A selection of English ESL abilities 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

A video and visual-aids-based lesson to talk about skills and abilities using adverbs of manner.

Get the students talking with illustrations. Great for brainstorming vocabulary and phrases, talking about likes and dislikes, and strengths and weaknesses.



Vocabulary building, grammar exercises, listening and discussion questions, and more.





Job Interview: Skills & Abilities

This Flashcards may help you when revising can/could for present and past abilities. They are related to sports famous people

Present and past abilities

This is a game which the students will use the word can to express abilities. Obviously some people and animals cannot do certain actions. Students will have to decide which actions are possible.

CAN - Expressing Abilities Game

A video activity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01GY7zYN-ps) about abilities for primary students. 



Pre-video activity: Recognize musical instruments and guess the meaning of ONE MAN BAND.



During video:Recognize character's abilities.



Post-video: Make sentences using connectors.

ABILITIES: ONE MAN BAND

The aim in this file is to teach how to say ''I can'' or ''I can't'' Animals are used in this work. There are writing and matching exercises. It is for beginners.

EXPRESSING ABILITIES FOR BEGINNERS

Fill in the blanks with "can" or "can't" (Ability)

Can or Can't (Ability)

This is a 4-page worksheet to practise/review on modal verbs ‘can/can’t – could/couldn’t – be able to/was able to’ (expressing ability). There are six exercises.

Modals - Can/Could - Ability

Ability - can & can't
This is the 5th worksheet about the Taylor Family. See previous worksheets for other grammar points.

Background
This is a worksheet from a book that I created to help visual learners review grammar, learn vocabulary and practice speaking. The book is about a typical family who live in England. John and Sue are the parents of Emily and Peter. They live with their dog Barney. 

Introduction
This worksheet can help learners practice a number of different things, for example,
             - vocabulary
             - modal verbs for ability (can & can't)

Task 1: Remind SS of the Taylor Family (if you are using this worksheet as part of a 
             series). What do they remember about the family? For example,
             'Peter plays computer games.'
             'John drives to work every morning.'
             Tell the SS that John, the father, has bought a robot from ebuy to help with chores in 
             the house etc. Ask SS if they would like a robot, and if they would, what would they 
             like their robot to do?

Task 2: Look at the worksheet and using vocabulary describe each picture. 
             Ask SS: 'What can you see in each picture?'
             Go through the vocabulary and difficult verbs (apron, catch, arrest ...)

Task 3: If you only have one student ask that student what John's robot can and can't do.
             In each picture there is a small box with either a tick for can, or a cross for can't.

             If you have more than one student you could also get them to ask each other 
             questions, for example,
             A: 'Can the robot/John's robot swim?'
             B: 'No, it can't.'
             A: 'Can the robot/John's robot sink?'
             B: 'Yes, it can.'

Task 4: For homework, SS could design their own robot and write about the things it can and 
             can't do.

The Taylor Family - ability

Your students have to answer "Can you?" questions. I tried to write questions that are a little bit out of the ordinary, e.g. Can you teach a monkey to tell the time?, Can you rap?, etc. First, they answer with a short “Yes, I can” or “No, I can’t.” Then they tell their partner a bit more, eg. “No, I can’t. But I don’t think it’s possible. Monkeys can be intelligent but not that intelligent.” See sample answers for each question on Page 2. With elementary speakers, just omit the long answers and stay focused on the short answers. Bless up, Kisdobos

Can you? (Ability: Questions & Answers)

Rules:



1) In turns, students roll a dice and make a sentence with can or can’t according to the picture they land on and according to the symbol on the top right corner. Tick: affirmative. Cross: negative. Question mark: Yes/No question. Some of the squares have a question for the students to answer.



2) Two or more players can be on the same space.



3) Continue to play until some reaches the finish, then see who will finish second, third, etc.



ABILITIES CAN AND CAN'T BOARDGAME

16 conversation cards to discuss on stereotypes about men and women´s abilities. Students practise the use of CAN, ADVERBS OF MANNER and expressions of AGREEMENT and DISAGREEMENT. Enjoy it!

Discussing ability: Men versus Women!

This worksheet asks student's abilities at simple activities. Includes a template for answering the questions. This can also be used as pairwork if you want.

221 Abilities English ESL worksheets pdf & doc