5 End-of-Term English Activities to Survive The Last Few Weeks

What To Do When Everyone Is Tired (Including You)

By the time Week 8 rolls around, teachers are running on caffeine, muscle memory, and the faint hope that the bell will ring early. Students are tired. You are tired. The timetable is chaos. Half the class has mentally checked out and the other half is counting down to freedom.

The good news? End-of-term English lessons don’t need to be intense to be effective. This is the perfect time for low-prep, high-engagement activities that still tick literacy boxes without draining what little energy remains.

Here are five end-of-term activities for high school English classes that work when everyone’s exhausted.

1. Low Pressure Creative Writing

This is not the time for a 1,200-word masterpiece. It is the time for short, creative tasks that let students write without overthinking.

Easy wins:

• Quick writes using visual prompts with matching ambient sound recordings. These activities double as a descriptive writing activity and also a much needed mindfulness exercise.

• Write from the perspective of a minor or overlooked character.

• Genre swaps: turn a tragedy into a comedy or a crime fiction story into sci-fi.

  
  

These kinds of activities keep creative writing alive without adding to your marking loads.

2. Spelling & Vocab Games (Because Worksheets May Cause A Mutiny)

Instead of spelling and grammar worksheets, try short games to.

Surprisingly effective options:

• 'Homograph Challenges': students write two funny sentences for each homograph provided to practise spelling and widen their vocabulary. The most original sentence wins the game.

• 'Connotation Think-Pair-Shares': Write a word on the board and prompt students to spend two minutes writing down as many synonyms for that word. Then, have students discuss the synonyms they wrote down with their partner and label the words according to whether they have a positive or a negative connotation. Students then write a short sentence for each synonym, leaning fully into outrageously exaggerated, over-the-top language for dramatic effect. The most melodramatic sentence wins the game.

  
  

This reinforces spelling and vocabulary without feeling like revision punishment, and works well with editable teaching resources you can reuse every year.

3. Persuasive Speaking Talks on Topics Students Actually Care About

Get students to put the persuasive writing techniques they have learned into practice.

Crowd-pleasing prompts include:

• 'Pass the argument' game: Provide a debating proposition such as "homework should be banned". Students take a side of the room based on their opinion. You throw a ball at one student, and they must defend their position on the spot. They then pass the ball to someone on the opposite side, who fires back with a counterargument. Repeat until the arguments (or students) run out of steam.

• 'Sell the Unsellable' viva voces: Students pick an unlikely product, like chewed gum or an old whiteboard eraser, and use every persuasive trick they’ve learned this year to present a compelling sales pitch in small groups.

  
  

What's great about both activities is they do the talking. You moderate and nod thoughtfully.

4. Poetry Remix & Interpretation

Keep students writing poetry and prose through low-stakes 're-writing' exercises.

Activity ideas:

• Turn a poem into a short prose paragraph or flash fiction story

• Blackout or erasure poetry using a printed poem

• Students pair a poem with a visual and justify the connection in a short paragraph.

These tasks reinforce poetic techniques, imagery, and interpretation without formal essay writing, making them ideal for end of year revision.

5. Low-Prep Reflection Activities

Use simple reflection activities to wind down the term and help students recognise their progress.

Useful prompts include:

• What English skill do you think you improved most this year?

• What was the hardest task and why?

• What advice would you give next year’s class?

• What piece of writing are you most proud of? Why?

• Write a glowing review about the best piece of writing you produced explaining what makes it so wonderful.

These can be written, discussed, or done as a short portfolio task and are great for winding down while sharpening those often overlooked self-monitoring skills.

Final Thoughts (You’re Almost There)

End-of-term lessons don’t need to be perfect. They need to be manageable, engaging, and skill-building. With flexible Australian teaching resources, a bit of humour, and realistic expectations, you can finish the year without burning out or losing students' engagement levels.

If it works, reuse it next year. If it doesn’t, the holidays are very close!