Month: August 2018

4 First Impressions (woman)

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.

First impressions 1 (man) (PDF)

(YouTube video)

First impressions (woman)

5 First Impressions (man)

This is similar to the exercise above. This exercises focuses on a man.

(YouTube video)

First impressions

6 Elementary personality vocabulary and speaking

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!

Elementary personality vocabulary-picture matching and questions.

Elementary personality vocabulary(PDF)

Relationships exercises home

4 romance, love and friendship lessons (PDF)

5 Intercultural Body Language, Gestures and Etiquette Language Exercises

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”.

Advanced personality adjectives and vocabulary-picture matching exercise and questions for students.

More advanced personality vocabulary(PDF)

7 Parts of speech: 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 vocabulary sorting exercise.

Parts of speech for personality(PDF)

Comparative Adjective Exercises and Worksheets

10 Adjectives Lessons

10 Jobs and Careers Language Skills Exercises

6 Describing People and Appearance Vocabulary and Language exercises

10 Role Play Speaking Activities

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes

Personality interview speaking exercise (PDF)

8 Elementary personality interview speaking lesson

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.

9 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.

Personality adjective and vocabulary exercises (PDF)

10 Personality vocabulary positive/negative sorting

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.

Personality vocabulary sorting (PDF)

11 Personality vocabulary survey and speaking lesson

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.

Personality survey speaking exercise template

Personality survey (PDF)

12 Leadership potential interview/questionnaire (more advanced)

Students interview a classmate about their leadership potential and write their opinions at the bottom of the page.

Leadership potential interview speaking exercise

Leadership potential questionnaire (PDF)

August 29, 2018July 5, 2022

Basic Writing Templates, Exercises and Worksheets

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.

Elementary paragraph writing lesson (PDF)

2 Brainstorm worksheet cluster diagram

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.

Brainstorming cluster template and worksheet for any topic in the classroom.

Brainstorming worksheet cluster diagram (PDF)

3 Outlining a basic paragraph

This is a paragraph outline worksheet to help students learn how to write a basic paragraph.

Paragraph writing outline template and worksheet for academic writing students.

Paragraph outline worksheet (PDF)

4 Outlining an essay

This is an essay outline worksheet to help students focus on organization and planning when preparing to write essays.

Essay outline planning template or worksheet for writing students to help them organize their ideas before writing an essay.

Essay outline worksheet (PDF)

6 exercises for writing topic sentences

10 opinion and argument writing worksheets

8 comparison/contrast templates and exercises

10 cause/effect writing activities

3 kinds of exercises for teaching transitions

6 memorable narrative essay writing practice exercises (PDF)

6 delightful descriptive paragraph and essay writing exercises (PDF)

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.

Writing main ideas practice worksheet for elementary academic writing students.

Main idea writing practice worksheet (PDF)

6 Attention getters (with pictures) for essays

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.

Attention getters academic writing exercise using pictures for elementary writing students.

Writing attention getters (PDF)

7 Attention getters comprehension exercise

This worksheet is a good way to challenge students’ knowledge of different types of attention getters.

Challenging essay writing attention getter comprehension exercise for writing students.

Writing attention getters (PDF)

8 Kinds of attention getters writing exercise

This is another worksheet that tries to impress upon students the importance of good openings or attention getters.

Attention getter writing exercise for essay writing students to help them understand the benefits of the attention getter.

Writing attention getters (PDF)

9 Understanding support sentences

This support sentence writing worksheet can be used to test students’ understanding of both topic and support sentences.

Support sentence writing worksheet and exercise for academic writing beginners.

Writing support sentences (PDF)

August 25, 2018December 19, 2023

Adjectives lessons and exercises for all levels

Adjectives Listening/Speaking/Vocabulary Exercises

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

December 19th 2023

1 A crash-course introduction to adjectives

I have quite a lot of data on my website and I discovered a PDF that seemed pretty popular. It’s kind of a crash-course introduction to adjectives. Here is a new version.

Crash-course for adjectives PDF

Subscribe to get full access to more exercises with answers. In addition, you will receive the latest, and best resources from eslflow.com. There are no ads in the newsletter and you will receive entertaining, high quality, and up-to-date teaching resources regularly. And, if you subscribe, you will get access to advancements in artificial intelligence and prompt engineering, that will enable you to become a master of the English as a second language universe!

2 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.

Elementary adjectives for describing people (PDF)

Common adjectives for describing people

3 Adjectives for the city (with audio and answers)

This is an ESL listening/speaking/vocabulary exercise for adjectives for describing the city. This uses a similar format to the exercise above.

Adjectives for the city (PDF)

Adjectives for the city

4 Adjectives for life (with audio and answers)

This is another listening activity for adjectives worksheet to help students talk about everyday situations and behavior through adjectives.

Elementary adjectives listening worksheet for describing everyday activities.

Adjectives for life (PDF)

Adjectives for life

5 Adjective icebreaker

This is an excellent elementary icebreaker for a lesson about adjectives.

Icebreaker for teaching adjectives to ESL students.

Adjective icebreaker (PDF)

3 Comparative Adjective Exercises and Worksheets

4 Exercises for Aspects of Nouns

Making Adverbs Beautiful

Ed/ing Adjectives

6 Basic adjectives for things (with answers)

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.

Adjective for things vocabulary and picture matching exercise

Adjectives for things (PDF)

7 More common adjectives for people (with answers)

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.

Adjectives for describing people vocabulary and picture matching exercise

Adjectives for people (PDF)

Parts of Speech Exercises

7 Picture-Based Present Continuous Worksheets (PDF)

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

5 Future Tense Vocabulary and Speaking Exercises

5 Useful Passive Voice Practice worksheets

6 Present Perfect Language and Speaking Worksheets

11 Incredibly Useful Past Tense Simple Teaching Activities (PDF)

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

3 Great Exercises for the 2nd Conditional (PDF)

8 Personality Adjective Survey

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.

Elementary personality adjective speaking activity

Personality Adjective Survey (PDF)

9 Adjective Gallery teaching idea

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.

Click here for the Adjective Gallery PDF file

10 Everyday adjectives

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.

Adjectives-describing-everyday-situations-worksheet

Everyday adjectives (PDF)

11 Adjectives for a businessman (with answers)

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.

Adjectives for a businessman (PDF)

August 23, 2018February 4, 2022

First Day of Class Activities

7 First Day Activities for an ESL Class

1 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.

Introductions conversation gap fill exercise

Introductions conversation (PDF)

Getting to know you (PDF)

Introductions conversation

2 “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.

Getting to know you conversations and language exercise

Getting to know you

3 Greetings & introductions vocabulary exercise

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.

Brainstorm home life and hobbies (PDF)

Greetings and introductions

4 Greetings and introductions conversation 2

This is another elementary gap fill conversation exercise.

(Download PDF)

Greetings and introductions 2

5 Home life and hobbies brainstorm

This is a nice and easy way to start a class and a good way to assess the abilities of new students. Also, the brainstorm generates vocabulary and questions which can become the basis of a “getting to know you” speaking activity.

Brainstorm home life and hobbies vocabulary and questions

6 Family/relationship survey speaking activity

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.

Family relationship survey (PDF)

Create-a-Conversation Exercises

Eslflow’s listening activities

8 Classroom Language and Vocabulary Exercises

4 Picture-Based Present Continuous Tense Worksheets

9 Super Elementary Speaking Exercises

5 Elementary Conversational Expressions Exercises

10 Really! Elementary ESL classroom icebreakers

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

7 Getting to know you survey speaking activity

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.

getting to know you speaking activity for elementary students

Getting to know you (PDF)

August 22, 2018July 1, 2024

Elementary to Pre-Intermediate Reading Comprehension Exercises

ESL Reading Exercises and Worksheets

Welcome to “Elementary to Pre-Intermediate Reading Comprehension Exercises”, now a multi-media collection of PDFs, videos, listening activities, and reading comprehension exercises designed to engage, inform, and challenge students with topical issues that shape our ever-evolving society. This unique multimedia journey will offer students a window into the fascinating worlds of cultural phenomena, technological advancements, urban development, careers, fashion, and emerging trends.

1 First Day at University (with answers)

I have found that another easy-to-teach topic is a student’s first day at university. This is a an experience that university students can identify with and works smoothly in the classroom.

First Day(PDF)

First Day at University

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2 The Weekend Market (with answers)

This is an English language reading comprehension worksheet about a visit to a weekend market. It is an experience that almost every student in the world can relate to and so it’s extremely suitable for an English language class. Click on the link or the image to download the PDF file.

Weekend Market (PDF)

The Weekend Market

3 The Intern

This is a reading/listening comprehension exercise about a day in the life of an intern and contrasts it with university life.

(download reading PDF)

(download listening/speaking PDF)

4 Lipstick

A short history of lipstick. This is a reading/listening exercise which is useful practice for teaching the past tense. It’s also pretty interesting as a history of popular culture.

Lipstick (PDF)

Lipstick

5 Online shopping assistant (with answers)

An online shopping assistant takes online orders and walks around a supermarket or department store and collects items to packed and delivered. This exercise is about the daily activities of a supermarket employee in this line of work on the age of the coronavirus.

Online shopping assistant reading comprehension (PDF)

6 Shein: the best, and worst, of fast fashion

The fast fashion industry has become quite topical recently. I think it’s really interesting on many levels. I hope the vocabulary in this exercise is not too difficult but it’s unavoidable with a topic like this.

7 The Experiment

This is a reading exercise about a scientist or researcher conducting an experiment in a lab. It’s great for any kind of medical/science students learning English, but I think it’s good for English language learners generally.

The Experiment

8 The History of the T-shirt

The t-shirt is one of those topics that just about everyone can relate to.

The History of the T-shirt

9 Learning a New Language

Learning a new language has a lot of benefits for the learner.

10 A day in the life of an online shopper

A fairly elementary reading comprehension exercise about an online shopper.

A day in the life of an online shopper

11 The Influencer

This is reading comprehension exercise about a day in the life of an online influencer.

The Influencer (PDF)

Instagram influencer

12 The Digital Classroom

The digital classroom is the classroom of the future. This reading explores some of its impacts.

High School vs University (PDF)

13 High School vs University (with answers)

This reading exercise focuses on the differences between high school students and university students.

High School vs University

14 Air Tags

This is a reading comprehension about Apple’s latest innovation, Air Tags.

Air Tags (PDF)

Air Tags

4 Reading Comprehension Exercises for Daily Routines

10 Adjectives Exercises Including Adjectives for People and Things

3 Parts of Speech Exercises

7 Picture-Based Present Continuous Worksheets (PDF)

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

5 Future Tense Vocabulary and Speaking Exercises

5 Useful Passive Voice Practice worksheets

6 Present Perfect Language and Speaking Worksheets

11 Incredibly Useful Past Tense Simple Teaching Activities (PDF)

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

3 Great Exercises for the 2nd Conditional (PDF)

15 Inventing a mRNA vaccine to save the world

Katalin Kariko and the story of mRNA

This is a reading comprehension exercise about the people who invented a vaccine for the coronavirus.

Inventing an mRNA vaccine (PDF)

Inventing a vaccine

16 Christiane Amanpour (with answers)

This reading worksheet is about the journalist Christiane Amanpour.

Christiane Amanpour (PDF)

Christiane Amanpour

17 Autonomous vehicles reading comprehension (with answers)

The arrival of autonomous vehicles is a topical issue of our times. It’s a great way to to engage in a discussion about the impacts of new technologies.

Autonomous vehicles reading comprehension (PDF)

Autonomous vehicles

18 The Huggy Wuggy Chronicles (pre-intermediate and up)

The exercises in the PDF below are based on the fascinating story of Huggy Wuggy, the bizarre and adorable monster that has taken the world by storm. This set of exercises explores the world of Huggy Wuggy, focusing on vocabulary, critical thinking, comprehension, and listening. Get ready to dive into a journey of terror, laughter, and cultural phenomena!

19 San Francisco – a tale of a city

his is a reading/listening comprehension exercise about a bellwether city, San Francisco. It’s a more advanced reading exercise focusing on social issues related to the development of cities and technology in the 21st century.

10 opinion and argument writing worksheets

See video on YouTube

8 comparison/contrast templates and exercises

10 cause/effect writing activities

3 kinds of exercises for teaching transitions

6 memorable narrative essay writing practice exercises (PDF)

6 delightful descriptive paragraph and essay writing exercises (PDF)

11 essential exercises for elementary writing students (PDF)

20 What effect has technology had on our lives? (with answers)

This is an English language reading comprehension worksheet about the effects of technology. It is an excellent complement to any lesson focusing on technology and society. It also works well in a class when the teacher is trying to determine students’ knowledge of computing and internet vocabulary. I used it in a class with Thai ICT students and I could quickly asses the different English language abilities of the students.

What effect has technology had on our lives? (PDF)

August 19, 2018July 25, 2024

Computing, Technology and Innovation Vocabulary and Language Exercises

Speaking Tech: Equipping ESL Students with Language Skills for the Digital Age

25th July 2024

This page consists of vocabulary, listening, reading and speaking exercises that encourage students to discuss the latest advances in technology. The following lessons have recently been added to eslflow’s Substack site:

Social Media Algorithms

Artificial Intelligence

1 Cybersecurity language exercises

This is an important issue for everyone these days. It’s also interesting and engaging and has everyone has their own experiences and opinions about aspects of cybersecurity. Find all the exercises on cybersecurity here. The exercises include brainstorming, visual vocabulary, listening and critical thinking.

See the video on YouTube

Extract from Cybersecurity

2 Semiconductors

If you want to understand how the world of technology works, you need to understand semiconductors.

Extract from PDF lesson

3 Every day artificial intelligence applications

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

(see the video of this exercise on YouTube)

Artificial intelligence

4 Expressing opinions about virtual reality

Students complete each opinion with the vocabulary at the bottom of the page and decide whether they agree or disagree with each opinion. Also, see the Virtual Reality post for more exercises.

Gerunds and infinitives listening/speaking exercise (PDF)

5 Gerunds and infinitives for gadgets and devices ( with audio and answers)

This is a fairly elementary gerunds and infinitives listening/speaking activity. It’s also a pretty good fluency exercise or review as gerunds and infinitives are so commonly used in everyday speech.

6 What’s it used for? (with audio and answers)

This is a listening/speaking exercise introducing language and expressions for describing contemporary technological devices used in everyday life . Students match the vocabulary to the pictures. Then they can listen to the audio and match a use or several uses to each item. Finally, they can complete the questions at the bottom with their own ideas and ask and answer the questions with a partner.

(What’s it used for YouTube video)

What’s it used for?

7 Computing expressions and language exercise (with audio and answers)

Computing expressions listening/speaking and vocabulary exercise. Students listen to the audio and match the vocabulary to the pictures.

Computing expressions and language exercise with answers (PDF)

Computing expressions

8 Verbs for computing (with audio and answers)

This is a listening/speaking exercise for verbs and computers (or technology) . Students listen to the audio and match the verbs (or sentences) to the appropriate pictures.

Verbs for Computing (PDF)

Verbs for computing

9 Computer and technology vocabulary exercise (with answers)

Click on the image or the link to download the printable PDF file.

Computer and technology vocabulary exercise with answers (PDF)

10 Dall-e: the revolution will be visual!

This is a reading listening comprehension exercise about the new artificial intelligence text to image application Dall-e.

Brainstorming the benefits of automated devices (PDF)

10 Brainstorming the benefits of automation and robotics (with answers)

This is an English language discussion and brainstorming exercise for the benefits of robotics and automation. Students use the pictures to give them ideas .

(See the YouTube video)

Benefits of automation and robotics

Virtual reality language exercises

Listening and speaking exercises for ESL classes

8 Business English vocabulary exercises

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

5 Describing Graphs Language Exercises

8 Business English Speaking Skill Worksheets

11 Classroom Debate and Discussion Language Activities

11 More useful vocabulary for computing and technology (with answers)

This is an exercise for verbs and computers. Students match the verbs to the appropriate pictures and then write short sentences for the actions taking place in each picture.

More useful computing vocabulary and expressions (PDF)

Computers and the Internet (various language exercises)

Online Reading Comprehension Test about Google

12 Computers and the internet vocabulary and writing exercise (with possible answers)

This is an ESL writing exercise for for some common words used for discussing the internet. Students try to make sentences about the pictures using the words under the pictures.

Computer and the internet vocabulary and writing exercise (PDF)

13 Technology use survey

This is an ESL speaking and writing lesson for talking about technology. First, students write five survey questions about technology . There are some examples of questions on 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.

Classroom technology use survey (PDF)

14 Rise of the robots and automation brainstorming and discussion worksheet (with answers)

This is an exercise to explore the vocabulary and language used to talk about new technology focusing on automation and robotics and encouraging discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of robots and automation.

Rise of the robots brainstorming and discussion worksheet (PDF)

15 Brainstorming benefits of mobile devices (with answers)

This is an English language speaking worksheet to help English language students brainstorm the benefits of smart phones, Ipads , tablets and other mobile devices .Students write down as many benefits as they can using the pictures and their own ideas.

Brainstorming the benefits of mobile devices worksheet (PDF)

16 Brainstorming disadvantages of mobile devices (with answers)

Another worksheet to help English language students brainstorm the disadvantages of mobile devices such as smart phones, Ipads and tablets. Students write down as many disadvantages as they can using the pictures and their own ideas.

Brainstorming the disadvantages of mobile devices worksheet (PDF)

17 Brainstorming the disadvantages of automation and robotics (with answers)

This is an English language exercise for brainstorming the disadvantages of robotics and automation. Students use the pictures to give them ideas .

Brainstorming the disadvantages of automated devices (PDF)

18 Talking about machines, products and services with adjectives (with answers)

This is a business English ESL exercise exploring language used to describe technology and products. Students try to match the vocabulary with the appropriate pictures. Then they write sentences describing the products. The adjectives used to describe products are:

Describing technology with adjectives (PDF)

19 Writing opinions about automated and robotic technologies (with answers)

This is another worksheet that can be used to help students improve their writing skills and express their opinions about new technologies including driverless vehicles, smartphone payments and smart watches.

Writing opinions about automated and robotic technologies (PDF)

An English language speaking worksheet for generating discussion about the internet and social trends. Students write the benefits/disadvantages of each issue on the worksheet.

Personal opinions about the internet (PDF)

21 Personal opinions: technology & modern lifestyle

This is another worksheet that can be used to get students talking about technology in contemporary society. Students need to think of a positive and negative for each issue.

Personal opinions about the internet and modern life (PDF)

August 17, 2018June 20, 2024

Food and Restaurant Language and Vocabulary Exercises

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?

Subscribe to get full access to the latest and best resources. There are no ads in the newsletter and you will receive entertaining, high quality, and up-to-date teaching resources regularly. And, if you subscribe, you will get access to the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and prompt engineering, that will enable you to become a master of the English as a second language universe!

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.

See the video on YouTube

2 Taste and nutrition lesson

This is a lesson that explores the language of taste and nutrition with a variety of exercises including vocabulary and critical thinking exercises.

3 Celebrity chef interview

This is role play and listening/speaking exercise.

4 Bad restaurant role play

Bad restaurant is a listening speaking and role play exercise for talking about restaurant food and service.

(See the YouTube video)

Bad restaurant role play

5 Talking about food conversation

A listening/speaking and writing-a-conversation exercise for upper elementary students.

7 kitchen and cooking vocabulary listening/speaking exercises

Talking about food conversation

6 Introduction to ingredients

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.

(Teacher’s sheets)

(Student’s worksheet)

(YouTube video)

Food, Restaurants and Cooking Home

8 Hotel Vocabulary and Speaking Skills Exercises

5 Airport and Airline Vocabulary and Language Skills Exercises with Answers

5 Intercultural Communication Language Exercises and Worksheets

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

7 Talking about food and eating vocabulary dictation

This is a similar format to the exercise above but it’s for talking about food and eating.

Talking about food (PDF- teacher)

Talking about food (PDF- student)

Asking for information: restaurant dialogues (PDF)

Talking about food vocabulary dictation

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.

(Youtube video of this exercise)

Restaurant dialogues

9 Elementary food conversation listening/speaking worksheet

Students can listen to the audio dialogue and complete the conversation. They can practice the conversation or create their own conversation.

Food conversation dialogue (PDF)

Ordering in a restaurant dialogue (PDF)

Elementary food conversation

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.

Ordering in a restaurant

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.

Common expressions for talking about food (PDF)

Common expressions for talking about food

12 Talking about food and eating vocabulary dictation 2

Another vocabulary and common expressions listening exercise.

Talking about food dictation 2 (PDF)

2 Talking about food vocabulary dictation 2

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.

Restaurant troubles vocabulary and speaking exercise (PDF)

Restaurant troubles

14 Types of food sorting

This is a sorting exercise for types of food.

August 15, 2018July 16, 2024

Business English Speaking Skills Exercises

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.

July 15th 2024

1 The Gig Economy

Brainstorming The Gig Economy introduction exercise.

2 The Gig Economy visual vocabulary and classroom discussion listening

Vocabulary and listening exercises that engage students in a discussion about The Gig Economy.

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3 Hybrid Work visual vocabulary and classroom discussion listening

These exercises explore ideas and language used to discuss Hybrid Work.

4 Hybrid work pronunciation exercises

Fun exercises for focusing on pronunciation of words related to hybrid work.

The Creator Economy critical thinking (PDF)

5 The Creator Economy

This is another topic that is highly engaging and relevant for young adult learners.

The Creator Economy classroom discussion listening (PDF)

The Creator Economy Q and A (PDF)

6 Quantifiers for colleagues

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.).

6 Calling to Complain (gap fill and answers)

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.

(Calling to complain YouTube video)

Calling to complain

7 Business skills

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.

Business Skills (PDF)

(See the YouTube video)

Business skills

8 New boss meeting

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).

Download lesson extract PDF

9 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.

Future tense conversational practice

Present perfect conversational practice

If you like these activities, be sure to check out the Substack post:

“Cost of living” and “New boss meeting”

10 The Intern

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.

(download listening/speaking PDF)

(lesson extract download PDF)

11 Financial crisis vocabulary

These days, you hear and see words such as “inflation” and “bear market” everywhere. So this is a lesson about financial crisis vocabulary.

Starting a business (PDF)

Financial crisis vocabulary

12 Create a conversation: starting a business

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.

Open a laundromat

Starting a restaurant business

13 Ideas for starting a business brainstorming

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!

Ideas for starting a business (PDF)

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.

Asking for information business English gap fill (PDF)

(see as Youtube mp4 video)

Asking for information audio mp3

9 import/export, logistics and supply chain exercises

4 online shopping and delivery services listening/speaking and vocabulary exercises

8 Business English vocabulary exercises

5 cool advertising & branding vocabulary & language exercises

8 describing graphs language exercises

5 intercultural body language, gestures and etiquette language exercises

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.

Business English making requests (PDF)

(see as Youtube video)

Making requests audio

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 (PDF)

Telephone delivery conversation (PDF)

Business problems and solutions vocabulary audio

Business 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.

Telephone delivery

18 Office conversations (with audio and answers)

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.

Office conversations (PDF)

Office conversations

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.

Business socializing (PDF)

Elementary business socializing

16 Business socializing and phoning (with answers and audio)

This is similar to the above but more general. It helps students become familiar with common office conversational exchanges.

Business socializing and telephoning (PDF)

Business socializing and phoning

17 Company activities: What do they do?

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.

What do companies do?(PDF)

18 Problems and solutions: write a conversation

This is a more personalized and fun exercise in which students write a conversation talking about 2 problems in their lives.

Problems and solution conversation writing (PDF)

4 Working from Home exercises incl. parts of speech and vocabulary

ESL Listening Activities Guide

8 Business English Vocabulary Exercises

10 Super Essential Academic Vocabulary Lessons

5 Kinds of Collocation and Phrasal Verb Exercises

10 Jobs and Careers Vocabulary and Speaking exercises

4 Money and Finance Worksheets

10 Computing and Internet Vocabulary and Speaking Activities

19 Talking about office problems

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.

Talking about office problems (PDF)

4 Tantalizing Telephone Dialogue Exercises for Business English

5 Cracking Complaints and Annoyances Language and Speaking Exercises

20 Discussing business activities speaking lesson

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.

Discussing business activities (PDF)

21 Team building

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.

Elements of common work conversations (PDF)

22 Elements of common work conversations (with answers)

This is an ESL exercise for teaching common English expressions in an office setting. Students match the words to the pictures and the sentences.

10 Role Play Speaking Activities

11 Classroom Debate and Discussion Language Activities

5 First Day of Class Activities

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

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.

Business woman: what is she saying (PDF)

August 12, 2018January 29, 2022

Classroom Language and Vocabulary Worksheets

Classroom Language and Vocabulary Exercises and Worksheets

1 Brainstorming classroom expressions (with answers)

This is a good icebreaker for talking about classroom language.

Classroom expressions brainstorm worksheet.

Classroom language: rules and commands (PDF)

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.

Classroom-rules-language and vocabulary exercise worksheet

Classroom language: rules & commands

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.

Classroom language and instructions with answers (PDF)

Classroom instructions

4 Classroom requests & queries (with audio and answers)

The elementary exercise focuses on classroom requests.

Classroom requests worksheet w. answers (PDF)

Classroom requests & queries

5 Classroom objects (with answers)

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.

Classroom objects vocabulary exercises (PDF)

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5 Elementary Conversational Expressions Exercises

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10 Really! Elementary ESL classroom icebreakers

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