Parts of Speech Vocabulary and Language Exercises

Understanding the parts of speech is fundamental to learning the English language.  Sorting exercises help students become familiar with different types of word formation.  The exercises below can be used to introduce, review or reinforce students’ knowledge of the parts of speech.

The two most common exercises for basic parts of speech:

1. Have students identify parts of speech.

2. Have students create a sentence using a certain part of speech.

1 Understanding elementary parts of speech 

   This is an elementary ESL sorting exercise for practicing the parts of speech .  First, the students sort  the words into the appropriate columns. Then they try to write sentences using the words.

Understanding 4 parts of speech (PDF)

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2  Parts of speech for neighborhoods (with answers)

This is a fairly elementary parts of speech exercise for elementary language that students need to know when talking about their homes, local communities and neighborhoods.

Parts of speech for neighborhoods (PDF)

3 Parts of speech sorting for personality

When you look at the grammar of personality, it is quite interesting that  most of the words are adjectives. But it is worth helping students get to  know  the noun forms of these adjectives too.

Parts of speech for personality (PDF)

4 Health vocabulary parts of speech sorting

 Another specific topic that is great as a  parts of speech sorting exercise is health.  The language of health has such a wide variety of word  formations that it becomes quite obvious why it is very difficult for second language learners.

Health parts of speech (PDF)

5 Parts of speech for relationships sorting

Parts of speech for relationships is a  worksheet and sorting activity to help deepen students’ knowledge of the vocabulary of love, romance and relationships.

Relationships parts of speech (PDF)

 6 Advanced parts of speech sorting

 I had to teach a group of words and I thought I’d just do a sorting exercise to reinforce the vocabulary a bit. But I gradually realized that this set of words was a pretty good demonstration of a variety of noun endings. Students were pretty curious about the endings and so this exercise worked really well.

Advanced parts of speech (PDF)

7 Writing sentences for the parts of speech

  This is an elementary ESL exercise for practicing the parts of speech by writing sentences. It is a good way to guage the students’ knowledge of basic grammar. First, the students match the words to the pictures. Then they try to write sentences using the words.

Writing sentences for parts of speech (PDF)

 8 Brainstorming elementary parts of speech

     The exercise below is for introducing, reviewing or reinforcing commonly used parts of speech. Depending on the level and ability of the students, a  teacher  may ask  students to work in groups or work independently. This activity works really well as simultaneously an individual, group and class activity. While students work independently the teacher can walk around and choose some  of the best ideas and write them on the the brainstorming diagram (which they have already drawn) on the board.

Brainstorming parts of speech (PDF)

Related Resources:

Comparative adjective exercises

Teaching Gerunds and Infinitives

Indirect and Reported Speech

10  Adjectives Exercises Including Adjectives for People and Things 

6 Picture-Based Present Continuous Worksheets (PDF)

8 Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)

5  Useful Passive Voice Practice worksheets

6  Present Perfect Language and Speaking Worksheets

Incredibly Useful Past Tense Simple Teaching Activities (PDF)

8 Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)

Great Exercises for the Conditionals (PDF)

11 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes

Speaking activities are essential for English language speaking classes (obviously!). However, designing  the right speaking activity for a topic is not always an easy task. Teachers need to be aware of the students’ abilities and   personalities as well as the language and grammar they will be presenting. It’s good to be able to run through or think through a list of teaching possibilities before preparing a class. Below I offer some essential speaking activities that have helped make seemingly difficult teaching  challenges a lot of fun.

• Also, see my my post explaining how to use artificial intelligence to create speaking activities:
  • The Art of Prompting Artificial Intelligence for ESL Teachers

1 Conversation and dialogue exercises: routines and daily activities example

Write-a- conversation exercises work really well for many topics including routines and daily activities.  I always get the students to perform just for me …not in front of the class..as they are more relaxed and I get a close up and personal look at their performance. Also, I can ask them to repeat the conversation easily if it is not fluent enough.

Routines and daily activities (PDF)

(YouTube video gap fill version)

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2 Conversation and dialogue exercises : food conversation example

Dialogues are a great way to get students talking. Students just need to be presented with an easy example or model that they can practice Once they have mastered the model they can alter it with their own ideas.

Food conversation (PDF)

(see the exercise on YouTube)

3 Questionnaires: Present Perfect Questionnaire example

    This is a  present perfect exercise and worksheet  for English language learners.   Students answer the questions with their own ideas and  using appropriate tenses. For the last two items, they write both questions and answers. 

Present perfect questionnaire (PDF)

(see the YouTube video)

4 Vocabulary and discussion questions: artificial intelligence apps

Artificial intelligence is now a part of everyday life. This is a vocabulary/listening/speaking exploring ideas about AI apps that people use everyday.

(download PDF)

(see the video of this exercise on YouTube)

5 Questionnaires with pictures: talking about shopping example

This is an elementary ESL speaking activity for practicing language useful for talking about shopping. Shopping is a great topic for English language students  as it is universally accessible. Using pictures with the questions gives context. The vocabulary at the bottom of the page can be matched to the pictures as an icebreaker. Students can discuss and answer the questions in groups or in pairs.

Talking about shopping (PDF)

Related Speaking Skills Resources:

14 Write a Conversation Exercises

Socializing Speaking Lessons Home

10 Role Play Speaking Activities

11 Classroom Debate and Discussion Language Activities

5 Cracking Complaints and Annoyances Language and Speaking Exercises

12 Brilliant Business English Speaking Skills  Activities

Listening exercises for all levels

6 Role plays: Bad vacation example

This is a role play about a bad vacation

Bad vacation(PDF)

(see the “Bad vacation” role play on Youtube)

7 Role plays : celebrity interview role play example

Role plays can be really good speaking activities. However, students really need to be able to identify with and be interested in the characters they are playing. The easiest and most successful  role play I have encountered is the celebrity role play. It is also the most  popular role play idea on my website by miles. This is a fun communicative exercise that allows students to to be creative and to improvise.

Celebrity role play (PDF)

(see the YouTube video)

8 Surveys: fashion choices survey example

This is an ESL  speaking and writing lesson  for talking about clothes, accessories and fashion choices. Fashion is a great classroom topic as it easily engages students. In this exercise, students have to write their own questions, survey their classmates and write a short report about their findings. This is a fun communicative exercise that allows students to mix freely.

Fashion choices survey (PDF)

 

9 Expressing opinions

This is an ESL or English language  exercise for  practicing conversational English.  Brainstorm collocations for the verbs and then create short conversations using the model on the hand out as an example.

Circle of determiners (PDF)

 

10 Socializing speaking activities : eternal mingle example

In socializing activities, students write one of more questions on a piece of paper and then walk around the classroom speaking to as many people as possible. This is an excellent all-purpose communicative activity for big ESL classes. It’s effective because it just about ensures a high level of student participation. It also lowers inhibition levels, encourages student centered correction and frees the teacher to observe and field questions from students. The possible variations are endless. It can be used as an icebreaker, for drills, or as an initiator of free conversation.

Eternal Mingle (PDF)

Related Resources

9 Super Elementary Speaking Exercises

5 Elementary Conversational Expressions Exercises

5 First Day Activities for an ESL Class

10 Really! Elementary ESL classroom icebreakers

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes

12 Great Icebreakers to Start a Class

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

 

11 Interviews: personality interview example

One-on-one interviews also work well in ESL classes. Several good options are the job interview, the personality interview and the “getting to know you” interview.

Personality interview (PDF)

 

12 Discussions: cities-good or bad example

Discussion activities on topics which students encounter in their everyday lives are also generally successful. Getting students to provide both sides of an argument  helps them to  develop their critical thinking and speaking skills. Discussion topics like this example can be done in pairs, groups or as a class.

Cities- good or bad?  (PDF)

Clothes, Accessories and Fashion Vocabulary and Speaking Exercises

•  Fashion, accessories and clothes vocabulary and associated expressions and language can be taught with a variety of techniques including vocabulary-picture matching, class surveys and word maps.
• These exercises engage the students and encourage them to interact.

1. Clothes, accessories and fashion choices survey and speaking lesson

This is an ESL  speaking and writing lesson  for talking about clothes, accessories and fashion choices. First, students write five survey questions about fashion choices. There are some examples of  questions on the first page of the PDF.  When they have written five questions on Page 2 of the PDF,  they can walk around the class asking  classmates their questions and noting down their answers on the worksheet. Finally, they write a short report from their survey  question answers. This is a fun communicative exercise that allows students to mix freely. 

Fashion Choices Survey (PDF)

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2 Fashion and shopping word maps

This wordmaps exercise is a great way to explore the language of fashion, shopping and taste. It can be done collectively or individually. Once enough vocabulary has been generated on the board or on worksheets, students can write their ideas and opinions about fashion and shopping using the sentence cues at the bottom of the page.

Fashion and shopping wordmaps (PDF)

Related Resources

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

6 ESL Speaking Activities for Talking about Shopping (PDF)

7 Brainstorming and Speaking Activities for Routines, Interests and Hobbies

7 Essential Speaking Activities (PDF)

Describing People Home

First, Second and Third Conditional Listening/Speaking and Grammar Exercises and Worksheets

Summary of the conditionals

1. The first conditional is used to talk about possible future events.

2. The second conditional is used to talk about unlikely (imaginary or unreal situations) future events.

3. The third conditional is used to talk about past events that didn’t happen (regrets!).

1 First conditional for possibility listening/speaking (with answers and audio)

  This is a first conditional complete-the-sentence exercise  for English language learners. . Students complete the sentences using their own  ideas generated by the pictures and/or listen to the audio.

First  conditional grammar exercise (PDF)

(video mp4)    (video YouTube mp4)

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2 An introduction to the unreal conditional (2nd)

Here is a short introduction or guide to the unreal conditional.

(download PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

An introduction to the unreal conditional

3 Imaginary (2nd conditional for unreal situations with answers and audio)

  This is a 2nd conditional complete-the-sentence exercise  for English language learners. It is used for imaginary situations. 

Imaginary: 2nd conditional grammar exercise (PDF)

(video mp4) (video YouTube mp4)

4 Introduction to the past unreal/past possibility/3rd conditional

Here is a short introduction or guide to the past unreal conditional. It is often used when talking about regrets or possibilities in the past. Ok, there are many ways to describe this aspect of grammar. Down below, I even use “alternate reality”,

(download PDF)

5 Alternate reality (3rd conditional with answers and audio)

  This is a 3rd conditional listening/speaking complete-the-sentence exercise  for English language learners. It is used for thinking about changes in  the past.  

Imaginary: 2nd conditional grammar exercise (PDF)

(video mp4)    (video YouTube mp4)

6 2nd conditional grammar and critical thinking exercise (with answers)

  This is an exercise to challenge students’ grammar and critical thinking skills.

2nd conditional grammar/critical thinking exercise (PDF)

7 3rd conditional grammar and critical thinking exercise

  This is an exercise to challenge students’ grammar and critical thinking skills for the 3rd conditional.

2nd conditional grammar/critical thinking exercise (PDF)

8 Amazing situations in the 2nd conditional

    This is a conditionals  question-making exercise and speaking activity  for English language learners. It is used for imaginary situations. Students complete the questions using their own  ideas generated by the pictures. Then they can interview their partners. 

Amazing situations 2nd conditional questions (PDF)

Related Resources:

“Wishes” speaking and writing activities

Comparative adjectives listening/speaking

  Adjectives Exercises Including Adjectives for People and Things 

3 Parts of Speech Exercises

Picture-Based Present Continuous Worksheets (PDF)

Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)

  Useful Passive Tense Practice worksheets

  Present Perfect Language and Speaking Worksheets

Incredibly Useful Past Tense Simple Teaching Activities (PDF)

Reported speech and indirect requests

 

9 Making sentences with the 2nd conditional

  This is another  2nd conditional complete-the-sentence writing exercise  for English language learners.

2nd conditional complete the sentence exercise (PDF)

The Language and Culture of Streaming and Movies

29th April 2025

From binge-watching the latest series to discovering indie films from across the globe, streaming has fundamentally changed how we consume entertainment in the 2020s. And as platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max continue reshaping entertainment consumption patterns globally, mastering digital entertainment vocabulary has become essential for cultural literacy and meaningful conversations in English. For more exercises on the language and culture of streaming visit my Substack on the topic.

Visual Vocabulary for Streaming

This visual vocabulary guide bridges the gap between everyday digital experiences and English language learning by focusing on the terminology students need to discuss their streaming habits. The worksheet connects common streaming actions—searching, selecting genres, using subtitles—with the English vocabulary needed to describe these universal experiences.

(Download PDF)

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Streaming Services: Advantages and Disadvantages

Streaming services are now part of everyday life for most people around the world. This worksheet helps students think about and discuss the good and bad points of these digital platforms. Each section focuses on a common feature students probably use regularly—like watching shows on demand or using subtitles. By filling in the missing advantages and disadvantages, students learn practical vocabulary for explaining their opinions about technology. These terms and phrases are useful for real conversations about digital entertainment, whether students are recommending shows to friends or discussing how technology affects their daily habits.

(Download PDF)

TV and Movie Genres Questionnaire

Movies and TV shows are perfect conversation starters in English. This questionnaire helps students learn how to talk about different types of entertainment they watch every day. The three-part format first checks if students understand basic genre terms, then asks them to form and express opinions, and finally connects these concepts to their personal experiences. By answering questions about everything from horror films to documentaries, students practice useful vocabulary while thinking about why they prefer certain content over others. These are exactly the kinds of conversations English speakers have in daily life, whether meeting someone new or chatting with friends about weekend plans.

(Download PDF)

Streaming Content Choices: Critical Thinking

What does your streaming history say about you? This activity turns the mirror on our viewing habits, transforming passive entertainment consumption into active language exploration. Just as streaming platforms analyze our choices to understand our preferences, this worksheet invites students to become analysts of their own digital behavior. Each section peels back a layer of the viewing experience—from the initial spark of interest to the terminology that structures our viewing to the patterns that define our consumption. By mapping their personal relationship with digital content, students gain not just vocabulary but self-awareness about how technology shapes their leisure time in ways previous generations never experienced. It’s language learning that connects directly to the digital fingerprint we leave every time we press “play.”

(Download PDF)

Movies brainstorm and speaking activity

 Movies connect us like few other cultural experiences can. Whether watching on a phone during a commute, sharing recommendations in group chats, or debating film endings with friends, cinema creates natural conversation opportunities. This resource helps students identify and discuss different film genres while practicing practical conversation skills they’ll use in real social situations. The matching exercise builds visual recognition of film types, while the interview questions prompt genuine exchanges about personal preferences—exactly the kind of casual conversations students need to master for comfortable everyday English interactions.

Movie brainstorm and speaking activity (PDF)

Write a conversation exercise: going out to a movie

“Going Out” is another good conversation topic. When students write these dialogues in pairs or small groups they automatically fall into a role play mode without any direction from the teacher.

Going out (PDF)

(YouTube gap fill version)

Elements of movies vocabulary

In this exercise, students learn language used to discuss movies. Students match the vocabulary to the pictures and then ask their classmates the questions at the bottom of the page.

 Elements of movies vocabulary(PDF)

Elements of movies qualities

This exercise explores the language of movies more deeply. Students may have to think a bit more to match the words and expressions to the pictures.

Elements of movies qualities (PDF)

Related Resources:

2 Music and Songs Speaking Activities

10 Role Play Speaking Activities

11 Classroom Debate and Discussion Language Activities

5 Complaints and Annoyances Language and Speaking Activities

5 First Day of Class Activities

3 Great Icebreakers to Start a Class

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios