn’t even sure why we had them. “You know, the Earth is tilted on its axis and it spins and uhhh… it goes around the sun. Then it’s not as sunny during winter and it’s sunny during summer. Right?” Lesson over.
Since that very faulty “lesson”, I’ve found some MUCH more effective activities.
Also I want to share that I ALWAYS have to look at a diagram of the seasons or else I have the axis going the wrong way or backwards arrows or some nonsense.
I am still working on my spatial skills. 🙂
We experience seasons on Earth because the Earth’s axis is tilted in relation to its orbit around the sun. This tilt causes the amount of sunlight and heat that the Earth receives to change throughout the year, resulting in the different seasons we experience.
During the summer months, the Earth is tilted towards the sun, causing the Northern Hemisphere to receive more direct sunlight and resulting in warmer temperatures. During the winter months, the Earth is tilted away from the sun, causing the Northern Hemisphere to receive less direct sunlight and resulting in colder temperatures.
Let’s look at 5 activities to clarify misconceptions about why we have seasons.
1. Engage Poll
1. Project the poll question and answer choices: Why is it hotter in the summer than in the winter?
2. Give students sticky notes and ask them to write the letter of the correct answer choice. Make a graph with answers as shown in the photo.
3. Show the video clip noted next on this list.
4. Discuss: Based on the video clip, which answer choices from the poll can be eliminated? Which is the best answer?
Free Download! Summer and Winter Poll
2. Crash Course Kids
“Ever wonder why we have seasons? A lot of people think it’s because the Earth gets further away from the sun in winter, and closer in the summer. But, it’s actually more interesting than that. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina talks about how the Earth’s tilt is responsible for Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.”
See the video! Seasons in the Sun
3. Interactive Diagram
Students will make an interactive diagram to show what causes seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. The detailed teacher instructions will help your students work through building the Interactive Diagram together, teaching as you go!
See it on TpT! Seasons Interactive Diagram
4.
Read Aloud
I love doing a read aloud of The Reasons for the Seasons to provide a bit more info and discussion points for students.
5. Seasons Digital Inquiry
In Google Classroom, students independently combine information from multiple sources to explain why Earth experiences seasons. You’ll love this no-prep, differentiated resource!
See it on TpT! Seasons Digital Inquiry
I hope your lessons about the seasons goes much better than my first lesson went. Happy teaching!
Standards
TEKS 4.8C collect and analyze data to identify sequences and predict patterns of change in shadows, seasons, and the observable appearance of the Moon over time
NGSS MS-ESS1-1 Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons
The seasons and months in English
The weather outside and the seasons are the most commonly discussed topics in small talk.
So that you do not get lost during small talk with foreigners, we have collected everything you need to know about the seasons and months in English. Just follow the tips from this article, and then you will be able to support any conversation on this topic.
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Make sure that your child |
How to speak and write about the seasons
There are four seasons in total, and this fact is unchanged for the language of any country in the world. English also has four words for seasons: winter – winter, spring – spring, summer – summer, autumn – autumn.
Now let’s figure out how to pronounce them correctly. To do this, below we have compiled a table where we have collected the names of the seasons with American and British transcription options.
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Seasons in English in order |
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Word |
American transcription |
British transcription |
Translation |
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Winter |
|ˈwɪntər| |
|ˈwɪntə| |
winter |
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Spring |
|ˈsprɪŋ| |
|sprɪŋ| |
spring |
|
Summer |
|ˈsʌmər| |
|ˈsʌmə| |
summer |
|
Autumn |
|ˈɔːtəm| |
|ˈɔːtəm| |
autumn |
By the way, the word autumn is used mainly by the British.
In America, autumn is usually called fall . It literally means “to fall”. The American name for autumn refers to the fall of the leaves.
Seasonal grammar
Seasons and articles
In sentences with the words winter, spring, summer and autumn , you can use the indefinite articles a and an or the definite the . Each of these cases is subject to the usual rules for setting articles.
If we describe the qualities of the season with adjectives, we should put the article a or an . For example,
It was a rainy autumn .
It was rainy autumn .
The definite article the to the words winter, spring, summer and autumn is needed when talking about a specific season, and this is indicated by clarifications: year or other words that indicate the context.
Let’s look at examples:
It was the winter we will never forget.
It was a winter we will never forget .
The summer before my return passed quickly.
The summer before my return passed quickly.
Everything changed in the summer of 2009 .
Everything has changed in the summer of 2009 .
There are cases when the article is not needed at all. This happens when people talk about the season in the abstract and do not mean the specific winter, spring, summer or autumn of any year. In other words, these sentences use the zero article. Example:
I have a birthday in summer.
My birthday is in the summer of .
Seasons and prepositions
Everything is simple here: with the seasons in English, it is customary to use the preposition in .
So if you want to talk about what happened in any of the seasons, just put in in front of it, and that’s it. For example:
Let’s go to the mountains in spring .
let’s go let’s go to mountains spring .
Or the preposition can be omitted altogether if there is a qualifying word. Here’s what it will look like:
We are planning to take a vacation this winter.
We plan to take a holiday this winter .
How to learn the seasons in English
One of the best ways to remember foreign words is to learn them in context. Simple poems will help you with this. Learn them to remember and at the same time practice pronunciation of the seasons.
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Seasons and Weather |
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In the summer it’s hot. In the winter it is not. In the spring there are flowers. In the autumn there are showers. |
It’s hot in summer. Not in winter. Flowers grow in spring. It rains in autumn. |
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Autumn |
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All the leaves are falling down Orange, green, red, and brown. If you listen, you’ll hear them say, “Wintertime is on it’s way” |
All leaves are falling. Orange, green, red and brown. If you listen, you will hear them say: “Winter will come soon” |
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4 Seasons |
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Spring is green. Summer is bright, Autumn is yellow, Winter is white. |
Spring green, Summer is bright, Autumn yellow, Winter is white. |
Learning all 12 months of the year
To make it easier to learn the months from different seasons in English, we moved them to a table with translation, divided by seasons and added transcription – British and American versions.
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English months |
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Name |
American transcription |
British transcription |
Translation |
|
Winter |
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December |
|dɪˈsembər| |
|dɪˈsembə| |
December |
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January |
|ˈdʒænjʊerɪ| |
|ˈdʒænjʊ(ə)rɪ| |
January |
| February |
|ˈfebrʊerɪ| |
|ˈfebrʊərɪ| |
February |
|
Spring |
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March |
|mɑːrtʃ| |
|mɑːtʃ| |
March |
| April |
|ˈeɪprəl| |
|ˈeɪpr(ɪ)l| |
April |
| May |
|meɪ| |
|meɪ| |
May |
|
Summer |
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June |
|dʒuːn| |
|dʒuːn| |
June |
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June |
|dʒʊˈlaɪ| |
|dʒuːˈlaɪ| |
July |
| August |
|ˈɔːɡəst| |
|ɔːˈɡʌst| |
August |
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Autumn (fall) |
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September |
|sepˈtembər| |
|sepˈtembə| |
September |
| October |
|ɑːkˈtəʊbər| |
|ɒkˈtəʊbə| |
October |
| November |
|nəʊˈvembər| |
|nə(ʊ)ˈvembə| |
November |
Let’s move on to grammar.
The names of the months in English must be capitalized. The same can be said about the days of the week, but more on that some other time. Articles with months should be used according to the same rules as for seasons:
• indefinite a or an: when talking about a month in combination with a descriptive attribute;
• zero article: in all other cases.
An exception is the definite article the , which is usually not used in combination with month names. Let’s take a look at some examples/
It was a sunny July in Praga .
It was sunny July in Prague.
It happened in February of 2015.
This happened on February 2015.
Now to prepositions. Compared to the seasons, there are more of them: in and on . You need to use them in such cases:
• in : if we are just talking about a month as a long period of time.
• on : if the sentence refers to a specific day of the month and has a date next to its name.
Examples below.
He was born in January .
It was born in January .
My birthday is on April 10th .
My birthday is April 10th .
How to learn the names of the months in English
We have already advised you to learn the seasons in English with the help of poems for children. Now it’s time for the months. Below we have prepared a small selection of verses that will help you remember their names. Enjoy!
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Months |
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January, February, March, April, May June, July, August. September, October, November, December, These are the months that I can remember! |
January February March, April, May June, July, August. Cheers cheers! September, October, November, December, Those are all the months I know! |
Hooray, Hooray!
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Autumn months |
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September is a time Of beginning for all, Beginning of school Beginning of fall. October leaves are lovely They rustle when I run Sometimes I make a heap And jump in them for fun. In November Dark comes soon. We turn on the lights In the afternoon. |
September is the time The beginning of everything, Beginning of school, The beginning of autumn. October leaves are beautiful They rustle when I run. Sometimes I put them together In November It gets dark early. We turn on the light Already after dinner. |
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Remember months! |
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January, February, March – that’s not so much! April, May, June – that’s the tune! July, August and September – we are cheerful and slender! October, November, December— all these months you must remember! |
January, February, March – it’s not so much! April, May, June – that’s the motive! July, August and September – we are cheerful and slender! October, November, December – all these months you must remember! |
We hope this article helped you learn the names of the seasons and months in English. If so, make sure your child can level up too! Sign him up for an introductory lesson at Skysmart and help him start learning English: we will teach him to speak fluently and understand live speech, which is used around the world.
Months of the Year (How to Learn the Months with a 3-6 Year Old Child)
Growing up, children begin to ask a lot of questions. “What is it?”, “Why is it necessary?” – typical questions of the child. Therefore, adults need to pay a lot of attention and time to a child who is developing. Today we’ll talk about how to learn the months of the year with a child?
Contents
When to start learning months?
How to start learning for months?
Months in pictures for children
- Winter months
- Spring months
- Summer months
- Autumn months
Learning months from books
Learning for months while playing
Children are interested in all serious topics. And when it comes to something like that, parents start to wonder how to explain it. For example, parents may hear this question: “Mom (or dad) what is November?”.
How to easily explain to a child that there are months of the year, there are 12 of them, of which 3 are winter, 3 are spring, 3 are summer and 3 are autumn. Each month of the year has its own name, and January is winter, and July is summer? Etc., etc. … How to learn the months with a child, and not just learn, but teach him to see the difference between them according to their signs?
When to start learning months?
You can start explaining to your child the difference between months and seasons from the age of 3-4. A child of this age has already seen winter, summer, autumn and spring and understands the difference between them. He knows what is cold and what is hot.
Before learning the months, learn the seasons in order (see: The Seasons for Preschool Children).
Start by explaining what a month is in general, how many there are in total, why such a division of the year is accepted.
Next, tell about the generally accepted order and start teaching with the child of the month in order, starting from the first – January.
List of months (modern and ancient names)
months in pictures for children
It will be easier for a child to study which months of the year the year if you show him thematic pictures or presentations. A presentation about the seasons and about each month separately, created by you directly for your child, and maybe together with him – this is generally a great idea.
By picking up pictures about each month and showing them to your child, you can fix their names in his memory. To do this, select pictures that depict the life of animals in each period of the year, people’s clothes in winter and summer.
You can also display the features of each month. For example, September may be characterized by leaf fall and the beginning of the school year.
Demonstrate the holidays in your presentation. For example, December – Christmas tree decoration, gifts, New Year. Well, be sure to remember the month of the child’s birthday. After all, every kid knows this holiday for sure.
These books may also have tasks to check at the end of each section. Such tasks are good for reinforcing the information received in memory.
This will not only help your child learn the names of the months, but also improve his memory.
Buy Special Literature which contains poems, fairy tales and stories about the twelve months. For example, you can recommend an excellent book “365 bedtime stories”. The illustrations in it are sorted by seasons, and each page corresponds to one day in the calendar. This book contains poems and stories that deal with the theme of the months. And it’s also great for learning.
In addition to this book, there is a encyclopedia “The Seasons” (another name is “Learning the Calendar”), where you will also find answers to many questions on the topic.
Playing for months The child can be both a participant and a spectator.
On the theme of months, you can come up with different riddles . For example, on the cards, draw children in seasonal clothes. The child must guess what time of the year they wear it. Drawing pictures that correspond to the months of the year will also benefit the child’s learning.
In addition to the above methods, thematic didactic games will also be a great way to learn the months of the year. These games are specially designed for preschool children to explore the months of the year. In addition, they show a connection with wildlife, and also develop memory and logical thinking.