A selection of English ESL speaking activity printables

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

- Watch the video of the song 'As Long As You Love Me' by The Backstreet Boys.

- Listen to the song, twice.

- Fill in the gaps.

- Talk about the song. Check the students understand its meaning.

- Sing the song.

- Talk about the video.

'As Long As You Love Me' – Backstreet Boys

A mixed speaking and writing activity for pairs. One student role plays a manager and the other roles play the job applicant with given characteristics. 

Job interview role play cards

A jigsaw activity to practise pronunciation and listening to numbers and letters of the alphabet. 

Licence plates

Fun activity for food vocabulary connecting with cooking. Students make list of ingredients then prepare a meal. Tips and explanation for the task included. It might be used with OHP. 

Cooking race

A writing and speaking activity for all levels. The more advanced Ss, the more advanced, complex explanations you should expect. 

Desert Island

Objective: to have students use the past simple tense to describe what they did on summer break.



Type of worksheet: grammar and speaking.



The worksheet has students write sentences and speak about what they did on summer break/vacation. 

I start with an icebreaker about what I did on summer break using the past simple tense of verbs. I give examples from the verb table and write what I say as example sentences on the board.



It is geared towards lower level learners as it has a verb table with the conjugations. It also has a table of nouns/activities for students to use if they cannot think of examples/vocabulary.



The task 1 of worksheet introduces the grammar and they WRITE to fill in the blanks with the conjugated verbs from the table. 



Task 2 they WRITE sentences where the fill in the verbs and nouns and practice SPEAKing the sentences with their partners.



Task 3 has the students SPEAK and ask questions about activities they did and their partner needs to answer using the past tense form of the verbs. They then WRITE what their partner said and then switch roles.



Task 4 has their partner ask about two favorite things they did on break and WRITE and SPEAK in full sentences using the past tense. Then they switch roles.



Answers/ example sentences are on page 2



Time: 50 minutes

What did you do on Summer Break?  -using past simple tense

Group activity. Students have to agree on which objects would be most useful on a deserted island.

Ideal with students who are learning different ways of saying "I agree, disagree..." and to give reasons for their opinions. 

Can also be used to practice the conditional or the future. 

Adapted from an old worksheet we had at my school. 

Lost at Sea

This is a pair work activity practicisng the past perfect simple tense. It has guidelines on how to do the activity, the activity itself and possible answers. Change as you wish :)



For free environmental resources, visit my website at www.projecttesol.co.uk and follow me at https://twitter.com/ProjectTesol

Past perfect speaking exercise

An A2 board game to practice conversation questions for the Trinity College London Graded Examinations in Spoken English, grade 4.  It includes questions on shopping, school and work, food, holidays and free time activities.

Trinity GESE Grade 4 Board Game

Video transcript How to Have a British Christmas - Anglophenia with a quiz game and some ideas for a lesson plan. You can change the rules of the quiz game depending on the level of your students. Here you can find the transcript, the quiz, the lesson plan and a few extra ideas. They'll be practising vocabulary, listening, speaking and reading.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2W3QR9WXdA

VIDEO How to Have a British Christmas - QUIZ AND LESSON PLAN

Ss work in pairs or groups of 3. They ask and answer the questions. The cards could be also used as a Whole Class Activity warm up.

I hope it will be useful:)

Speaking cards 4 tenses.

This is a lesson plan I prepared for my middle schoolers (Upper intermediate-adv). It can be adapted/edited. It includes reading, speaking, listening and writing skills. Speaking activity is about the recent horse meat scandal in the UK and writing activity is factual writing/encyclopedic style as the article is from Britannica Encyclopedia. For the writing part to help the students you can hand out fact sheets about a list of chosen animals that they can choose from and write about.

If your classes are short like mine (40 mins) this can be divided into two lessons. Ideally, some short videos from youtube can be shown as a warmer at the beginning of the class.

I have been teaching only for 2 months so it may not be up to standard but I hope you'll find this useful. 

678 Speaking activity English ESL worksheets pdf & doc