A selection of English ESL the great dictator printables

Speaking and Listening activity based on the speech from the Charllie Chaplin film the Great Dictator. Variety of listening tasks (Gap fill, ordering and note completion) and suggested lesson plan included with transcript and solutions.

The Great Dictator

It is a cloze test based on the famous speech of Charles Chaplin in the Great Dictator film, the worksheet consists in watching a video (the link is included in the text) and then fill in the gaps in the text, students also have to find out the meaning of some fairly complex words.

The vocabulary is quite demanding so is perfect to students with a high level of English

Listening Activity: The Great Dictator's Speech

This can be done as a simple worksheet, or it can be used for a pair work activity to practise rooms, furniture and prepositions. I do this as a running dictation - I pin the instructions on the wall, great fun! 

Pair work: describe the house.

This worksheet presents some SHAPES so the students can get familiarized with new vocabulary. Great for students who want to expand their learning. It can be also be used for dictation exercises as well as writing / oral practice. If you Prefer, this worksheet can also be used as a little game, e.g. crafts drawing, etc

SHAPES

The images are not displayed because I've created this worksheet in Canvas, but everything will work just fine if you download the file. 

A great way to practice the pronunciation of years in the form of a running dictation (the rules are as usual). Perfect for small group, however, may be used as a one-to-one actvity, too. 

How old are they

Short story of Halloween history and customs.  I use it as a running diction but you could use it as a reading also.  There is a quiz that goes with it.  Also great for a telephone type game where the students have to pass the story down a line of students by talking and the last one writes it down.  

Halloween running dictation story and Quiz 

This worksheet presents some pictures of musical instruments (real pictures) so the students can get familiarized with new content/vocabulary. Great for students who want to expand their vocabulary. It can be also be used for dictation exercises as well as writing / oral practice. If you have a higher-level group of students, this worksheet can also be used as a little game, e.g. guess what instrument plays a specific sound / 

Musical Instruments (with key)

This worksheet presents some animals (real pictures) so the students can get familiarized with new content/vocabulary. Great for students who want to expand their vocabulary. It can be also be used for dictation exercises as well as writing / oral practice. If you have a higher-level group of students, this worksheet can also be used as a little game, e.g. giving animals adjectives (tall giraffe, angry lion, cute rabbit, etc..)

Animals 1

This worksheet presents some pictures of musical instruments (real pictures) so the students can get familiarized with new content/vocabulary. Great for students who want to expand their vocabulary. It can be also be used for dictation exercises as well as writing / oral practice. If you have a higher-level group of students, this worksheet can also be used as a little game, e.g. guess what instrument plays a specific sound /

Musical Instruments 2 (with key)

This worksheet presents some animals (real pictures) so the students can get familiarized with new content/vocabulary. Great for students who want to expand their vocabulary. It can be also be used for dictation exercises as well as writing / oral practice. If you have a higher-level group of students, this worksheet can also be used as a little game, e.g. giving animals adjectives (colorful fish, big whale, green frog, etc..)

Animals 2

This worksheet presents some pictures of construction materials (real pictures) so the students can get familiarized with new content/vocabulary. Great for students who want to expand their vocabulary. It can be also be used for dictation exercises as well as writing / oral practice. Designed for a middle-level group of students, this worksheet can also be used as a little game, e.g. Material "x" is used for "y" and so son.

Construction Materials - (with key)

This worksheet presents some pictures of tools (real pictures) so the students can get familiarized with new content/vocabulary. Great for students who want to expand their vocabulary. It can be also be used for dictation exercises as well as writing / oral practice. If you have a higher-level group of students, this worksheet can also be used as a little game, e.g. Give a verb to each tool e.g. Hit / Repair / Measure / etc..

Garage Tools

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

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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

20 The Great Dictator English ESL worksheets pdf & doc