A selection of English ESL should could printables

These are real 'problems' taken from an Agony Aunt website in relation to the topic of dating. They can be cut up and given to different Students who then work in pairs to discuss the problem, suggest a variety of solutions and write a letter in response, giving advice to the writer. 



Ss should be provided with a variety of ways of giving advice before they begin writing (e.g. It's (high) time you. You'd better.. You ought to If I were you.. You should/shouldn't have..) and also for suggestions (eg. why don't you.have you though about.. It'd be a good idea if you..) and help them as they try to decide which ones are appropriate for different suggestions or pieces of advice.



On the final page there are some (abridged) responses which were also taken from the website. As an optional extra they can be read out and Ss have to listen and identify which response is related to their problem, then read it and see how it compares to their answer. They could discuss if it was good advice or not and why.



There are some very useful phrases and vocabulary and it would be good to get students to note them down.



This was used in relation to the topic of relationships and dating.

Agony Aunt Dating Problems

In pairs the kids should ask the weather forecasts for the respective days and by answer, try to guess what country they are talking about,

You  also could change this activity, adapting for other themes. 

Before the kids start it, the teacher could call one of them to practice and demonstrate first how it works.



Remember that each one should choose one country and keep it secret.

Weather Forecast Guessing game

Having a Summer Bucket List is a great way to set your goals and have fun! 

You can choose each activity every day and try something new in your life! 

First of all, students can read this list. Then tick the things he/she definitely wants to do.Practising "to be going to" will help student to talk about their plans. If the year of study isn't finished yet, student can start doing bucket list activities and share emotions with their peers and a teacher.

Secondly, this list can be used while making up role-play activities. Student's can make up their own dialogs.

Thirdly, students can play different games. For example, one student can show any activity using gestures and other students should guess what this activity is in English.

Finally, student can have fun giving task to each other. For example: "Max, your task is to dance in the rain, take a picture of it and share with us".

I've tried to make this worksheet colourful, so the students could feel the atmosohere of summer and enjoy their summer holidays!

Summer Bucket List

I took this worksheet material from a website advertising Anthony's Italian restaurant. I adapted it into a Reading comprehension exercise for Intermediate level students. It should be used as a starter for no more than 20 minutes (you could then discuss other aspects of restaurants for example I did a role play with a waiter and 2 guests for the rest of the lesson).

The Italian Restaurant

An activity where students practice speaking, using modal words. Its strips of lucky escapes found in newspapers and the students then talk about what might have .should or could have happened differently

Modal verbs practice

I'm sorry I came at the 11th hour! I just made this and thought I should share. It's meant for really low-level students (not necessarily kids). Unfortunately, I couldn't find the video online anywhere, but I hope it's useful to some of you! Thanks, Merry Christmas!

A Charlie Brown Christmas

This sheet is good for practicing adjectives and comparatives of different gadgets and small daily items. 

This is a supplementary material when it comes to demand high for lower level students. There isn't much grammar guidance but this could leave some boarding space for teachers to use it in their own way. 

I did not provide answers but should be quite obvious.

Beginner - Pre-elementary comparatives with pictures

Modals, aka modal auxiliaries!

A reading in the context of a letter from a camper. Chock full of modals. Can, could, will, would, should, ought to, etc. Best for middle school students or older. Could also be used for modeling letter writing. Some lexis about outdoor activities and camping.

A Letter Home

Worksheet to practice could. The students read the sentences under the images and write the correct request. For example: I have guests, but my fridge is empty. Could you please go shopping for me?
You could delete the sentences below for more advanced students. They should find their own answer to each picture.


Request - could you?

Cloze test for intermediate level students, for revising the following modals: MUST - HAVE TO - OUGHT TO - SHOULD - COULD - CAN -  WOULD - MAY - MIGHT. Feel free to ask me the solutions of this test :) 

Modals Cloze Test

9-page documents to get them speaking.  The first two pages give you some ideas of what they should say.  You could hand out those two pages and work on the vocabulary and expressions before starting the work on the situations.





EVERYDAY SITUATIONS

Modals: can/can't , could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, would

Modal verbs

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

197 SHOULD COULD English ESL worksheets pdf & doc