A selection of English ESL history printables with general reading comprehension, reading comprehension

General reading comprehension

History

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

A worksheet focused on cleopatra, who reigned as queen of egypt along with various tasks focused on ancient egypt. Includes a number of tasks to practise, reading, and vocabulary. For more please visit octoeducation. Com

Cleopatra : Reading Comprehension

1. & 2. page: short reading text about the Native Americans' history - GERONIMO (best known for embarrassing the U.S. Government (they couldn’t catch him for years) + short notes about the US state he came from;


 3. page: short quiz (reading comprehension) + writing task (student must write a short text with his own opinion);


FULLY EDITABLE.

Native Americans (USA): Warrior GERONIMO - 3 pages

Worksheet for adults and highschool  students. The series "Weird" presents texts about bizarre or extraordinary things. All texts have written exercises and topics for discussion. 


Weird unsolved mysteries

Martin Luther King Day. The audio file https://english-portal.com.ua/worksheet/martin-luther-king-day#topadv. This worksheet was created by https://english-portal.com.ua/

Martin Luther King Day

This is a short passage about an event which is said to have taken place between these two gentlemen. They read the passage and complete the exercises - a true or false exercise and a set of questions. Also, the chance to discuss it. A full key is included.

Alexander the great and diogenes

Solution: Pictures from the left: Hood, Newton, Churchill, Caesar, Elisabeth II., Guy Fawkes, Arthur, Victoria, Watt, Wallace, Alfred
Names to the cues: Caesar, Newton, Elisabeth II., Alfred, Churchill, Arthur, Watt, Guy Fawkes, Hood, Wallace, Victoria


Famous people from British history

A selection of exercises based on a passage about the historical figure William the Conqueror. Some paraphrasing, true or false questions and comprehension questions. Key included. 

William the conqueror

SOLUTION: The Fourth of July – it’s pretty huge in the United States, but do you know why? It’s more famously known as Independence Day and is a massive annual celebration and national holiday across all 50 states. On this date in 1776, Congress officially announced its independence from Great Britain and their ruler, King George the Third. The USA had been under British rule since the 1600s, when the British founded 13 colonies to make up the country: Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia. As these colonies grew, so too did unrest. Inhabitants were not happy at the taxes they were made to pay by the Brits, or the superior treatment they were expected to show to these impostors, so they rebelled: they decided that they needed to declare their independence in writing. Led by Thomas Jefferson, who would later go on to become the third US President, the Declaration was written, presented and finally accepted actually on 2nd July 1776, but announced to the world two days later on 4th July. This most famous piece of literature is now safeguarded at the National Archives in Washington DC. Its most famous line reads: “All men are created equally” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Americans are extremely proud of this document and can often be heard quoting it during their annual July 4th celebrations. The whole country comes together for huge displays of patriotic celebrations on this day. Families and friends generally honour it with outdoor gatherings, as the weather across the country is usually good around this time—picnics, barbecues and house parties. Parades are held in most cities, where citizens dress in the red, white and blues of the American flag. We can hear the national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, being proudly sung all over the country, and fireworks always finish off the day’s festivities. New York City is reported to hold the biggest fireworks display each year, sponsored by the famous department store, Macy’s. Chips, dips, burgers, hotdogs and fries are some of the most popular foods eaten on Independence Day, and are nicely washed down with beer. Over 74 million Americans barbecue on this special day, when 150 million hotdogs and around 63 million cases of beer are consumed over Independence Day weekend. Hey! Where’s my invite? It’s not surprising to learn that over $7 billion was spent on foods solely for the holiday in 2021. Along with Thanksgiving and Christmas, and let’s not forget the majestical Super Bowl, Independence Day is one of the most celebrated occasions in the US, with around 85% of Americans saying they plan to commemorate it somehow.

US Independence Day (but worksheet in British English)

The series "Weird" is meant for adults and high schoolers.  There are texts about bizarre or extraordinary things. All texts have written exercises and topics for discussion.



Weird historical facts

There are two sheets to my reading, scanning and comprehension exercise. The exercise includes speaking, listening and comprehension.

1.	An article for the student to read.

2.	A question sheet for you to read to the student.

I suggest you copy and paste into two different documents.

I convert the article to pdf format, as the student’s device doesn’t need MS Word installed for it to display.

Send or give the article to the student to read aloud to you. Then ask the student questions from the question sheet, they’re in the same order as the article. Most of the answers are one or two words; just be aware that some students will read a whole paragraph knowing that the answer is somewhere in it. For me, that’s not good enough! 

Finally ask the student to read the article again and while you correct their pronunciation, as necessary.  


Mickey Mouse History

In occasion of the next coming international day of commemoration in memory of the victims of the holocaust, ( january 27th) i prepared this worksheet for my pupils of scuola media. It's a short reading with an exercise about this terrible event in human history. I hope you find it useful for your teaching.

The "holocaust" a short reading on this terrible event.

This worksheet is for adults and high school, level B1 to B2 students. The students read the text and answer the questions  questions. Students have also to ask questions about each invention. The text should also introduce a debate about the subject.

23 History, General reading comprehension, Reading Comprehension English ESL worksheets pdf & doc