Personality Adjectives/Vocabulary and Listening/Speaking Activities
16th February 2025
A wide range of teaching activities are useful for teaching the vocabulary of personality including: vocabulary-picture matching, personality surveys, word sorting exercises and role plays.
Describing a Businessman (with answers)
This is an ESL exercise for practicing the use of adjectives that might be useful for describing a businessman’s personality and behavour. Students match the adjectives to the pictures and if possible, try to make a sentence explaining why the adjective matches the picture.
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Personality Adjectives for Friends – listening and speaking (with audio and answers)
This is a listening/speaking exercise for personality vocabulary for describing friends and colleagues. Students listen to the audio and match the appropriate vocabulary to the pictures. The audio is a picture/conversation matching exercise. The video is a simpler vocabulary/matching exercise.
Writing a conversation exercises work really well for some topics and personality is one of the best. This works best with lower level students of course, but with advanced students you have to encourage them to build on their ideas.
This is a listening/speaking exercise for English language learners to talk about personality and first impressions. This exercises focuses on a woman. Students look at the pictures and try to create a story about how they got to know this man.
Nearly all the words used to talk about personality are adjectives. This makes it quite easy to teach. The only problems I have with elementary personality vocabulary are the words “fun” and “funny”. My students often use “funny” when they should be using “fun”. And then there is the problem of “fun” often being used as a noun. But other than that….teaching the language of personality is …a lot of fun!
6 More Advanced Personality Vocabulary and Speaking
The range of personality vocabulary becomes almost infinite the more you look into it. Here is a selection of more advanced vocabulary which can also serve as a pronunciation exercise for better students. Many students have problems with words such as “enthusiastic” and “conscientious”. And other words that are tricky for some students include “weird” and “suspicious”.
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.
This is an ESL speaking lesson for talking about personality. Students interview each other using the questions on the handout. They also ask for examples of each personality trait. Then they choose a job for the interviewee based on the answers they receive.
Personality adjectives dictation and other exercises
This is my favorite all-purpose and sustainable (ie. it never gets old and can be repeated endlessly – you just need new vocabulary and new pictures) teaching exercise . It’s a listening exercise, a vocabulary exercise and it’s suited to every size of class. It can be used to introduce vocabulary. It can be used to review vocabulary.
In this vocabulary exercise students have to decide whether the personality adjectives are positive, negative or if they are sometimes positive and sometimes negative depending on the situation.
This is an ESL speaking and writing lesson for talking about personality. First, each student chooses one adjective. Then they write five survey questions that adjective. There are some examples of questions at the top of the first page of the PDF. When they have written five questions, 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.
12 Essential Paragraph and Essay Writing Skills Exercises and Worksheets
Elementary paragraph and essay writing skills include brainstorming and outlining, as well as the ability to write attention getters, topic and support sentences.
1 Elementary academic paragraph writing lesson
This is a bare bones elementary paragraph writing lesson for English language learners that aims to help them understand paragraph types and the components of a paragraph. It is particularly aimed at students who have vocabulary skills but almost no writing skills.
This is a brainstorming and academic essay planning worksheet for students writing essays. The best way to get ideas for a paragraph or essay is to brainstorm with the aid of a graphic organizer. Students can freely associate ideas to a topic. This allows them to be more creative and explore any path their minds might take.
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3 Outlining a basic paragraph
This is a paragraph outline worksheet to help students learn how to write a basic paragraph.
5 Writing main idea sentences for essays or paragraphs (with possible answers)
In this worksheet students practice writing main idea sentences by looking at the pictures, and writing an appropriate main idea sentence. They should try to express themselves freely.
Attention getters are essential at the beginning of a paragraph or an essay when you want to attract the reader’s attention. There are many kinds of attention getters but a few of the most common are anecdotes, quotation, provocative questions and surprising facts or statistics. Students can practice attention getters by looking at the pictures and trying to write an attention getter for each one.
The way to teach adjectives is to have a variety of exercises. These can include:
Positive/negative adjective sorting
Picture matching: matching adjectives to emotions or situations
Personality surveys
Audio listening/speaking exercises help give a better feel of the context
August 28th 2024
Brainstorming Basic Adjectives for Conversation
Matching everyday items and situations with basic adjectives helps students expand their descriptive vocabulary and grasp contextual meanings in English. The exercise presents common experiences for categorization using words like “exciting,” “challenging,” and “dangerous.”
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Basic Adjectives for Conversation
Audio and picture/vocabulary matching makes this exercise multi-sensory, engaging both auditory and visual learning pathways. Students then complete sentences with personal ideas, applying these adjectives to their own experiences.
Common adjectives for describing people (with audio and answers)
Students try to match the vocabulary to the pictures. Then they listen to the audio and match the items to the pictures and check that they matched the correct adjectives to the pictures.
This is an ESL exercise to help familiarize students with basic adjectives. Students match the adjectives to the pictures and write short sentences. This worksheet helps introduce, reinforce or review students’ knowledge of adjectives. And it helps improve their skills.
This is an ESL exercise to help familiarize students with basic adjectives for describing people. Students match the adjectives to the pictures and write short sentences. Pictures engage the attention of students and they also encourage students to use critical thinking skills.
This is an ESL speaking and writing lesson for learning adjectives. Each student chooses an adjective and writes five survey questions using his/her adjective. They then walk around the class asking their questions and noting down their answers. Finally, they write a short report from their survey question answers. This is a fun communicative exercise that allows students to mix freely.
This is a fun, creative and communicative ESL speaking activity for adjectives. Each student gets one or more slips of paper, chooses an adjective, draws some kind of picture or cartoon about an adjective (of their choice or assigned by the teacher) and then writes a multiple choice question about the picture. They can write the correct answer on the back of the slip of paper. When all the students are finished the students can walk around quizzing other students or the slips of paper can be handed around.
This is an ESL exercise for learning and using common, everyday adjectives . Students match the the adjectives to the pictures is an enjoyable and fun way to learn adjectives. . First, the students match the words to the pictures. Then they try to short conversations using the words.
This is an ESL exercise for practicing the use of adjectives that might be useful in business English. Students match the adjectives to the pictures and if possible, try to make a sentence explaining why the adjective matches the picture.
This English exercise focuses on categorizing greetings and introductions. It covers formal and informal expressions for greetings and introductions, as well as conversation starters. Students match phrases to categories and are encouraged to add their own examples.
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And, if you subscribe, you will be supporting theeslflow website.
Greetings and Introductions Critical Thinking Exercises
The critical thinking exercises consist of two parts: identifying mismatched words in related groups and categorizing expressions as polite, impolite, or neutral. Students learn to recognize appropriate language for different social situations. The exercise helps develop understanding of context and tone in communication. It aims to improve students’ social interaction skills in English.
Greetings and Introductions Pronunciation Practice
This exercise enhances English language learners’ listening and pronunciation skills, focusing on greetings and introductions. It comprises two parts:
A listening discrimination task where students identify specific words from similar-sounding options, improving their ability to distinguish subtle phonetic differences.
A word and syllable stress exercise that helps learners recognize and produce the correct stress patterns in common phrases, which is crucial for natural-sounding speech.
This visual vocabulary/picture matching exercise provides context and allows students to connect vocabulary with real-world scenarios and concepts. It’s an effective way to reinforce language learning, especially for visual learners.
Introductions conversation (with answers and audio)
This is model dialogue for practicing language useful for greetings and introductions. Students listen and complete the conversation with the vocabulary in the box.
“Getting to know you” conversation/ listening exercise (with audio and possible answers)
This is another elementary and introductory speaking skills and listening exercise to encourage students to write their own “getting to know you” questions and answers.
This is an elementary ESL exercise for practicing language useful for greetings and introductions. Students try to match the greetings and introductions with appropriate pictures.
A fun and reliable elementary present simple tense speaking activity for a large class. The great thing about it is that it works at really elementary levels. The teacher models the activity using the survey template drawn on the board. Students then move around the classroom talking to at least five other students. During the survey part of the activity the teacher is free to monitor the students and also participate, having an opportunity to speak to students individually. As the students are finishing their surveys, the teacher can write a model report on the board.
This another fun and reliable survey speaking activity for a large class. It’s a little bit more advanced than the activity above. The teacher models the activity using the example questions and a survey template drawn on the board. Students are then encouraged to write their own questions. During the survey part of the activity the teacher is free to monitor the students and also participate, having an opportunity to speak to students individually. As the students are finishing their surveys, the teacher can write a model report on the board.
Fabulous Food and Eating Listening, Speaking and Vocabulary Lessons
January 3rd, 2024
Below are a collection of food and eating related vocabulary, listening, speaking, brainstorming, and grammar activities designed to help students develop English language skills.
1 Restaurant complaints
What is going on in the pictures? What problems do the customers want to complain about?
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2 Shopping list for food role play (elementary)
This is a role play between 2 room mates talking about the food items they need for their house or apartment. It includes basic vocabulary for food, and also countable and uncountable nouns.
This is a fun way to start a class and introduce the vocabulary for ingredients to English language learners. Get students to watch the video or listen to the audio and write the vocabulary on the pictures on the PDF worksheet. Or you can just dictate the words randomly.
8 Restaurant dialogues speaking and listening worksheet (with audio answers)
This is an English language exercise to help students prepare to work in a restaurant or just learn about common restaurant exchanges so they are prepared to travel abroad or eat out with English language speakers. Students attempt to complete the dialogues. Then they can listen to the conversations and compare their answers.
10 Ordering in a restaurant listening activity and conversation worksheet (with audio answers)
This is a fun “Ordering in a Restaurant” gap fill speaking activity for an English language class. Students listening to audio and complete the conversation. Then the students can practice the conversation, perform role plays and/or write their own “Ordering in a Restaurant” dialogues.
11 Common expressions for talking about food (listening/speaking with answers and audio)
This is a vocabulary, listening and speaking activity for using common expressions to talk about food and eating. Students match the sentences the pictures and answer the questions. The listening activity could be done first or last. The students listen to the short conversational exchanges and match the letter of the item to the pictures.
13 Listening and speaking skills worksheet: restaurant troubles (with audio and answers)
For this exercise students listen to the conversations and match the items (A-I) to the pictures. Then they listen to the short exchanges again and try to complete the speech bubbles. This kind of exercise encourages students to expand their vocabulary and improve their listening skills.
Business English Speaking and Listening Skills Worksheets for the 2020s
The exercises below are designed for teaching ESL students in the 2020s, focusing on contemporary work trends such as the gig economy and hybrid work. The content addresses key aspects of modern work life, including freelancing, digital platforms, work-life balance, and the use of technology in remote work.
14th April 2025
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The Gig Economy visual vocabulary and classroom discussion listening
Vocabulary and listening exercises that engage students in a discussion about The Gig Economy.
This is a Business English vocabulary and listening/speaking exercise exploring some common Business English vocabulary. It also focuses on the use of quantifiers (all, most, some, a few, none etc.).
This is a “calling to complain”telephoning language exercise to help English language learners practice expressions and phrases used in everyday phone conversations. Students can try and complete the dialogues and then listen to the audio to check/compare their answers.
It’s easy for students to talk about business skills as it relates to their personal preferences and abilities. Students can listen to the audio or watch the video and complete the worksheet. The video adds more images illustrating the vocabulary related to this topic. The speaking section can also be expanded to include all the skills shown in the pictures.
This is an exercise that explores common company office topics and language through the first meeting with a new boss. The worksheet includes vocabulary and speaking exercises. An excerpt from the worksheet is below. The full worksheet can be downloaded by subscribers at Substack (see below).
Conversational practice – present perfect and basic future tense for business
These conversational practice exercises contain sets of conversational questions, along with multiple potential responses and a follow-up question for each. The questions aim to help ESL (English as a Second Language) students improve their understanding and usage of specific aspects of grammar in English. In my experience, these kinds of exercise are really useful teaching one-on-one online, but they also work really well as pair work activities in the classroom.
This is a reading/listening comprehension exercise about a day in the life of an intern and contrasts it with university life. Students need to watch the video and then complete the sentences with the the vocabulary they hear. The pictures match the chronological order of the video.
This is a listening/speaking lesson about starting a business. This is a surefire topic for classroom discussion and dialogues. Use the worksheet below to brainstorm ideas about starting a business. Then get students to listen to the dialogues and try to complete the gap fill worksheet. Finally, students write a conversation using their own ideas.
This is a good topic for business English students. And millennials in general are really sharp on the nuances of strategies for starting a business. Good fun!
14 Asking for information : business English dialogues gap fill (with audio and answers)
Students need to be versatile and flexible when they speak English. This gap fill exercise provides a number of everyday conversations and situations . It challenges students to complete the short dialogues with the appropriate vocabulary. Or students can listen to the audio and complete the conversations.
15 Making requests exercise (with audio and answers)
This is a Business English ESL exercise to help students learn how to make polite requests in English. Students can try to complete the speech bubbles. Then they can listen to the audio and compare their answers. Or it can be used as a stand alone listening exercise.
16 Business problems and solutions (with audio and answers)
Problems and solutions exercises make for good speaking and discussion classes. Here, students match the problems to the pictures and give solutions in answer to the questions. as above, the solutions exercise could be expanded to include all the problems shown in the pictures.
Business problems and solutions vocabulary audioBusiness problems and solutions questions and answers
17 Telephone conversation speaking and listening about a delivery (with audio and answers)
This is a telephoning exercise for English language learners to practice using the language necessary for making business phone calls. Students listen to the audio and complete the conversation. There are 2 worksheets One is easy and one is more difficult.
This is a business English ESL exercise to help students practice common office conversations. First, brainstorm ideas for the conversations. Then students can listen to to the audio and complete the speech bubbles.
15 Elementary business socializing (listening with answers)
This is an elementary business English ESL listening exercise exploring the language and vocabulary used to make short conversations in various business and social situations. Student listen and complete the short conversations for each situation. Then they can compare answers.
The words create, produce, develop, design, invent, build, sell, provide and manufacture are often used interchangeably to describe company activities. This activity focuses on these and related words and the subtle differences between their usage.
This is an elementary ESL speaking exercise for talking about problems in the office. First, students try to match the vocabulary at the bottom of the page to the pictures. They can then use that vocabulary to answer questions about the pictures.
This is an ESL speaking and writing lesson for talking about common business activities and tasks.. First, students match the expressions to the pictures. Then, they can have short conversations discussing the business activities they like and dislike.
his is a business English ESL exercise exploring the language and vocabulary of team building. First, students match the vocabulary to the pictures. When it is clear they understand the words, they can write questions about team building. Finally, students can ask each other questions.
23 Business woman: what is she saying ? (with answers)
This is a business English ESL exercise introducing some common expressions and sentences. Students need to interpret the meanings of the woman’s gestures and match the vocabulary to the pictures.
2 Classroom language: rules & commands (with audio and answers)
The exercises below are for introducing, reviewing or reinforcing commonly used classroom language. Depending on the level and ability of the students, a teacher may ask students to listen and write down the rules and commands (imperatives) they hear. I have also used these exercises for teaching teachers who use two languages in the classroom and who generally use their native language for technical subjects such as science and medical technology but like to occasionally communicate in English. This helps familiarize the students with classroom communication in English.
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3 Classroom instructions – imperatives (with audio and answers)
Below is another exercise for expanding the range of ESL students’ or teachers’ vocabulary. These are a collection of common imperatives used in the classroom.
Students match the classroom classroom objects to the appropriate pictures. If they are good enough, they can try to make sentences using the words. Then they complete the gap fill exercise with the appropriate words.
This worksheet is a brainstorming exercise challenging students to explore and expand their knowledge of classroom language. The teacher encourages students to think of any words, expressions or collocations that might be used with the encircled words.
The exercise below is for helping students to understand and explore classroom language and expressions. Classroom language can often be confusing due to the various ways of using phrasal and two-part verbs. It is often surprising how far students advance without fully understanding classroom language. I have also used this exercise for teaching teachers who use two languages in the classroom and who generally use their native language for technical subjects such as science and medical technology but like to give instructions and directions in English.
7 Present ContinuousListening/Speaking Exercises and Worksheets
At a basic level the present continuous or progressive tense is fairly easy to teach. It lends itself to miming activities and exercises using pictures. At a more advanced level it becomes more difficult and students have to understand that some verbs may be used differently depending on the context (ie.stative vs progressive).
1 What are they doing ? for routines (present continuous with audio and answers)
A worksheet for practicing the present continuous tense for routines. One of the easiest ways to teach the present continuous is with the aid of pictures. Students have to describe the action in the pictures with phrases or sentences. They should feel free to use their imaginations and be creative. This now includes audio so it can also be used as a listening activity)
2 What are they doing ? for general situations (with audio and answers)
This is an elementary ESL listening/speaking exercise practicing the present continuous tense for general situations. Students make sentences about each picture in the present continuous. This can be done as a listening/speaking or writing activity. As a listening activity, the students have to match the items to the pictures.
This is a sentence writing exercise to help students understand collocations with “have” and also the stative and progressive uses of “have”. Students are often confused about whether to use the verb “have” in the present simple or present continuous/progressive tense. This exercise aims to clarify that a little bit.
This is an elementary writing and speaking exercise to help students understand the differences between the present simple and present continuous tenses.
5 What is he doing ? with answers (present continuous tense)
This is an elementary ESL speaking exercise practicing the present continuous tense. Students make sentences about each picture in the present continuous. This can be done as a speaking or writing activity.
7 What is happening ? with answers (present continuous tense)
This is a more advanced and challenging ESL exercise practicing the present continuous tense for actions and events happening now. Students need to have a broader knowledge of nouns and verbs to be able to complete this exercise. Students have to describe what is happening in the events and situations depicted in the pictures.
Transitions and linking words are essential for giving clarity and structure to paragraph and essay writing. Moreover, transitions help students to demonstrate their understanding of logic, knowledge, thoughtfulness and ability to organize their ideas.
1 Writing sentences with transitions 1 (with answers)
Understanding and knowing how to use transitions is essential for anyone who aims to be a good writer. In this transitions worksheet students use the pictures and their own ideas to write appropriate sentences using transitions. For me, this is the most enjoyable activity as the pictures give the students more freedom to use their own ideas.
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2 Transitions vocabulary sorting 1
A vocabulary sorting exercise is a great way to slowly introduce students to transitions. This is the smoothest and easiest way to start a class on transitions or essay linking words. It can start out as a class activity and then transition (!) into an individual activity. Students sort the essay transitions or linking words into appropriate categories.
A transitions sorting exercise for conclusions, time sequencing and comparisons to help students improve their understanding of language and writing techniques. Students sort the essay transitions or linking words into appropriate categories.
This is an exercise to help students understand how to write counter arguments in their argumentative essays. Audio and video versions of the exercise offer a choice of studying or teaching techniques.
Giving students sentences to rewrite helps to make transitions more accessible. This takes the students deeper into the uses and meanings of transitional vocabulary.
