Super essential academic vocabulary lessons

Essential Academic Vocabulary Lessons IELTS, TOEFL and TOEIC

Academic vocabulary can be pretty tough to teach. A variety of exercises including picture matching, sentence writing and gap fill exercises can make for a rewarding lesson.  Recycling, reinforcing and reviewing using multiple intelligences is the best way to teach vocabulary. Academic vocabulary is essential for students attempting to pass the IELTS, TOEFL and TOEIC tests.

1 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises  1 (with answers)

This is an exercise for introducing or reviewing the following academic vocabulary that might be used to talk about education and learning:  aptitude, boundaries,  capable, ethical, challenges, advance, enforce, criticism, assess, hesitate, acknowledge, issue, discouraged.

Essential academic vocabulary exercises with picture/matching, gap fill exercises and answers. and answers

Essential academic vocabulary 1 (PDF)

 

2 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises  2 (with answers)

This is an exercise for introducing or reviewing the following academic vocabulary to discuss the qualities of  and relationships between colleagues and employees :  favoritism, exemplified, unenthusiastic, attend, outline, workplace, potential, perceived, executives, function, realized, responsibility, admiring, resolved, perspective, appointed, conflict.

Academic vocabulary exercises.

Essential academic vocabulary 2 (PDF)

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10 opinion and argument writing worksheets

8 comparison/contrast templates and exercises

10 cause/effect writing activities

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3 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises  3 (with answers)

This exercise includes  vocabulary exercises for business   communication including office client and customer relationships: inflexible, strategy, developing, schedule, chaos, organized, allow, cautiously, approach, associate, embrace, impressed, morale, client, biased.

Essential academic vocabulary exercises for client and customer relationships.

Essential academic vocabulary 3 (PDF)

 

4 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises 4  (with answers)

This worksheet includes  vocabulary for talking about people and social behavior:  stimulate, anecdote, stifle, norms, forgotten, trends, stumble, stifle, innovation, incentive, recognize, colleagues, facial, enthusiasm.

Academic and business vocabulary exercises for talking about people and social behavior.

Essential academic vocabulary 4 (PDF)

 

5 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises 5  (with answers)

Essential vocabulary 5  includes  vocabulary for  describing life experiences and developments:  transition, assumption, contradiction, pinpointed, milestone, flip side, savvy, appeal, burden, compromised, breakthrough, reverse, interference, carefree, resented.

Academic and business vocabulary exercises for describing life experiences and developments

Essential academic vocabulary 5 (PDF)

8 Business English vocabulary exercises

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

 5 Describing Graphs  Language Exercises

5 Intercultural Body Language, Gestures and Etiquette Language Exercises

 

6 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises 6  (with answers)

Academic vocabulary exercises for a miscellaneous collection of words related to various aspects of corporate or academic life:  exchange, encounter, acquaintance, deviate, norm, expand, inspired, purchase, fabric, identify, structure, perspire, prodigy, recall, scraps.

Academic vocabulary exercises for a miscellaneous collection of words related to various aspects of corporate or academic life.

Essential academic vocabulary 6 (PDF)

 

7 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises 7  (with answers)

Handout 7 includes more advanced vocabulary often used in discussions, debates and controversies: genetic, obstacle, identical, adverse, alterations, controversy, superfluous, substantial, avoided, reaction, hurdle, ethics, commodity, optimal, disturbed, examined, modification.

Academic vocabulary exercises including vocabulary used in discussions, debates and controversies.

Essential academic vocabulary 7 (PDF)

 

8 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises 8  (with answers)

Handout 8 includes Business English related vocabulary that might be used for talking about colleagues and careers: attitude, radical, stand out, commute, career, rigorous, devote, hang around, peers, loyalty, weird, cut back, stable, dared.

Business English vocabulary exercises for talking about colleagues and careers.

Essential academic vocabulary 8 (PDF)

 

9 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises   9(with answers)

Handout 9 is a more random set of words encompassing  probability and social issues : reunion, synthetic, probability, mandatory, interactive, deprived, inconceivable, inadvertently, “face to face”, exploit, alert, adopt, adhesive.

Academic vocabulary exercises for the words:attitude, radical, stand out, commute, career, rigorous, devote, hang around, peers, loyalty, weird, cut back, stable, dared

Essential academic vocabulary 9 (PDF)

 

10 Essential  academic vocabulary exercises  10(with answers)

Handout 10 is another fairly random set  encompassing  words that  might used to talk about business, relationships and power :  regret, obsession, invest, intensity, integral, ingredient, beneficiary, fundamentals, era, dominate , collapsing, brutal, funding, apex, ambition.

Academic vocabulary exercises for the words: regret, obsession, invest, intensity, integral, ingredient, beneficiary, fundamentals, era, dominate , collapsing, brutal, funding, apex, ambition

Essential academic vocabulary 10 (PDF)

Dynamic Classroom Brainstorming Techniques

8 Dynamic Classroom Brainstorming Techniques

Brainstorming is a fantastic classroom activity. It works really well as an icebreaker. It is a great way to get students engaged. It can also heIp get the teacher get deeper into a topic with the participation of the class.  And  it is a wonderful way to assess and make use of the collective knowledge of the class.

1 Blank cluster diagram

The blank cluster  brainstorming and  organizing worksheet is ready for use on any topic. It’s great for extremely free range brainstorming.  Students can freely associate ideas to a topic. However, I prefer brainstorming templates that are  custom designed for specific topics (as can be seen below). I find these much more interesting.

Brainstorming-Worksheet-Cluster-Diagram

Cluster Diagram (PDF)

2 Icebreaking brainstorms

Snappy and short icebreaking brainstorms are really useful for starting a class with new or elementary students.  It’s a great way to to immediately engage with students and assess their  abilities. Moreover, it’s a good  way of getting students to contribute without putting them under much pressure.

Brainstorm home life and hobbies vocabulary and questions

Brainstorming home life and families (PDF)

Brainstorming vocabulary and questions for a job skills interview roleplay.

Brainstorming for a job interview roleplay(PDF)

Related Resources:

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10 Essential Opinion and Argument Writing Templates and Worksheets

6 ESL Exercises and Worksheets for Talking about Cities

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3 Brainstorming with cues

Sometimes when you are introducing a specific topic to a class, it’s really useful to use  cues to get things going.  The cues can be verbal or visual or a combination of both.  It really helps guide the brainstorm  along a particular path. These brainstorms can become quite extended and bring out a lot of ideas and language.

Brainstorming social trends worksheet

Brainstorming social trends (PDF)

Brainstorming parts of speech template with verbal and visual cues.

Brainstorming parts of speech (PDF)

4  Guided brainstorm

The guided brainstorm is similar to brainstorming with cues but it’s useful when you want to aim for something specific like an essay title. And if you are teaching  argumentative essay writing  to students learning the English language, it’s useful to create a guided brainstorm template. This might meangetting students to complete sentences with certain ways and  generating  an essay  question or title  for  a  specific topic.

Brainstorming controversial issues worksheet

Brainstorming controversial issues (PDF)

5 Language brainstorming

Brainstorming can also focus on language. It can be used to be explore collocations and ideas associated with a set of words.

Brainstorming collocations with imperatives.

Brainstorming collocations for imperatives (PDF)

6 Brainstorming pros and cons (debates and discussions)

Of course, one of the best brainstorms in the classroom is the  brainstorming of pros and cons of an issue. The range of ideas of a class working together can be quite surprising.

Brainstorming worksheet for "Is it better to work for yourself or someone else?"

Is it better to work for yourself or someone else ?(PDF)

7 Brainstorming with pictures

With huge image libraries these days, it’s quite easy to put together a collection of images focused on very specific topics. This really helps to get students thinking and it’s also surprising as students interpret pictures in different ways.

Brainstorming disadvantages of mobile devices worksheet

Disadvantages of mobile devices (PDF)

Brainstorming advantages and disadvantages of working for big company.

Brainstorming advantages and disadvantages of working for a big company (PDF)

8 Brainstorming with  logic

Some of the most popular brainstorm templates are for academic writing formats, including classification and cause/effect. These help students organize their ideas logically.

Classification-paragraph-or-essay-brainstorming-organizer

Classification organizer (PDF)

9 Cause/effect organizer

Cause effect fishbone graphic organizer and brainstorm worksheet for discussions and essay writing.

Cause/effect organizer (PDF)

Transportation and getting around language exercises

Transportation and Getting Around Exercises and Worksheets

This page focuses on transportation-related communication skills for English as a second language (ESL) learners. Here, we explore important topics such as understanding diverse types of transportation, giving and receiving directions, and navigating the practical language associated with getting around in English-speaking environments.

The resources, tailored to maximize student engagement and learning, include:

  1. Downloadable PDF Exercises: Printable exercises offering targeted practice on various collocations, phrasal verbs, and expressions, offering a deep-dive into the language used in the context of transportation and directions.
  2. Listening and Video Exercises: Interactive multimedia resources featuring real-world scenarios, designed to promote active listening skills and better comprehension of transportation-related conversations.
  3. Speaking Exercises Using Maps and Pictures: Interactive tasks using visuals of maps and people utilizing transportation, encouraging students to articulate directions and narrate situations in English.

Learning about transportation and the art of giving directions is pivotal for ESL students for several reasons:

  1. Independence: It fosters independence, as students will be able to navigate English-speaking cities or countries on their own.
  2. Practical Communication: These are practical communication skills that students will often use in real life. Being proficient in these can make travels and daily commuting in English-speaking locations more convenient.
  3. Cultural Understanding: It provides insight into cultural nuances, enhancing the student’s overall understanding of English-speaking societies.
  4. Vocabulary Expansion: It aids in expanding students’ vocabulary and understanding of idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs, crucial elements of fluent and natural English communication.

We hope these resources aid your ESL students in gaining confidence and proficiency in using English for transportation, direction-giving, and general navigation. Happy teaching!

1 Giving directions – walking

This is an elementary listening/speaking exercise for giving directions to someone who is walking to a destination. This exercise will help students navigate new environments and communicate effectively with native speakers.

(download PDF)

See the video on YouTube

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7 Giving directions  (elementary with answers)

This exercise uses illustrations, each one corresponding to a phrase. The students’ task is to match these images to the related phrases, thereby reinforcing their understanding of vocabulary in an engaging and visual way. This worksheet encourages students to become familiar with key phrases used in everyday scenarios, making them comfortable and confident when communicating directions in English.

The phrases covered in this worksheet are:

  • Go this way
  • Cross the road
  • Take the lift (elevator)
  • Take the bus
  • Take an umbrella
  • Open the door
  • Enter the building
  • Turn right
  • Stop at the red light
  • Wait at the lights
  • Go upstairs
  • Go downstairs
  • Turn left
  • Go straight ahead (go along this road)

Designed to be both educational and enjoyable, this worksheet is an excellent tool for teachers to immerse their students in the practical applications of English, empowering them to navigate their way through an English-speaking environment with ease.

Giving directions (PDF)

2 Kinds of transportation (with answers)

The central activity here requires students to match pictures with the corresponding vocabulary terms, enhancing their recognition and understanding of thirteen different types of transportation. These include automobiles, cable cars, caravans, cruise ships, ferries, helicopters, light rails, limousines, camper vans, ultralights, speedboats, off-road vehicles, and hovercrafts.

Furthermore, the worksheet includes a conversational question-and-answer section at the end to facilitate practical language usage. Students are prompted to discuss their favorite transportation methods, experiences with specific types of transportation, and thoughts on topics like the future of automobiles and the experience of traveling in a caravan. These questions serve to further immerse students in the topic, enabling them to apply their newfound vocabulary in meaningful conversation.

This educational tool is well-suited for students at an intermediate language proficiency level, aiming to expand their English vocabulary related to transportation. It can be used as an individual activity or as part of a cooperative learning session, supporting learners in their journey to English fluency.

Kinds of transportation (PDF)

3 Elements of traveling (with answers)

This more elementary worksheet can be used to help students learn language for traveling around. 

Elements of traveling (PDF)

Elements of traveling

 4 Phrasal verbs for  transport & getting around (with audio and answers)

This English language speaking worksheet can be used to help students learn basic  language for transportation and traveling around.

Transport & getting around phrasal verbs (PDF)

Transport & getting around

 5 Using transportation (with answers)

Using transportation vocabulary & speaking exercise for English language learners and others who need to get around the city and communicate in English.

Using transportation (PDF)

Using transportation

6 Getting around (with answers)

This is another elementary worksheet to help students learn language for giving directions and getting around a city. 

Getting around (PDF)

Getting around

7 Exercises for Talking about Cities

6 Complaints and Everyday Annoyances Exercises

11 Elementary Exercises for Houses and Housing

Prepositions of Location Exercises

6 ESL Exercises and Worksheets for Talking about Cities

8 Business English vocabulary exercises

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

 5 Describing Graphs  Language Exercises

8 Giving directions to a city location (with answers)

This is a writing exercise for students to demonstrate that they have the language skills to describe how to get to a location in the city.

Giving directions to a city location (PDF)

9 How many questions ….(with answers)

This is an English language exercise helping students to practice frequently asked travel and transport questions. Students try to write suitable questions for  the various parts of a train and a plane ticket.

How many questions… (PDF)

9 Giving directions (expanded)

More “giving directions” vocabulary & expressions exercises including dictation and sentence re-ordering.

Giving directions exercises (PDF)

Other Resources

Body language and gestures quizzes and exercises

Comparative adjective worksheets

English language exercises for the medical sciences

Fears and phobias

Travel and tourism language and vocabulary lessons

Terrific Travel and Tourism Language and Vocabulary Lessons

1 Talking about travel and culture speaking lesson

This is an ESL speaking and writing lesson for practicing basic language for talking about travel and culture. First, students complete the sentences with the vocabulary at the bottom of the page. Then they give their own opinions about what they like and dislike about traveling. 

Travel and culture vocabulary (PDF)

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2 Tourism & travel ranking/rating vocabulary and discussion lesson (with answers) 

This is an ESL speaking for discussing travel. Students match the vocabulary to the pictures. Then they rank their preferences for the various types of travel experience. Finally, they discuss their preferences.

Travel activity picture -vocabulary matching and ranking exercise for ESL and English language students.

Rating different kinds of travel (PDF)

3 Brainstorming the pros/cons of
traveling alone or traveling in groups

This is an exercise for discussing the advantages/disadvantages of traveling alone or traveling in groups . Students look at the pictures and then try to write down their ideas. Then, on the third page of the PDF, they can organize their ideas for a discussion or an essay.

Travel alone or in groups (PDF)

5 Complaints and Annoyances Speaking and Language Exercises

Food, Restaurants and Cooking Home

10 Food, Eating and Restaurant Vocabulary and Speaking Exercises

8  Hotel Vocabulary and Speaking Skills Exercises

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Tourism home

4 Speaking skills worksheet: travel situations (with answers)

This is an English language exercise exploring language commonly used in various traveling situations.  Students try to imagine what is being said in each situation and fill in the speech bubbles. Then listen to the audio.

Travel situations speaking skills (PDF)

5 Tourism & travel survey and speaking lesson

This is an ESL speaking and writing lesson for giving opinions about tourism and travel. First, students write five survey questions about advertising. 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.

Tourism/travel classroom survey (PDF)

Public health and safety literacy exercises

Public Health and Safety Vocabulary Exercises

Public health and safety vocabulary and literacy exercises focusing on language used to talk about common public health situations and vocabulary for protective and safety equipment used to maintain health standards.

1 Elements of Public Health vocabulary worksheets (with answers)

This is an  English  language  exercise  introducing  vocabulary commonly used in public health. Students try to match the vocabulary with the appropriate pictures.

Public health and safety vocabulary and literacy exercises.

Elements of Public Health  (PDF)

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2 Safety in the lab (health and safety equipment) vocabulary worksheet (with answers)

 This is an  English  language  exercise  introducing  vocabulary commonly used  to talk about health and safety equipment. 

Health and safety equipment vocabulary language exercises.

Safety in the lab  (PDF)

Coronavirus vocabulary and questions

Health and Body Lessons Home

Body parts vocabulary exercises

Public Health and Safety Lessons

7  health problems, symptoms and illnesses vocabulary exercises

10 helpful health and medical sciences vocabulary and language exercises

 

3 Poisons and toxins vocabulary worksheet (with answers)

This is an  English  language  exercise  to practice  vocabulary commonly used  to talk about poisons and toxins. Students try to match the vocabulary with the appropriate pictures.

Poisons and related vocabulary gap fill exercise.

Poisons vocabulary  (PDF)

Complaints and annoyances language and speaking exercises

6 Cracking Complaints and Annoyances Language and Speaking Activities

 1 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.

Office telephoning vocabulary gap fill exercise for Business English students

(download PDF)

(Calling to complain YouTube video)

Calling to complain

2 Complaints brainstorm

This is a useful icebreaker for talking about complaints with questions and answers.

(download PDF)

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3 More everyday annoyances

This  speaking activity for English language students aims to encourage them to freely express their feelings and opinions.

Everyday annoyances speaking activity for English language students.

More everyday annoyances (PDF)

4 Everyday annoyances (with answers)

This is an ESL speaking exercise for discussing everyday complaints and  annoyances . Students match vocabulary to the pictures. Then they can ask each other the the questions at the bottom of the page.

Complaints and annoyances speaking activity for ESL learners.

Everyday annoyances (PDF)

Dealing With Complaints for ESL Customer Service Reps

10 listening/speaking exercises for invitations and requests

Socializing Speaking Lessons Home

10 Role Play Speaking Activities

11 Classroom Debate and Discussion Language Activities

12 Brilliant Business English Speaking Skills  Activities

ESL listening and speaking activities for all levels

5 Talking about annoyances

This is a second ESL speaking exercise for talking about everyday annoyances. Students match the phrases on the left to the appropriate pictures. Finally they can have a conversation using the questions at the bottom of the page as a guide. 

Annoyances 2 vocabulary and speaking skills worksheet

Talking about annoyances (PDF)

6 Complaints, annoyances and responses (with answers)

Students write the problem and solution/advice for each picture.They may try to use modals and the passive tense.

Complaints and annoyances vocabulary and speaking activity worksheet.

Complaints, annoyances and solutions (PDF)

 7 Housing complaints, annoyances and problems (vocabulary and speaking with answers)

“Housing complaints’ is a slightly more advanced activity for talking about housing . Students match vocabulary to the pictures. Then they can ask each other the the questions at the bottom of the page.

Vocabulary and and speaking exercise for talking about housing complaints

Elements of housing complaints (PDF)

8 Urban complaints speaking activity

An elementary  brainstorming and speaking activity to help students discuss cities and urban areas.

Urban complaints brainstorm and speaking activity

Urban complaints (PDF)

 

9  Consumer complaint menu role play lesson

Consumer Complaint Menu Role Play Lesson (PDF)   

ELICIT
  As a class elicit a few problems you can have with these companies and any others you can think of:
  Home improvement company
  Mobile phone service
  Mail order company
  Travel service
  Car dealer
  Bank
  STEP 1
  On the board write “MAIL ORDER COMPLAINT MENU” then ask around the class for sample complaints. Write them on the board. The board might look like this:
  MAIL ORDER COMPLAINT MENU
shipment never came
got the wrong order
goods were broken
expensive delivery charges
bad customer service
not the same as in the ad
no instruction manual etc….etc
  STEP 2
  Put students in groups of 3 and have ready an A4 sheet of paper for each group. Each sheet of paper has a heading similar to the following:
  MAIL ORDER COMPLAINT MENU
  HOME IMPROVEMENT COMPLAINT MENU
  MOBILE PHONE SERVICE COMPLAINT MENU
  etc…etc
  Each group of students then chooses one of the complaints topics and begins to write complaints as you modeled on the board.
  STEP 3
  Rotate the complaint menus every 3 or 4 minutes so each group gets to work on each menu. In this way they get a feel for the different kind of complaints.
  STEP 4
  Once the menus have rotated right round the class or the sheets of paper are full of complaints tell the students to stop writing and model the final part of the activity – the roleplay. Pick up one menu (Travel Service Complaint Menu) and address a pair of students saying………
  STUDENT A(CUSTOMER COMPLAINER): Good day, may I see the complaints menu…..
  STUDENT B(TRAVEL SERVICE): Certainly here you are……….
  STUDENT A (CUSTOMER COMPLAINER): Yes, well first I’d like to complain about your guide…..he was very impolite……
  STUDENT B(TRAVEL SERVICE): Well,…..I’m sorry but he is new…..
  STUDENT A(CUSTOMER COMPLAINER): Secondly, I’d like to complain about the bus..it was too old………
  STUDENT B(TRAVEL SERVICE): Yes..but you chose the cheap tour…etc.
  STEP 5
  Finally, select one student out of each group to be the complainer. Give this student one of the complaint menus. The students then begin to role play. An excellent way to get students to rotate to other groups is to play the “Scissors, paper, rock” game. The loser moves to another group.  

Personal Complaint Menu Lesson

Telephone Dialogue Exercises for Business English

4 Tantalizing Telephone Dialogue Exercises for Business English

Telephoning and messaging communication skills in businesses and offices are perhaps more important than ever before. There are many common expressions that students can learn to help them gain telephoning skills fluency .

1 Elementary telephone expressions (with answers)

    This is a fun introductory exercise  for  English language learners that helps them become familiar with telephoning expressions and vocabulary. 

Common telephone expressions worksheet

Common telephone expressions (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

2 Making an appointment telephone conversation (with answers)

    This is a dialogue or role play exercise  for students s to practice creating complete telephone conversations . Students use the  cues in the boxes to  write appropriate conversations.

Making an appointment dialogue and conversation exercises.

Making an appointment telephone conversation  (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

2 Requests & talking on the phone (with answers)

  This is a  telephoning exercise  for English language learners to practice using elementary language necessary for simple telephone calls. Students complete the speech bubbles  with appropriate language and expressions. 

Elementary language exercise for talking on the telephone.

Telephoning and requests (PDF)

Business English Speaking Skill Worksheets

(including more telephoning exercises)

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

10 Jobs and Careers Vocabulary  and Speaking exercises

4 Money and Finance Worksheets

10 Computing and  Internet Vocabulary and Speaking Activities

5 Intercultural Body Language, Gestures and Etiquette Language Exercises

3 Business socializing, requests and talking on the phone (with answers)

    Another telephoning exercise  for English language learners to practice using elementary language necessary for business  socializing and making phone calls. Students complete the speech bubbles  with appropriate language and expressions.

Business telephoning and socializing language and expressions exercise

Business socializing, requests  & talking on the phone  (PDF)

(see the YouTube video)

4  Picture-Based Present Continuous Tense Worksheets

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes

3 Great Icebreakers to Start a Class

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

Collocation and phrasal verb exercises

9 collocation and phrasal verb exercises

Collocations and phrasal verbs are critical to fluency in the English language. Once students start to get a hold of the ways words are joined together in conversation and in texts they are well on their way to being competent communicators.

30th June 2024

1 Common phrasal verbs 1

    This is an introduction or review worksheet for common phrasal verbs. Students match the phrases to the pictures and answer the questions.  

Common phrasal verbs picture-vocabulary matching exercise

Common phrasal verbs 1 (PDF)

(view as Youtube mp4 video)

Common phrasal verbs

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2 Husband/wife phrasal verb role play and /or listening activity(with audio and answers)

    This is an   English  ESL  role play exercise  for practicing phrasal or  two part verbs.  Students complete the conversations with suitable vocabulary. Then they can listen to the audio, compare answers and carry out the role play.  

Husband/wife phrasal verb role play (PDF)

Husband/wife phrasal verb role play

3 Verb-noun collocations (for life and success)

    This is a verb-noun collocations listening/speaking activity that will help students talk about life and work.  

Verb-noun collocations (PDF)

Verb/noun collocations

4 Common phrasal verbs 2

    This is another listening/speaking worksheet for common phrasal verbs. This exercises focuses on the two ways in which phrasal verbs can be used (Eg. “I pick up the book” and “I pick up the book.”). Students listen and completer phrases  and answer the questions.  

Common phrasal verbs 2 (PDF)

Common phrasal verbs 2

Gerunds and infinitives (PDF)

Phrasal verbs for transport and getting around (PDF)

Have collocations (PDF)

Common business collocations (PDF)

Do or make ? collocations (PDF)

5 Do go play: elementary collocations

  I think the do/go/play collocations exercise is probably the most elementary collocation exercise given to students. It’s ok but usually focuses on sports, just for simplicity, I guess. Most of my students aren’t that interested in sports, so I like to change it a little. I also make it a little more difficult by teaching that “do” and “go” can often be used with the same nouns (eg. do/go shopping). Sometimes they are interchangeable and sometimes they are used for slightly different meanings. This makes it a bit more difficult but more accurately reflects the real world.    

Do/go/play collocations (PDF)

6 Do/make collocations

  The do/make collocation exercise is probably the most useful and important elementary collocation exercise. These are verb-noun combinations that students really need in order to communicate in English.    

Do/make collocations (PDF)

7 Have/take collocations

  There are so many verb-noun combinations that can help students improve their fluency. I’m in the process of creating many more of these. “Have” and “take” are two other basic verbs with many useful collocations.  

Have/take collocations (PDF)

8 Take or have or break ?? collocations exercise (with answers)

    Students match the verbs  “take” or “have” or “break” with the phrases scrambled at the top of the worksheet. Once they have done this they use the collocations and their own ideas to write sentences at the bottom of the page.    

Take/have/break collocations (PDF)

8 Business English vocabulary exercises

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

 5 Describing Graphs  Language Exercises

5 Intercultural Body Language, Gestures and Etiquette Language Exercises

9  Brainstorming collocations with  imperatives

 The exercise below is for exploring students’ knowledge of  imperatives and collocations. Depending on the level and ability of the students, a  teacher  may ask  students to work in groups or work independently. It is often surprising to  learn which expressions students are and are not familiar with.

Brainstorming collocations for imperatives (PDF)

Practical Process Essay Writing Exercises

Practical Process Essay and Writing Exercises

Brainstorming, outlining  and  exercises help students to order processes in a logical format and introduce students to process paragraph and essay writing.

1 Writing topic sentences for process essays (with possible answers)

This exercise helps students learn how to write topic sentences for process essays. Students look at the pictures and try to write appropriate topic sentences.

Writing topic sentences for process paragraphs and essays.

Writing topic sentences for process essays (PDF)

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2 Brainstorming processes for process essays

This is a brainstorming exercise for ideas for a process essay. It is a good icebreaker and a nice way to ease into the topic.

brainstorming topics for a process essay

Brainstorming topics  for a process essay (PDF)

 

3 Process essay outline exercise

This exercise helps students understand how to write an outline for a process essay. Students match the scrambled sentences on the Page 2 to the appropriate part of the essay outline.

Process essay outlining exercise

Brainstorming topics  for a process essay (PDF)

 

4 Process  outline template

This is a process outline template (with example) to help students clearly and logically organize their ideas.

Process outline template for 5 paragraph process essay.

Brainstorming essay outline template (PDF)

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)

11 essential exercises for elementary writing students (PDF)

 

5 Process essay topic and support sentence exercises

This exercise helps students become familiarized with process essay topic and support sentences. Examples are given at the top of the worksheet and students complete the exercises lower down.

Writing support sentences in process essays exercise.

Process essays topic and support sentences (PDF)

 

6 Processing an order exercise (elementary)

This exercise helps students understand how to write sentences in the active or passive tenses when describing a process.

Processing and order elementary writing exercise.

Processing an order (PDF)

 

7 Job application process worksheet (elementary)

This is a worksheet describing the job application process. Students look at the pictures  and write appropriate sentences for each step of the process.

Job application process writing exercise

Job application process (PDF)

8 Process paragraph graphic organizer

This process paragraph graphic organizer helps students organize their ideas in a logical order or steps or stages before writing a process essay.

Graphic organizer for writing a process paragraph.

Process paragraph graphic organizer (PDF)

9 Online Order Processing exercise (with answers)

Students match the vocabulary to the online order graphic. This exercise helps students become familiar with the language, vocabulary and expressions of online order processing.

Online order process language and vocabulary worksheet.

Processing and online order vocabulary exercise (PDF)

Health sciences vocabulary and language exercises

Mastering Medical English: Enhancing Language Skills for Healthcare Professionals

Welcome to “Mastering Medical English”! This webpage offers a diverse range of downloadable PDF exercises, listening materials, video exercises, and speaking activities to facilitate effective learning.

Why is it important to learn English in the medical sciences?

In today’s interconnected world, proficiency in English has become a vital asset for healthcare professionals. English serves as the lingua franca of the medical community, allowing effective communication among healthcare providers, researchers, and patients from diverse linguistic backgrounds. By acquiring English language skills specific to the medical sciences, students can improve their ability to:

1. Collaborate with Multicultural Teams: In medical settings, professionals often work alongside colleagues from different countries and cultures. Effective English communication fosters seamless teamwork, enabling efficient patient care, research collaboration, and the exchange of knowledge and best practices.

2. Enhance Patient Care: Accurate communication between healthcare professionals and patients is crucial for accurate diagnosis, treatment, and ensuring patient safety. Understanding medical terminology, conveying instructions clearly, and empathizing with patients’ concerns are vital elements of patient-centered care.

3. Access Cutting-Edge Research: The medical sciences are continuously evolving, and the latest advancements are often published in English. Proficiency in English empowers students to access scientific literature, stay updated with breakthroughs, and contribute to the global medical community.

4. Pursue Global Career Opportunities: English proficiency opens doors to a wide range of international job opportunities in the medical sciences. Whether it’s participating in medical conferences, working in multinational healthcare organizations, or pursuing advanced studies abroad, strong English skills provide a competitive edge in the global job market.

Our Resources:

To equip both teachers and students with the necessary tools for success, our webpage offers a rich array of resources:

1. Downloadable PDF Exercises: Access a variety of exercises designed to reinforce medical vocabulary, grammar, and communication skills. These exercises can be easily printed and used for in-class or self-study sessions.

2. Listening Materials: Students listen to  medical terminology used in various contexts.

3. Video Exercises: Explore a collection of educational videos focusing on commonly used medical terminolgy. These videos not only enhance vocabulary acquisition but also provide valuable insights into the real-world application of English in medical contexts.

4. Speaking Activities: Encourage interactive learning with a range of speaking exercises that simulate common medical scenarios. Students can practice giving presentations, role-playing patient consultations, and engaging in group discussions to boost their oral communication skills.

By utilizing these comprehensive resources, ESL teachers can empower their students to confidently communicate and effectively apply English in the dynamic field of the medical sciences.

Remember, mastering medical English is not only about linguistic proficiency; it is also about delivering quality healthcare and making a positive impact on patients’ lives. Let us embark on this exciting journey of linguistic growth and professional development together!

1 Common verbs for medical treatment listening speaking worksheet (with  audio, video and answers)

The “Common Verbs for Health and Medical Treatment” worksheet is designed to improve English language learners’ vocabulary and understanding of medical and health-related terms. This interactive resource includes listening and matching exercises where learners pair vocabulary with corresponding pictures, and complete sentences using the given verbs. It also features an array of questions designed to elicit personal experiences related to health and medical issues, such as relieving a headache or consulting a medical professional. The worksheet includes vocabulary relating to different health scenarios and actions, such as prevention of infection, diagnosis of illness, admission to a hospital, adjusting medication, receiving a vaccine, monitoring vital signs, and experiencing stress-induced headaches. It covers a broad range of verbs and medical situations to facilitate a comprehensive learning experience.

Common verbs for medical treatments worksheet (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

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2 The experiment vocabulary introduction

The “Experiment Vocabulary” worksheet aims to enhance scientific vocabulary comprehension. The activity involves matching terms and expressions such as ‘adding’, ‘estimate’, ‘length and width’, ‘steady’, ‘tiny’, ‘measure’, ‘scales’, ‘lower’, ‘counting’, ‘ratio’, ‘less than 50 mls’ to corresponding images. Additionally, the worksheet offers multiple-choice questions that require students to choose the correct term corresponding to given options.

Download PDF

3 The experiment: vocabulary classifying and listening

This exercise follows on from the one above, focusing on the same vocabulary.

Download PDF

Describing Graphs Vocabulary, Listening and Speaking Exercises

Viruses and vaccines

7  Health Problems, Symptoms and Illnesses Vocabulary Exercises

3 Public Health and safety vocabulary exercises (PDF)

Health and Body Lessons Home

Body Parts Vocabulary Exercises

Public Health and Safety Lessons

Mastering Decision-Making: Practical ESL Language Resources for Real-world Communication

4 Describing graphs for medical science

The “Describing Graphs for Medical Science” worksheet helps learners expand their vocabulary pertaining to trends and changes typically described in medical and scientific graphs. It requires students to match certain words and phrases, like ‘peaked’, ‘decrease sharply’, ‘increase slightly’, and ‘fluctuate a lot’ with corresponding images. Furthermore, it presents a series of fill-in-the-blank multiple choice sentences that describe scenarios related to healthcare, such as changes in patient’s blood pressure, pharmaceutical stock prices, and medication effectiveness. Each scenario has multiple-choice options for the missing term. The worksheet aims to build students’ confidence in describing and interpreting graphically presented data in medical science contexts.

Download PDF

5 Describing trends for medical science

Similar but more difficult than the exercise above, this activity again focuses on vocabulary for talking about trends in the medical sciences.

Download PDF

6 Using phrasal verbs in the medical sciences

“Common Phrasal Verbs for Medical Science” is designed for English language learners who want to familiarize themselves with prevalent phrasal verbs used in a healthcare setting. The worksheet weaves a visual narrative, encouraging learners to match given phrasal verbs with corresponding imagery, aiding in the comprehension and retention of each phrase. It further includes a series of scenarios pertaining to different medical situations, where learners fill in the blanks with the appropriate phrasal verbs from multiple choices. The verbs addressed in this worksheet include ‘bring over,’ ‘take off,’ ‘pull up,’ ‘put up,’ ‘put in,’ ‘plug in,’ ‘tear out,’ ‘press down,’ ‘get on,’ ‘take out,’ ‘pull out,’ and ‘put away.’ From the context of a pharmacist posting new information, a patient removing their shirt for an X-ray, to storing a new shipment of medication, the activity delivers practical exposure to the use of these phrasal verbs in real-life healthcare communications.

Download PDF

7 Logistics for medication and pharmaceuticals


Dive into the world of pharmaceutical logistics with our interactive PDF worksheet, “Logistics for medication and pharmaceuticals.” This resource serves to nurture English language skills while simultaneously introducing key concepts related to the healthcare sector. Initially, learners are invited to link visuals with healthcare and logistics-related terminologies such as “patient,” “medication,” and “shipment,” offering an immersive and contextual understanding of the language. The latter section encourages learners to complete sentences by inserting suitable words from a given list, stimulating comprehension of pharmaceutical procedures and interactions, from home delivery and order placement to negotiation with pharmaceutical companies. This novel approach to language learning blends linguistics and industry-specific knowledge, fostering a multifaceted language experience.

Download PDF

8 Functions of the brain

This worksheet looks at the functions of the brain – fostering creativity, producing emotions, regulating appetite, and encoding memories. It encourages learners to examine their brain’s strengths and weaknesses and the effects of their habits on its functionality. It includes a matching task linking the brain’s functions to corresponding visuals and a fill-in-the-blank segment highlights functions such as language learning and neurotransmitter regulation.

(see the YouTube video)

(download PDF – harder)

(download PDF – easier)

9 Expressing opinions about viruses and vaccines

Engaging students in thought-provoking discussions on viruses, vaccines, and the broader medical field, this English language learning PDF worksheet broadens learners’ vocabularies by prompting them to match words to corresponding statements (gap fill), including “immunity,” “clinical,” and “deadly.” Students are also encouraged to express their opinions on nine distinct statements about the role of vaccines, the nature of viruses, the economics of pharmaceuticals, and personal experiences with side effects.

(download PDF)

 

11  Venipuncture and health check vocabulary  exercises (with answers)

This worksheet focuses on vocabulary associated with venipuncture and routine health checks. It includes a pictorial matching task, aligning words and phrases like “dizzy”, “gauze”, and “withdraw the needle” with their corresponding images. The worksheet then challenges them with a multiple-choice section that tests their understanding of contextually used terms like “bandage”, “insert”, and “release”. In the final activity, learners write a sequential guide on the process of drawing blood, using relevant terms including “syringe”, “vein”, “tourniquet”, and more.

Venipuncture and health check vocabulary exercises  (PDF)

 

12  Scientific adjectives

The worksheet is designed to help English language learners build their vocabulary around scientific adjectives. It features an activity where learners match these adjectives (like “flammable”, “soluble”, “malleable” etc.) to corresponding pictures. Following this, learners are instructed to sort the adjectives into comparative categories. Finally, students are asked to compose five unique sentences using each adjective in comparative form, demonstrating their comprehension and ability to use the words in context. An example provided in the worksheet is: “Oil is more flammable than water.”

Scientific adjectives  (PDF)

 

13  Basic measuring vocabulary

“Basic measuring vocabulary”  includes vocabulary commonly used for talking about  amounts, sizes  and quantities in medical science situations such as in a laboratory.

Basic measuring vocabulary  (PDF)

 

14 Jobs and people in medicine

This is an elementary ESL exercise for practicing language useful for describing medical and health occupations. Students try to complete the sentences with their own ideas. There is some useful vocabulary at the bottom of the page.

Jobs for medicine (PDF)

 

This exercise  includes language  commonly used to talk about equipment and other aspects of a laboratory.

Laboratory related  vocabulary and expressions (PDF)

 

18 Basic vocabulary for medical tools worksheet

     This is an  elementary English  language  exercise  introducing medical tools vocabulary.  Students try to match the vocabulary with the appropriate pictures.

 Medical tools (PDF)

 

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)

11 essential exercises for elementary writing students (PDF)