Months of the Year and Seasons in English, in Order

Practice on screen

Look at the picture or number and choose the right English word. Ten questions each round.

How to teach it

1. 1. A big wall calendar

   Hang a wall calendar and turn the page at the start of every month. Say the new month name together and point to the picture. Mark birthdays and holidays with stickers so that the child links each month to events that matter in the child's own life.

2. 2. Birthday line-up

   Ask each child to say the month of their birthday: "My birthday is in June." Then have the children stand in a line in month order, from January to December, and say their months out loud one by one. Mix up the line and do it again.

3. 3. Month cards in a circle

   Write each month on a card and lay the twelve cards in a circle. The child walks around the circle saying each month. When this is easy, take away a few cards and ask the child to say which months are missing.

4. 4. Draw the four seasons

   Fold a sheet of paper into four and draw one season in each part, with its weather and clothes: snow in winter, flowers in spring. Under each picture write the season and the months, so the child connects both lists.

5. 5. Knuckle trick for days in a month

   Make a fist and say the months along the knuckles and the dips between them. Months that fall on a knuckle have 31 days; the others have fewer. Children enjoy this trick, and it gives a reason to say all twelve names in order.

6. 6. Which month comes next?

   Ask a quick question and let the child answer: "What month comes after March? What month comes before October?" Start with the months the child knows well and move on to the harder ones.

Common mistakes

• Writing months with a small letter

  Months always start with a capital letter in English: January, March, December. Write "My birthday is in april" with a capital A: "My birthday is in April." The names of the seasons, though, do not take a capital: spring, summer.

• Using at or on instead of in

  Use in before a month or a season: in July, in winter. Use on before a day (on Monday) and at before a clock time (at three o'clock). Learners often say "at July" or "on July".

• Misspelling February

  February has two letters r: Feb-ru-ary. Many learners write "Febuary" because the first r is often not pronounced. Say the word slowly, with every sound, when you write it.

• Fall or autumn

  American English calls the season fall and British English calls it autumn. Both are correct. Choose one for your lessons and tell the child that the other word exists, so that books and videos do not confuse them.

• Mixing up the numbers of days

  April, June, September and November have 30 days. February has 28 days, or 29 in a leap year. All the other months have 31. A rhyme or the knuckle trick helps learners remember this.