A selection of English ESL animal reading comprehension exercise printables

animal comprehension vol1

A reading comprehension exercise with key vocabulary explained, plus some animal-related facts and vocabulary. No key included, but could be added upon request.

Life in the Wild

This is an A2 pre-intermediate level English reading lesson about animals. It includes the reading and reading comprehension exercises in 4 different formats together with the answer keys and explanations.

1) True/False questions
2) Multiple choice questions
3) Short answer questions
4) Multiple choice cloze exercise

Reading Lesson - Change a Life: Adopt an Animal

There are two sheets to my reading, scanning and comprehension exercise. The exercise includes speaking, listening and comprehension.

1.	An article for the student to read.

2.	A question sheet for you to read to the student.

I suggest you copy and paste into two different documents.

I convert the article to pdf format, as the student’s device doesn’t need MS Word installed for it to display.

Send or give the article to the student to read aloud to you. Then ask the student questions from the question sheet, they’re in the same order as the article. Most of the answers are one or two words; just be aware that some students will read a whole paragraph knowing that the answer is somewhere in it. For me, that’s not good enough! 

Finally ask the student to read the article again and while you correct their pronunciation, as necessary.  


Chinese Animal Years, a simple reading article

There is a list of 10 animal names that can also be used as verbs. First they read meanings and sentences to understand what the animal name signals and then do three exercises to practice comprehension. The answers are included. Hope you find it useful. Thank you! :)

ANIMAL NAMES AS VERBS 1

Reading comprehension, writing exercises and critical thinking all in one worksheet which can also be used as the basis for conversation or a classroom discussion. Suitable for group work as well.
REMARK: THE PREVIEW OF THIS HANDWRITTEN WORKSHEET LOOKS A BIT UNTIDY, BUT ONCE YOU DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THE QUALITY IS ACCEPTABLE.

Read And Complete - The Animal World

This is the third of four worksheets. There is a list of 10 animal names that can also be used as verbs. First they read meanings and sentences to understand what the animal name signals and then do three exercises to practice comprehension. The answers are included. Hope you find it useful. Thank you! :)

ANIMAL NAMES AS VERBS 3

This is the second of four worksheets. There is a list of 10 animal names that can also be used as verbs. First they read meanings and sentences to understand what the animal name signals and then do three exercises to practice comprehension. The answers are included. Hope you find it useful. Thank you! :)

ANIMAL NAMES AS VERBS 2

This is the last of the series.  There is a list of 10 animal names that can also be used as verbs. First they read meanings and sentences to understand what the animal name signals and then do three exercises to practice comprehension. The answers are included. Hope you find it useful. Thank you! :)

ANIMAL NAMES AS VERBS 4

This is to be used with a TED-ed talk, with the same title, the link is on the top of the worksheet, or you can just find it on youtube. Students learn about different types of animals and their difficulties to give birth.  Reading comprehension, you can edit the worksheet and focus on other contents. There are matching picture and word, writing about an animal exercises. I have attached the script of the video where you can find the answers and some extra pictures that you can use as a warmer for your class.  Yuly Rios :)

The most extreme births in the animal kingdom 

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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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

10 Animal reading comprehension exercise English ESL worksheets pdf & doc