Analysing Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Parts 6-8

We are gradually publishing an 8-part analysis of the 1993 animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas so you can study the film with A2-level pupils in class. Here are are the three final parts, 6-8, in time for Christmas

The film, directed by Henry Selick and written by Tim Burton, focuses on the King of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington. He and all the town's citizens, celebrate Halloween every day of the year. But Jack becomes bored with Halloween and when he stumbles upon Christmas Town, he decides to celebrate Christmas instead.

In Part 6, Jack tries to play Santa Claus with disastrous results: he terrifies the children of Christmas Town rather than bringing them joy. He ends up being chased off in his sleigh by the military. Part 7 centres around Jack's regrets and the song "What Have I Done?" In Part 8, all's well that ends well, as Santa Claus returns and brings Christmas to Halloween Town too.

Vocabulary and grammar

adjectives (emotions)
cinema vocabulary (point of view)
imperatives
WH- questions
preterite
present perfect
Christmas vocabulary
winter vocabulary
repetition
expressing regrets, apologising

Culture

Christmas
Santa Claus

For more on a Tim Burton theme, check out our resource on the TV series Wednesday.

If you like working with long-form fiction with your pupils, check out our new Reading Guides anglais collection. Each guide offers substantial extracts from a well-known novel in English for young readers and lots of activities to help pupils understand them. The first two titles are Gangsta Granny by David Walliams and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. Find out more about the collection and watch the collection director Corinne Escales walk you through using the Reading Guides in class.