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

This is a short fill in the gap fairy tale. 10 verbs in the simple past have been taken out of the text and children have to put them back in the right gap. The story is unfinished and the children have to imagine the rest of the story however they want.

Fairy tales fill in the gap

Once upon a time in the enchanting land of Morocco, there lived two brave and clever children who found themselves facing a formidable challenge. Their path crossed with a group of fearsome ogres, known for their wickedness and insatiable hunger. Through their courage, wit, and a touch of magic, the children embarked on an extraordinary adventure, where they discovered the true power of friendship and the importance of standing up against all odds. This timeless Moroccan folktale weaves together suspense, excitement, and valuable life lessons, captivating readers young and old. Get ready to be transported to a world where bravery triumphs over darkness in this captivating tale of two children and their encounter with the enigmatic ogres.

Short story 'Two kids and the ogress' a Moroccan folktale

This is a reading and listening activity about the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, as retold in the song "Persephone" by the Egyptian-Belgian artist Tamino. There is a short reading activity on the original Greek myth, some comprehension and vocabulary questions, and a gap-filling activity on the song lyrics. Finally, some open discussion and writing activities can further the students' comprehension of the story. You can listen to the song in the following link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeaBJfzTKl8

Persephone song worksheet 

This is a diagnosis test consisting of a reading comprehension activity with 10 follow-up questions, including: 2 multiple-choice questions, 2 fill-in-the-gaps questions, 2 matching questions, 2 True or False questions, and 2 open-ended questions. 

PAST SIMPLE - STORY

Reading comprehension worksheet on a short poem by Scottish author Edwin Muir. Two vocabulary activities, one exercise about the images and metaphors used in the poem, and some open questions to discuss the meaning of the poem. It can be useful to understand the concept of image / metaphor. 

Merlin poem by Edwin Muir 

The story happened many, many years ago when the world was younger. It was right before Christmas and Catriona experiences some fairy magic. Besides improving their reading skills, students can do some gap filling activities, a word puzzle and find simple past forms.

The fairy dance (reading comprehension)

In this worksheet, students get introduced to a story about a stolen necklace. They read five short texts, where people say what they were doing in the time the robbery happened.
They answer the questions and look for adverbs in the text.

The Stolen Necklace - Reading Comprehension with Adverbs

Matching, multiple-choice, translation, completing the gaps exercises for pre-intermediate and intermediate students. Includes 1 exercise with russian words, you can easily replace them with english defenitions.

Dan and kate survival story

this is a test devoted for 1st year literary stream in Algeria about unit 2 Once upon a time. including a text and different coprehension and text exploration activities
hope you like it

once upon a time test

an A1 A2  fun treasure hunt story in PRESENT SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS with true / false questions, a vocab match (for the trickier words) and some comprehension questions with a gap fill of the present simple and present continuous 

A treasure hunt story-mixed present tenses

Experience the enchanting tale of 'The Princess and the Dragon' by Audrey Wood. Follow a brave princess and a majestic dragon on a thrilling adventure. Download now for a captivating story that will transport you to a world of magic and wonder.

The Princess and the Dragon By Audrey wood

Read the text included and then click on the YouTube link to watch video on Tales of Arabian Nights to compare and contrast using a Venn diagram. Label each circle with written text of Tales of Arabian Nights and Video of Arabian Nights. In the middle write what is the same in both versions of the story.

Tales of Arabian Nights

General reading comprehension

Storytelling

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

32 Storytelling, General reading comprehension, Reading Comprehension English ESL worksheets pdf & doc