Orange Shirt Day - ESL activity pack

This ESL resource is a meaningful and engaging activity pack created for Orange Shirt Day. It helps students build vocabulary, oral language skills, and emotional awareness, while learning about the importance of this day.

The lesson begins with a read-aloud of My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith (Cree, Lakota, and Scottish descent). After a class discussion about the story and the significance of Orange Shirt Day, students reflect on what fills THEM with happiness, just like Phyllis Webstad.
Students then draw their happy moment inside a t-shirt template, making a personal and visual connection to the theme.

To develop speaking skills, students play a memory game. Each time they flip cards, they must say the vocabulary out loud, and when they find a pair, they say:
“This fills me with happiness!”

Finally, students take home a Happiness Bingo homework sheet with simple, kind actions (ex: “give someone a hug,” “go on a walk with your family,” “help at home without being asked”).
This activity promotes kindness, community, and English fluency in a fun, student-centered way!