ESLSongs

Celebrate christmas in your ESL class while you practise simple adjectives with your students with this classic song, Merry Xmas (War is over) by the legendary John Lennon, and Yoko Ono & the Plastic Ono Band.

Although this is undoubtedly a christmas song, it doesn’t include any christmas-related vocabulary (apart from “happy christmas”, “merry christmas” & “happy new year”). I suggest using this song to practise the following 17 adjectives: black, dear, good, happy, long, merry, near, new, old, poor, red, rich, strong, weak, white, yellow & young

There is a suggestion on how to use this song in your ESL classes below, but for more ideas, click here.

Lyrics

So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you had fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas (war is over)
For weak and for strong (if you want it)
The rich and the poor ones (war is over)
The road is so long (now)

And so happy Christmas (war is over)
For black and for white (if you want it)
For yellow and red ones (war is over)
Let’s stop all the fight (now)

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas (war is over)
And what have we done? (If you want it)
Another year over (war is over)
And a new one just begun (now)

And so happy Christmas (war is over)
We hope you have fun (if you want it)
The near and the dear ones (war is over)
The old and the young (now)

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

War is over
If you want it
War is over
Now

Happy Christmas

Suggested activity: fill the gaps

Download this exercise (PDF)

Fill the gaps with these adjectives and then listen to the song to check your answers: black, dear, good, happy, long, merry, near, new, old, poor, red, rich, strong, weak, white, yellow, young

So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a ¹___________ one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you had fun
The ²___________ and the ³___________ ones
The ⁴___________ and the ⁵___________
A very ⁶___________ Christmas
And a ⁷___________ New Year
Let’s hope it’s a ⁸___________ one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas (war is over)
For ⁹___________ and for ¹⁰___________ (if you want it)
The ¹¹___________ and the ¹²___________ ones (war is over)
The road is so ¹³___________ (now)
And so ¹⁴___________ Christmas (war is over)
For ¹⁵___________ and for ¹⁶___________ (if you want it)
For ¹⁷___________ and ¹⁸___________ ones (war is over)
Let’s stop all the fight (now)
A very ¹⁹___________ Christmas
And a ²⁰___________ New Year
Let’s hope it’s a ²¹___________ one
Without any fear

So this is Christmas (war is over)
And what have we done? (if you want it)
Another year over (war is over)
And a ²²___________ one just begun (now)
And so ²³___________ Christmas
We hope you have fun
The ²⁴___________ and the ²⁵___________ ones
The ²⁶___________ and the ²⁷___________
A very ²⁸___________ Christmas
And a ²⁹___________ New Year
Let’s hope it’s a ³⁰___________ one
Without any fear

War is over if you want it. War is over now. Happy christmas!

John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon was an English singer-songwriter, musician and political activist. After a troubled childhood, he gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.