A selection of English ESL after and before printables

This is a worksheet which uses the story of the Chinese Zodiac to present ordinal numbers to Elementary students. 



Tips:



Before you begin Ex.2, and read the story, you may wish to pre-teach: ride, reach, scare, shore, emperor, push and sleepy.



Depending on where you are teaching, your students may already be familiar with the order of the animals. If so, elicit the animal names and the order then ask them to find and underline the ordinal numbers. 



The ordinals have a lot of difficult sounds such as '-th' and consonant clusters. When you drill the words after Ex.2, break down the words i.e "SI" - "XTH" -  "SI-XTH" - "SIXTH".



As an optional extension task, you could get the students to quiz each other i.e "Which animal was fourth?", "Which place was the snake?", "Who was before the sheep?" etc.



Answer Key



1 (going clockwise) rat, dragon, pig, rooster, monkey, tiger, snake, horse, ox, rabbit, dog, sheep/ram.



2 B fifth D tenth E  ninth F third G sixth H seventh I second J fourth K eleventh L eighth 

Ordinal Numbers in the Chinese Zodiac

 students follow a series of clues using before and after and fill in the missing information about a school timetable the aim is to find out when the students of the timetable have two free hours . its also good for revising days of week and scholl subjects

 school times

This is the 2nd part of the School Timetable worksheet. Students read the example given. They must then use the timetable and describe various times in the week, for eg. 

Monday afternoon or Friday morning.

Questions like:

What do you do every Friday morning?

What is your favourite day of the week?

Describe your favourite morning.



Vocabulary can be pre-taught. The symbols are an easy way for students to understand the word without having to translate.



Lots of possibilities also to work with prepositions of time (before, after, etc).



Enjoy!



My School Timetable 2

Practise before, after and between + numbers til 20

numbers

The point of this game is to practice English speaking and to test your general knowledge while having fun!



It can be played with a roulette or a dice, you just need to replace the numbers with colorful stickers.



Rules:

•	Spin the ball on the wheel, after which it will eventually fall into one of the colored spaces.

•	Each color represents a topic. If the ball falls on pink, you can choose a color. 

•	There are three levels of difficulty marked by stars (easy*/ average**/ difficult***) and there are ten questions for each level. Therefore, once the ball fell on a certain color, you choose the difficulty level and a number from 1 to 10. 

•	If you answer the question correctly, you gain 1 point. 



Topics:

- Travel, countries, culture

- Books, movies, cartoons

- Environment

- Animals

- True or False



The flashcards contain the logo of my association, please remove before printing

Roulette quiz 3 - different topics and difficulty level

Roulette quiz 4 - different topics and difficulty level

Students practice talking about themselves and try to remember things about their classmates, by throwing a ball back-and-forth.  



Description 

Everyone stands up 



Say, "My name is ~." Then throw the ball to a student. Students will also say, "My name is ~." 



Students can sit down after they say their name, but they should remember who threw them the ball AND who they threw the ball to them. 



After everyone has sat down, the last person should throw the ball back to the person they got it from, who then has to say their name again. The ball should come all the way back to the ALT. 



Next, the person throwing has to say the name of the person they're throwing to, so "This is ~~." 



Repeat this going all the way to the end and turning around just like before. 



Next, say "I am ~~ years old." Then pass the ball all the way through.  



Next, say how old the person you're throwing the ball to, so "He/She is ~~ years old." Or, "So-and-so is ~~ years old." 



Repeat all this again, but with things like, "I am from ~~." or "I like pizza/dogs/Family Mart." 



This game helps students and teachers get to know each other better and helps students remember how to say basic phrases, like "I am ~~." or He/She likes ~~." 



Variation:  



Once students know each others names a little bit, have everyone stand up again and make a new order. Person throwing must say the name of the person they're throwing to. 



Next, have students always try to throw to a new person. 



Then, while students are trying to throw to new people, have them start saying new things, like "So-and-so is ~~ years old", or "So-and-so likes ~~." 



If students forget, they have to ask someone, "I'm sorry, what was your ~~?" 



Page BreakExample Sentences: 



My name is... 



He / She is... 



Sorry, what is your name? 

 



I like ... and ... 



He / She likes ... and ... 



Sorry, what do you like? 

 



Last weekend, I ... 



Last weekend, he / she ... 



Sorry, what did you do last weekend? 

 



My favorite ... is ... 



His / Her favorite ... is ... 



Sorry, what is your favorite ... ? 



Color / Food / Animal / Singer / etc. 

Ball Name Game

Two short vocabulary activities to do after watching the video. Before playing it I told the kids they had to pay attention to the four school things they would see in the video. Then, I handed out the activities and play the video as many times as the kids needed. 

School Things

Discuss the questions before watching the video. Students have to note down the answers while watching the video. After watching they will discuss their opinions about Paul.

Listening comprehension - Paul Alexander

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Let’s Talk School – Real Stories from Six Countries is a podcast-style roleplay speaking activity designed for B1+ learners preparing for Maturita or conversation exams. Based on a fictional panel discussion, the script introduces six unique speakers from different countries — Czech Republic, Canada, the UK, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand — who share their honest, sometimes humorous, and contrasting views on education. Over five rounds, students explore topics such as school systems, typical school days, exams, uniforms, and learning preferences. The teacher acts as the moderator, guiding the discussion and prompting participation.

Students read their roles aloud from their phones (no printing required), with stronger students taking full characters and lower-level students splitting them. The activity mimics the natural flow of a YouTube panel (inspired by VICE, Jubilee, etc.) and helps build fluency, confidence, and vocabulary in a relaxed, discussion-based format.

At the end, a curated list of lexical chunks (collocations and sentence frames) is provided. Teachers are encouraged to translate these into the students' L1 (mother tongue) to support understanding and usage in speaking. These chunks can also be reviewed before or after the activity for better retention and natural language production.

Let’s Talk School-Real Stories from Six Countries

students complete the sentences using the correct preposition. It's a good exercise to revise the use of prepositions after nouns, verbs and adjectives before the test. 

prepositions with nouns, verbs and adjectives

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

251 After and before English ESL worksheets pdf & doc