It’s almost Halloween! This scary, fun holiday takes place on October 31st in many countries. Many teachers will be doing Halloween activities with their classes, and this means that Halloween vocabulary will be featured a lot. Now is a good time to review some of the trickier words that scare English learners and native speakers alike! 
1. COSTUME / CUSTOM
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen students get these two words mixed up. They’re tricky! Point out to your students that they have different pronunciations and different meanings. A costume, pronounced /ˈkɑs tjum/, is an outfit that people wear on Halloween in order to appear as someone/something else.
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I bought a cat costume for Halloween this year. My friend is dressing up in a zombie costume.
A custom, pronounced /ˈkʌs təm/, is a tradition or habitual action that people do.
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Taking off your shoes when you enter someone’s house is a well-known Japanese custom. (more…)
